Paris “deeply” regrets that the diplomatic representatives of France were not able to visit Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, a French national who was arrested on November 17 in Ho-Chi-Minh-City, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs affirmed on Friday.
“Until today, our embassy was not allowed to visit Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Van. We deeply regret it”, the spokesperson of the Quay d’Orsay Pascale Andréani declared.
“We will continue to request to be able to provide consular protection and we will keep up requesting it”, she added during a press conference. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Nguyen Thi Thanh Van is “an French activist and journalist”, arrested on November 17 with five other activists.
RSF condemned in its press release of Monday “the arrest of six activists in the pro-democracy party Viet Tan, including Frenchwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, a renowned freedom of expression activist” and asked for their “immediate release”.
This Frenchwoman “is a regulare contributor to the Vietnamese community media in exile: the monthly Viet Nam Dan Chu (Democracy in Vietnam) and Radio Chan Troi Moi (New Horizon – the voice of a democratic and reformed Vietnam)”, according to RSF.
According to the organization, she is also “the secretary general of the France-Vietnam Mutual Aid Organisation (AFVE) and she lives in Paris.”
“The arrest of six people for taking part in a clandestine meeting, shows that the crackdown launched against dissidents in 2007 has not yet ended,” RSF denouced.