Viet Nam: Le Quoc Quan on hunger strike

PEN International joins a broad coalition of NGOs and networks from around the world to call for the immediate release of blogger and human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan ahead of his appeal hearing next week.

(London, 14 February 2014) Jailed Vietnamese blogger and human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan has launched a hunger strike to protest the refusal by prison authorities to provide him access to legal counsel, access to legal and religious books, and access to a priest for spiritual guidance, ahead of his appeal trial on 18 February 2014 in Hanoi. Le Quoc Quan has been imprisoned since 27 December 2012.

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 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 Le Quoc Quan for his arbitrary detention. The government of Viet Nam has yet to respond to this decision.

 

A broad coalition of NGOs and networks from around the world is calling on the government of Viet Nam to comply with the decision of the United Nations Working Group and release Le Quoc Quan immediately. We firmly believe that the conviction and ongoing detention of Le Quoc Quan are arbitrary and violate his rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association, a fair trial and his rights as a human rights defender.

Media Legal Defence Initiative, Media Defence-Southeast Asia, Lawyers for Lawyers, Avocats Sans Frontières, Front Line Defenders, Access, English PEN, Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ARTICLE 19, Index on Censorship, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, the National Endowment for Democracy, the World Movement for Democracy, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and PEN International.

Notes to editors:

Le Quoc Quan was arrested on 27 December 2012 on baseless charges of tax evasion. Following his arrest, he was held incommunicado and denied permission to see his lawyer for two months. Repeated requests by his family to visit him were also denied. 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). He has appealed this decision.
The government of Viet Nam has long persecuted Le Quoc Quan for his human rights work. In 2007, after representing numerous victims of human rights violations, he was disbarred from practicing as a lawyer on suspicion of engaging in ‘activities to overthrow the regime’. He has been arrested several times for continuing his human rights advocacy. Following an attack by unknown assailants in August 2012, he was hospitalised. The attack was never investigated by the police.
For more information, please contact:

 

Nani Jansen, Senior Legal Counsel, Media Legal Defence Initiative: nani.jansen@mediadefence.org, +44 780 540 4089
Gail Davidson, Executive Director, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada: lrwc@portal.ca, +1 604 738 0338
Adrie van de Streek, Executive Director, Lawyers for Lawyers: info@lawyersforlawyers.nl and +31 626 274 390
Jochai Ben-Avie, Policy Director, Access Now: jochai@accessnow.org and +1 347 806 9531
HR Dipendra, Director, Media Defence – Southeast Asia: dipendra3000@gmail.com and +60 13 366 1222
Eva Galperin, Senior Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation: eva@eff.org and +1 415 436 9333
Benjamin Ismail, Head Asia-Pacific Desk, Reporters Without Borders: asia@rsf.org and +33 1 44 83 84 70
Mary Lawlor, Executive Director, Front Line Defenders: mary@frontlinedefenders.org
Cat Lucas, Writers at Risk Programme Manager, English PEN: cat@englishpen.org and +44 20 7324 2539
Nathalie Muller Sarallier, Avocats Sans Frontières Network: coordination@asf-network.com and +33 5 34 31 78 50
Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive, Index on Censorship: enquiries@indexoncensorship.org
Judy Taing, Asia Programme Officer, Article 19: judy@article19.org and +1 (646) 725-1444
Sally Blair, Senior Director, Fellowship Programs, National Endowment for Democracy: sallyb@ned.org and +1 202 378 9700
Art Kaufman, Senior Director, World Movement for Democracy: artk@ned.org and +1 202 378 9700
Eva Galperin, Global Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation: eva@eff.org and (415) 436-9333 ex. 111
Cathy McCann, PEN International: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org and +44 (0) 207 405 0338

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