On 27 June 2013, L4L, together with a broad coalition of other NGO’s, requested the US Secretary of State John Kerry in a letter to take action to free the Vietnamese lawyer Mr. Le Quoc Quan. Kerry will attend the ASEAN conference later this month. The organisations have requested him to seize the opportunity to request the Vietnamese Government to release Mr. Quan.
On 27 December 2012, Mr. Le Quoc Quan was arrested by the police in Hanoi while dropping off his daughter at school. The police also searched his office and home and confiscated some documents. They apparently read out a warrant, but did not give it to Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s family. The police told his family that he would be charged under Article 161 of the Criminal Code, which relates to tax evasion. If condemned, he risks three years in prison and a heavy fine. His trial will start on the 9th of July 2013.
Like many Vietnamese human rights lawyers, bloggers and activists, Mr. Le Quoc Quan has regularly been subject to arbitrary arrest and has been on constant surveillance. L4L has reason to believe that this recent arrest of Mr. Le Quoc Quan as well as the previous arbitrary arrests and constant harassment are directly linked to Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s work in the defence of human rights.
The last couple of months L4L has campaigned on a large scale on behalf of le Quoc Quan. A petition was filed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Quan was mentioned in the recently submitted UPR submission for the review on Vietnam.
Click here for the official press statement.
