In response to the threat of losing their central livelihood asset, the family filed a lawsuit against the evictions in 2009, which was a rare case of legal action taken in a land dispute in Vietnam. After negotiations, the authorities promised that they could stay, if they would withdraw the lawsuit. However, after they did so, the eviction order was given anyway on November 24, 2011 [1;6]. Further, it was reported that thugs appeared that threatened the family, demolishing several fishponds [7]. In spite of the eviction order and violent threats, the family decided to stay and continue their business.

When the anti-riot police arrived on January 5, 2012, the family received them with home-made weapons and land-mines, in order to defend at all cost their land, however without the intention to kill anybody.

Several officers were injured during the raid [1]. A few days later, the police returned to the farm to jail the farmer and to demolish his house as well as his brother’s property “out of revenge”, although the latter was not listed for eviction [6;7]. The occurrences soon turned into a national and international news story, and while some expected public condemnation for the violent actions, farmer Doan Van Vuon turned into a national hero, sympathized by other farmers, urban bloggers and even by state-owned media as a symbol of fight and resistance against the many unlawful land seizures in Vietnam, caused by public and private development [1;2;8].

The case has provoked much discussion on land disputes in Vietnam. Several farmer protests followed, demanding justice for Doan Van Vuon and his family [9] and the catholic church of Hai Phong began petitioning in favor of the family [6]. A main argument in his favor was that he was cheated by the authorities, when in 1993 he was given a lease of only 13 years, instead of the common 20 years leases, specified by the 1993 land law [1]. Also former president Le Duc Ang started to defend the case and called Vuon a “model citizen”.

A blogger from Hanoi raised more than 10,000 USD (223 million VND) to cover the family’s legal fees [1], and the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called the evictions to be unlawful, ordering an investigation, which led to a 30 months prison sentence, as well as several suspensions, for local officials involved in the evictions [3].

While these events manifested a rare admission of unlawful land evictions, the family complained that the sentences were not just and biased in favor of the officials and that bribery during the court process was evident [3]. Also the fish farmer and some of his kin were jailed in April 2012, accused of attempted murder [1;3;7]. A legal battle followed, during which the farmer filed a suit to demand compensation for moral and material damages, amounting to 1.4 million USD, which however was rejected by the court as “baseless claims” [6]. In 2014, the court confirmed that Doan Van Vuon and his brother were sentenced to five years of prison and imposed a 1,000 USD fine (23 million VND) [h], while other families members were sentenced to 3 ½ years [5].

The family had a land lease over 40 ha, on which they had constructed a fish farm.