Trung rose in this organization and was appointed deputy secretary for the party, heading up Youth Affairs. The THTNDC in the meantime set up a new radio channel for Vietnamese youths in March 2007, broadcasting from Yahoo blog 360, twice weekly in 15–20 minute segments. In its debut broadcast, 7000 listeners tuned in. Shortly after his return to Vietnam in 2007, Trung was called to present for military service in March 2008. According to his mother, he declined to take the Army's honor oath as he claimed it deviated from the revolutionary spirit set forth by Ho Chi Minh. Trung was dismissed from the military on 6 July 2009 but then arrested the very next day and charged with violating the 88th article of Criminal Code, allegedly for "plotting to overthrow the government of Vietnam". His arrest followed the detention of two other dissidents, attorney Le Cong Dinh and Tran Anh Kim, a retired Army officer. After Trung's arrest, Vietnamese formed groups supporting him such as “Release Nguyen Tien Trung - say 1000s and 1000s of Vietnamese on FB". However the response to this group was not strong. There were around 1000 people in the group, which had signed a letter appealing for his freedom. One day after Trung's arrest, Loretta Sanchez, member of the United States House of Representatives, officially protested the Vietnamese government's action in jailing the activists. Political analyst Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales noted that charges of subversion are unsubstantiated while the real intent of the Communist authorities is to silence the dissidents. In connection with Nguyen Tien Trung detention, Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based international non-government organization, has released an official condemnation of the arrest, asserting that while the rest of the world has its attention on protests in Iran and the riots in Xinjiang, the Vietnamese Communist government had jailed a number of pro-democracy activists who had spoken out against the state even though their efforts have been peaceful. This would set Vietnam back 10 years in terms of the democratizing process. This was followed by reports that Nguyen Tien Trung was denied access to legal counsel. While in detention Trung is under coercive physical and psychological measures to "confess". The communiqué issued by Reporters Without Borders called on the international community to pressure the Vietnamese government to live up to its signatory status in respecting human rights. On July 14, The European Union (EU) represented by The EU Troika through the ambassadors of Sweden, Spain and The European Commission formally expressed their “grave concern” over the recent arrests of Nguyen Tien Trung and Tran Anh Kim.