Germany’s bar association calls for Le Quoc Quan’s release

 

VNRN - May 17, 2014

The umbrella organization for Germany’s lawyers called for Vietnam to accelerate the release of lawyer and democracy activist Le Quoc Quan, in a letter addressed to Vietnam’s Prime Minister dated May 12 and made public by Quan’s family today.

“We urge you to make sure with all available means that the necessary measures will be taken to guarantee Le Quoc Quan’s well-being and safety, and to accelerate his release,” wrote Axel C. Filges, the President of the German Federal Bar, the Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer.

Quan was sentenced in October 2013 to 30 months in prison, on charges of tax evasion. Independent international observers consider the charges to be invalid and trumped up to silence Quan’s activism. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in November 2013 ruled that Quan should be released.

“The hearing of the criminal trial corresponded neither to the rule of law nor to the Vietnamese Law of Criminal Procedure,” the German bar association noted in the letter, and added, “We have learned that tax liabilities did not even exist.”

“Le Quoc Quan is known for his peaceful commitment to democracy and human rights in Vietnam. In the past he was arrested several times. Therefore, it stands to reason to assume that the conviction is politically motivated and that he was punished for his active human rights work.”

In February, Quan’s mother traveled to the U.S. and Switzerland and spoke to delegates at the UN Human Rights Council as they conducted the Universal Period Review of Vietnam’s records, seeking the release of her son and other prisoners of conscience.

The Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer is the umbrella organisation of the professional self-regulation of German lawyers. It represents the interests of the 28 German Bars and thus of the entire legal profession in the Federal Republic of Germany, which currently consists of approximately 183,000 lawyers, vis-à-vis authorities, courts and organisations at a national, European and international level.

 

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