Len Duong Press Release regarding Unjust Trial of Father Nguyen Van Ly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Jose, March 30, 2007

Early this morning, in a move that deepened the Vietnamese Government’s worst crackdown on human rights and pro-democracy activists in Vietnam in the last 20 years, Vietnamese court sentenced a core member of Bloc 8406, Father Nguyen Van Ly to 8 years of prison for his pro-democracy activism.
In an unjust and prefixed trial, Father Ly and his four co-defendants were denied their rights to a defense attorney. Father Nguyen Van Ly refused to answer charges from the prosecution and exclaimed in protest “The Communists use the law of the jungle!”

In the coming weeks, the Vietnamese courts will try other human rights activists including attorneys Le Thi Cong Nhan and Nguyen Van Dai. The recent arrest of Le Quoc Quan, an attorney-in- training recently returned to Vietnam following his Fellowship at the National Endowment for Democracy, demonstrated the Vietnamese Government’s iron determination to sweep clean the pro-democracy movement and strike fear upon the people of Vietnam that are calling for human rights and democracy in Vietnam.

It is important for the Vietnamese youths to recognize that Ha Noi failed to uphold its end of the bargain and continued to extend its record of human rights abuses despite its ascension into the WTO.

We appeal to all youths and youth organizations worldwide to take a strong stand in support of the human rights activists. We strongly urge you to join us in a joint statement, calling on the Vietnamese Government to respect human rights and adhere to international laws and regulations if they want to continue to have healthy trade relations with the Western world.

Raise your voice by calling your respective governmental officials and lobby them to speak out on behalf of the dissidents and put more pressure on the Vietnamese Government to immediately release Father Nguyen Van Ly, attorneys Le Thi Cong Nhan, Nguyen Van Dai, Le Quoc Quan and others.

More than ever, young people, especially inside of Vietnam need to raise our voices and not be afraid to exercise our basic liberties such as freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and religion.

Sincerely,

Quoc D. Phan
General Secretary – Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network