By Ashish Kumar Sen | Washinton Times, 19 Feb 2014.
A court in Vietnam has upheld the conviction of a popular human rights lawyer and dissident on tax evasion charges, drawing a swift rebuke from the Obama administration.
The Hanoi Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Le Quoc Quan on what a human rights group said were “trumped up charges.”
State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the Obama administration is “deeply concerned” by the verdict. “The use of tax laws by Vietnamese authorities to imprison government critics for peacefully expressing their political views is disturbing,” she said.
“This conviction appears to be inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression and Vietnam’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and commitments reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” she added.
On Monday, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the court must strike down Mr. Quan’s conviction.
“People in Vietnam and around the world are scrutinizing Vietnam’s human rights record like never before, looking for the signs of improvement the government itself has promised,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “A truly independent court would overturn Le Quoc Quan’s conviction, restore his full rights to practice as a lawyer, and allow him to resume his work as one of Vietnam’s most determined human rights defenders.”
Mr. Quan founded the Quan and Brothers law firm, which provided legal aid to factory workers and the poor.
He was arrested in 2007 after he returned to Vietnam from the U.S., where he was a visiting fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington. He was arrested again in December of 2012. In October, a court in Hanoi sentenced him to 30 months’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of tax evasion.
Mr. Quan is serving his sentence in Hanoi’s Hoa Lo prison where he has been on hunger strike since Feb. 2 to protest the conditions of his detention.
…
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/19/le-quoc-quan-conviction-upheld-vietnam-court/#ixzz2todKTvTO
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February 20, 2014
Le Quoc Quan conviction upheld by Vietnam court
by Defend the Defenders • Le Quoc Quan
A court in Vietnam has upheld the conviction of a popular human rights lawyer and dissident on tax evasion charges, drawing a swift rebuke from the Obama administration.
The Hanoi Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Le Quoc Quan on what a human rights group said were “trumped up charges.”
State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the Obama administration is “deeply concerned” by the verdict. “The use of tax laws by Vietnamese authorities to imprison government critics for peacefully expressing their political views is disturbing,” she said.
“This conviction appears to be inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression and Vietnam’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and commitments reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” she added.
On Monday, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the court must strike down Mr. Quan’s conviction.
“People in Vietnam and around the world are scrutinizing Vietnam’s human rights record like never before, looking for the signs of improvement the government itself has promised,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “A truly independent court would overturn Le Quoc Quan’s conviction, restore his full rights to practice as a lawyer, and allow him to resume his work as one of Vietnam’s most determined human rights defenders.”
Mr. Quan founded the Quan and Brothers law firm, which provided legal aid to factory workers and the poor.
He was arrested in 2007 after he returned to Vietnam from the U.S., where he was a visiting fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington. He was arrested again in December of 2012. In October, a court in Hanoi sentenced him to 30 months’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of tax evasion.
Mr. Quan is serving his sentence in Hanoi’s Hoa Lo prison where he has been on hunger strike since Feb. 2 to protest the conditions of his detention.
…
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/19/le-quoc-quan-conviction-upheld-vietnam-court/#ixzz2todKTvTO
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter