Le Tran Luat, the pro-bono attorney of the record for the Thai Ha Catholics at the court of appeal set for Mar 27, 2009 continues to be harassed, defamed and prevented as he was trying to make it to Hanoi in time for the court date despite his clients' motion to the court and the authority for his release and fulfillment of his duty as their legal counsel.
On Mar 15, 2009 seven of Thai Ha Catholics who are appealing their guilty verdict from the criminal court on Dec 8, 2008 for protesting the state's illegal requisition of their parish's land had found themselves in an awkward situation where the defendants have become the defenders of their legal advocate. They had to file a motion to the court and the government to ask for the safety and release of their lawyer Mr. Le Tran Luat who has been subject of government's deliberate campaign to stall his effort in defending his clients in the up-coming court.
Le Tran Luat has been providing free council for the above defendants since the criminal case began following the incidents in August of last year.
After the guilty verdict from the lower court in last December, the Catholics decided to file an appeal to the high court. They also filed law suits against the state media outlets namely Vietnam Television 1 and New Hanoi newspaper for reporting that "all of those charged admitted their guilt, acknowledging that they had carried out actions in violation of the law." while the defendants and witnesses in the trial say that all of those charged had pleaded not guilty in court. It should be added that the authors of the reports have also received an award, under the patronage of Pham Quang Nghi the general secretary of the Communist Party in Hanoi.
As the new court date has been set, Vietnamese state media have launched a defamation campaign against the Catholic defendants suggesting more severe punishments.
In the meantime, the New Hanoi on February 27 has turned down requests from the defendants to make corrections on those reports. The following day, the online edition of the newspaper published an article accusing the plaintiffs of Thai Ha of refusing to "wake up to reality." A week later, on March 5, Vietnam Television 1 rejected the request.
In general, the objective of the state media is becoming clear: to depict the lawsuit by the Catholics as groundless before public opinion, and to paint the plaintiffs as stubborn defendants who not only refuse to respect the sentence of the People's Tribunal of Hanoi, but also continue to provoke public disturbance by insisting that the media correct what they describe as a clear "distortion of the truth."
On the other hand, a campaign of intimidation underway against the lawyer Le Tran Luat, who is handling the lawsuit advanced by the Catholics. On March 3, the lawyer was stopped by police at Tan Son Nhat airport, as he was preparing to leave Ho Chi Minh City for Hanoi, in order to prepare the lawsuit against Ha Noi News and Vietnam Television 1. Prior to this, his office was raided his computers and other equipments confiscated, his legal assistant Ta Phong Tan was apprehended and subjected to a lengthy interrogation, his partner Nguyen Quoc Dat who has nothing to do with the law suit has also been harassed and arrested on Mar 12. The Attorneys' Association put him under accusation, the Security newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City accused him of fraudulent income, and an anonymous phone caller told him to withdraw from the lawsuit. Luat was arrested again on March 15 and put under the so-called "working sessions" with Go Vap district's police against his will.
Police have also attacked him financially. His law firm reported that police had forced most of his clients in Phu Quoc province to cancel their legal contracts, describing the lawyer as "a political criminal" who would soon be put into jail.
Most recently, on March 18, while the lawyer was trying to find his way to Hanoi he was followed and caught by the police nearby Ninh Phuoc, a coastal town in Ninh Thuan province of south central Vietnam. They brought him back to Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh city and he has once again been put back to the same custody of the local security force which seems to be more determined to deter the devoted lawyer from being involved in the lawsuit brought by the defiant Catholics of Hanoi.
As the trial date closing in, the fate of Le Tran Luat and of the Thai Ha Catholics’ court case remain bleak. They feel their human rights and their right to due process are being severely violated by Vietnam government as their appointed council of record being detained indefinitely without probable cause while his clients are being left defenseless with legal issues they are not capable of handling on their own in the up-coning court of appeal.
On Mar 15, 2009 seven of Thai Ha Catholics who are appealing their guilty verdict from the criminal court on Dec 8, 2008 for protesting the state's illegal requisition of their parish's land had found themselves in an awkward situation where the defendants have become the defenders of their legal advocate. They had to file a motion to the court and the government to ask for the safety and release of their lawyer Mr. Le Tran Luat who has been subject of government's deliberate campaign to stall his effort in defending his clients in the up-coming court.
Le Tran Luat has been providing free council for the above defendants since the criminal case began following the incidents in August of last year.
After the guilty verdict from the lower court in last December, the Catholics decided to file an appeal to the high court. They also filed law suits against the state media outlets namely Vietnam Television 1 and New Hanoi newspaper for reporting that "all of those charged admitted their guilt, acknowledging that they had carried out actions in violation of the law." while the defendants and witnesses in the trial say that all of those charged had pleaded not guilty in court. It should be added that the authors of the reports have also received an award, under the patronage of Pham Quang Nghi the general secretary of the Communist Party in Hanoi.
As the new court date has been set, Vietnamese state media have launched a defamation campaign against the Catholic defendants suggesting more severe punishments.
In the meantime, the New Hanoi on February 27 has turned down requests from the defendants to make corrections on those reports. The following day, the online edition of the newspaper published an article accusing the plaintiffs of Thai Ha of refusing to "wake up to reality." A week later, on March 5, Vietnam Television 1 rejected the request.
In general, the objective of the state media is becoming clear: to depict the lawsuit by the Catholics as groundless before public opinion, and to paint the plaintiffs as stubborn defendants who not only refuse to respect the sentence of the People's Tribunal of Hanoi, but also continue to provoke public disturbance by insisting that the media correct what they describe as a clear "distortion of the truth."
On the other hand, a campaign of intimidation underway against the lawyer Le Tran Luat, who is handling the lawsuit advanced by the Catholics. On March 3, the lawyer was stopped by police at Tan Son Nhat airport, as he was preparing to leave Ho Chi Minh City for Hanoi, in order to prepare the lawsuit against Ha Noi News and Vietnam Television 1. Prior to this, his office was raided his computers and other equipments confiscated, his legal assistant Ta Phong Tan was apprehended and subjected to a lengthy interrogation, his partner Nguyen Quoc Dat who has nothing to do with the law suit has also been harassed and arrested on Mar 12. The Attorneys' Association put him under accusation, the Security newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City accused him of fraudulent income, and an anonymous phone caller told him to withdraw from the lawsuit. Luat was arrested again on March 15 and put under the so-called "working sessions" with Go Vap district's police against his will.
Police have also attacked him financially. His law firm reported that police had forced most of his clients in Phu Quoc province to cancel their legal contracts, describing the lawyer as "a political criminal" who would soon be put into jail.
Most recently, on March 18, while the lawyer was trying to find his way to Hanoi he was followed and caught by the police nearby Ninh Phuoc, a coastal town in Ninh Thuan province of south central Vietnam. They brought him back to Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh city and he has once again been put back to the same custody of the local security force which seems to be more determined to deter the devoted lawyer from being involved in the lawsuit brought by the defiant Catholics of Hanoi.
As the trial date closing in, the fate of Le Tran Luat and of the Thai Ha Catholics’ court case remain bleak. They feel their human rights and their right to due process are being severely violated by Vietnam government as their appointed council of record being detained indefinitely without probable cause while his clients are being left defenseless with legal issues they are not capable of handling on their own in the up-coning court of appeal.