Mr. Didier Burkhalter
Federal Councillor
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Bundesgasse 32
3003 Berne
Geneva, 21 December 2015
Intervention for the vietnamese lawyer Nguyen Van Dai
Dear Federal Councillor Burkhalter,
We write to express our strong concerns regarding the arrest of Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, the founder and an active member of the Vietnam Human Rights Center. He was brutally arrested by police on December 16 after returning from a human rights forum in Nam Dan District, Nghe An Province. The Vietnamese government has once again charged him for violating Article 88 of the Penal Code for conducting “propaganda against the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.
Mr Nguyen Van Dai, previously imprisoned between 2007 and 2011, has never given up promoting human rights all these years.
Vietnam continues to arbitrary detain democracy activists and bloggers. Switzerland cannot stay quiet regarding Mr Nguyen Van Dai’s arrest. Switzerland must call Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Nguyen Van Dai, a brave, responsible and peaceful citizen. Your department must react strongly and efficiently to this obvious violation but disguised as a penal infraction of Human Rights. Mr Nguyen Van Dai answer at all points as the definition of Human Rights defenders who are subject to an international attention for their courage and exemplary personalities of their action.
We ask for the Swiss Embassy in Hanoi to immediately enquire about Mr Nguyen Van Dai’s physical health and guarantee visitation rights for his family and lawyers. We are prepared to organize a Genevese delegation to visit Nguyen Van Dai.
We look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
Rolin Wavre, President of the Swiss – Vietnam Committee
Anne-Marie von Arx-Vernon, Geneva Member of Parliament
Jean-Marc Comte, Mayor of Grand-Saconnex City
Jean-Luc von Arx, Municipal councillor, City of Geneva
Khai Nguyen Dang, Viet-Tân (Switzerland)
Luy Nguyen Tang, General secretary of the Swiss – Vietnam Committee.
