Vietnam: Gen Z seek justice for teen killed in ex-politician's car crash - BBC News
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Rumours swirled after a Vietnamese teen was run over - then came a stunning admission
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Many on social media have been calling for accountability over a fatal traffic accident in Hanoi last May.
By Gavin Butler and BBC News Vietnamese
Published 29 minutes ago
Until recently, there would have been little to distinguish Vietnam's so-called Justice Tree from the hundreds of others lining the streets of Hanoi. Then the bouquets started piling up.
It was here that former politician Nguyen Sy Cuong was driving his BMW in May last year when he veered into the opposite lane and smashed into a motorbike carrying a father and his teenage daughter.
The father, Do Viet Hung, suffered a broken leg but survived. The daughter, 18-year-old Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy, died in hospital 10 days after the collision which severed her right leg.
Fifteen months later, her death, and what many view as a suspicious silence surrounding it, has become a lightning rod for discontent among Vietnam's youth.
In early August, a legion of anonymous social media users started publishing millions of posts with the hashtags #NguyenSyCuong and #BMW across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X. The users identified themselves as Gen Z – and they demanded accountability.
Initial discussions circled around whether the former politician was in fact the one who had caused the accident, and why authorities had only released sparse information.
Some pointed to reports that the driver of the BMW had the initials NSC and was born in 1961, leading to speculation that he was a former member of parliament. Others claimed the incident had been swept under the rug due to the influence of powerful figures. Many reported that their posts had been deleted by social media platforms at the request of the Vietnamese government – providing screenshots of notifications as evidence.
Expressions of outrage and calls for a proper investigation grew in number, volume, and force.
Meanwhile, masked flower bearers started to appear, gravitating towards the scene of the incident and laying vibrant bouquets at the base of what has now been dubbed the Justice Tree. Police quickly arrived to get rid of the flowers, prompting mourners to create a virtual equivalent of the tree online – where hundreds of thousands of people have since sent tributes and paid respects.
Pressurised by more than a year's worth of growing suspicion and a rush of online attention, the issue had become too big to ignore.
Then, last Monday, the government made an extraordinary admission.
State broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) televised an official statement from authorities, confirming what had happened on the day of the incident.
Former National Assembly deputy Nguyen Sy Cuong was indeed driving his car down Nguyen Huy Tu Street on 30 May, 2025, when his vehicle suddenly swerved across the road and into an oncoming motorcycle.
VTV cited police and prosecution sources who said that because Nguyen Sy Cuong "sincerely confessed and actively and fully remedied the consequences of his actions", Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy's family had submitted a petition to exempt him from prosecution. The report did not specify what form this remedy took, but Nguyen Sy Cuong was cleared of all criminal liability.