Vietnamese
lawyer who defended Catholics and rights activists suspended
AsiaNews
08/17/2011
Huynh Van Dong, 33, can no longer practice after he is
accused of contempt of court. The decision by the Dac Lac Provincial Bar
Association causes protests by international organisations. In the past, the
lawyer represented Can Dau parishioners in cases of forced expropriations.
Hanoi – A famous Vietnamese lawyer and human rights
activist will no longer be able to practice his profession after he was found
“guilty” of defending high profile dissidents, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
The Dac Lac Provincial Bar Association (central Vietnam) on 12 August suspended
Huynh Van Dong, 33, in response to a June request by a provincial court to
disbar the lawyer for “disrespecting the law”.
In May, the Vietnamese lawyer had represented
pro-democracy activists Tran Thi Thuy and Pham Van Thong in their preliminary
trial in southern Ben Tre province.
Thuy, Thong, and five other men were later
convicted of “attempting to overthrow the people’s administration” after they
allegedly left the country to receive training and funding from Viet Tan before
returning home to “operate.” The US-based Viet Tan is banned in Vietnam and is
considered by the ruling Communist party as a terrorist group.
The Ben Tre People’s Court said that during the
trial, Dong had exhibited “behaviours that violated Attorney’s Laws and took
advantage of freedom and democracy rights to infringe upon the interests of the
state”.
The court specifically mentioned Dong’s “attitude
opposing the trial” and his attempt to “transform the trial into a public forum,
degrade the credibility and [offend] the Communist Party and the Government of
Vietnam,” court documents said.
The decision has outraged a number of groups and
associations, including the Malaysia-based Media Defence Southeast Asia, which
noted that the ruling violates the principles of separation of powers and
judicial independence.
This is not the first time that the authorities
have targeted Huynh Van Dong. Many times, he was detained and interrogated. On
more than one occasion, he entered a plea of innocence for his clients instead
of asking for the court’s clemency.
He represented Catholics from Thai Ha and Can Dau
parishes in March 2009 and May 2011 in cases involving property and non-authorised
demonstrations.
In recent weeks, Huynh Van Dong had written online
that freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom
of political parties had become a ‘luxury’ in Vietnam.