Authorities should refrain from further persecution after Le Quoc Quan’s release
Vietnam
On 27 June 2015, lawyer and blogger Le Quoc Quan will have served his full prison sentence and will be released. In a letter, sent together with a broad coalition of organizations, Lawyers for Lawyers called on the Vietnamese authorities to refrain from any further persecution, harassment and/or unlawfull arrest of Mr. Le Quoc Quan, to reinstate his license to work as a lawyer and to undo his disbarment; and to grant reparation to him for the arbitrary detention he suffered.
For years, Le Quoc Quan was persecuted for his human rights work. Already in 2007, after he represented numerous victims of human rights violations, Le Quoc Quan was disbarred. Hereafter, on 27 December 2012, Le Quoc Quan was arrested and later convicted to 30 months in prison on charges of ‘tax evasion’. In 2013, the detention of Le Quoc Quan was condemned by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention as a violation of his right to freedom of expression and his right to a fair trial. It found that Le Quoc Quan had been targeted for his work as a lawyer and a blogger and called for his immediate release or for his conviction to be reviewed by an independent court.
Please click here to view the letter.