BY AIRMAIL
H.E. Mr. Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet
Nam
01 Hoang Hoa Tham street, Ba Dinh district
HANOI, VIETNAM
Fax: 0084 08 04 41 30
<<PLACE>>, 10 December 2014
Your Excellency,
The Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation (L4L) has expressed its grave concern about the
continuing imprisonment of our colleague Mr. Le Quoc Quan. (As a Dutch lawyer, )I fully
share these concerns.
On 27 December 2014, it will be two years ago that Mr. Le Quoc Quan was arrested on
alleged charges of tax evasion. Following his arrest, he was held incommunicado and
denied permission to see his lawyer for two months. Mr Quan first saw a family member
at his trial on 2 October 2013, at which he was convicted of evading corporate income tax
and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment and a fine of 1.2 billion dong (approximately
USD 59,000).
In 2013, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned Mr. Le Quoc
Quan’s detention as violating his right to freedom of expression and his right to a fair trial.
It found that Mr. Le Quoc Quan had been targeted for his work as an activist and as a
blogger and called for his immediate release or for his conviction to be reviewed by an
independent court. It also recommended that Viet Nam pay damages to Mr. Le Quoc Quan
for his arbitrary detention.
The government of Viet Nam has not responded to this decision. On 18 February 2014,
the Court of Appeal in Hanoi upheld Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s conviction. The decision of the
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was not taken into account.
I urge you to recognize the valuable role played by criminal defence lawyers and to
promote and support their work in line with the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers,
adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders in 1990.
Paragraphs 16 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state that the
Government is under an obligation 'to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their
professional
functions
without
intimidation,
hindrance,
harassment
or
improper
interference', and to ensure that lawyers ‘shall not suffer, or be threatened with,
prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in
accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics’.
Human Rights Day, 10 December, is the day that the UN General Assembly proclaimed in
1950 to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. In
view of this, I urge the authorities of Viet Nam to comply with the decision of the United
Nations Working Group and to release Mr. Le Quoc Quan immediately and unconditionally
so that he can spend Christmas with his family.
I thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
<<NAME>>
BY AIRMAIL
H.E. Mr. Trương Tấn Sang
President of the Socialist Republic of Viet
Nam
02 Hung Vuong street, Ba Dinh district
HANOI, VIETNAM
<<PLACE>>, 10 December 2014
Your Excellency,
The Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation (L4L) has expressed its grave concern about the
continuing imprisonment of our colleague Mr. Le Quoc Quan. (As a Dutch lawyer, )I fully
share these concerns.
On 27 December 2014, it will be two years ago that Mr. Le Quoc Quan was arrested on
alleged charges of tax evasion. Following his arrest, he was held incommunicado and
denied permission to see his lawyer for two months. Mr Quan first saw a family member
at his trial on 2 October 2013, at which he was convicted of evading corporate income tax
and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment and a fine of 1.2 billion dong (approximately
USD 59,000).
In 2013, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned Mr. Le Quoc
Quan’s detention as violating his right to freedom of expression and his right to a fair trial.
It found that Mr. Le Quoc Quan had been targeted for his work as an activist and as a
blogger and called for his immediate release or for his conviction to be reviewed by an
independent court. It also recommended that Viet Nam pay damages to Mr. Le Quoc Quan
for his arbitrary detention.
The government of Viet Nam has not responded to this decision. On 18 February 2014,
the Court of Appeal in Hanoi upheld Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s conviction. The decision of the
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was not taken into account.
I urge you to recognize the valuable role played by criminal defence lawyers and to
promote and support their work in line with the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers,
adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders in 1990.
Paragraphs 16 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state that the
Government is under an obligation 'to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their
professional
functions
without
intimidation,
hindrance,
harassment
or
improper
interference', and to ensure that lawyers ‘shall not suffer, or be threatened with,
prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in
accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics’.
Human Rights Day, 10 December, is the day that the UN General Assembly proclaimed in
1950 to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. In
view of this, I urge the authorities of Viet Nam to comply with the decision of the United
Nations Working Group and to release Mr. Le Quoc Quan immediately and unconditionally
so that he can spend Christmas with his family.
I thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Yours sincerely,
<<NAME>>