I tell my daughter not to be afraid to be involved in the Czech society
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Nguyen Manh Cuong was born on August 2, 1962 in Hanoi in the communist North Vietnam. In October 1980 he was selected for study in Czechoslovakia as part of an education and work program. In 1983 he completed his training at the vocational school in Dačice as a factory tool maker. In 1985 he was admitted to the study of translation and interpreting, which enabled him to remain in Czechoslovakia. From 1990 until 1993 he and his friends were publishing a samizdat weekly, which served to inform the Vietnamese community about events in Czechoslovakia. He was also organizing protest events with his friends for the release of political prisoners in Vietnam and translating Vietnamese exile literature which he was then sending to his homeland. In 1992 he was charged with high treason in Vietnam and the validity of his Vietnamese passport was not extended. In 2007 he and his friends established a civic organization Van Lang.
