Norwegian Member of Parliament raised questions about the trial of Nguyen The Vu.
The Department of Foreign Affairs met with Viet Tan representative.
May 6, 2008
On May 6, 2008, Martin Finn Vallernes, a Member of Parliament (Conservative party) raised the following questions with the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs:
What can the Minister of Foreign Affairs do to influence the May 13, 200 trial of Nguyen The Vu who is charged with terrorism? And what can he do to help naturalized Norwegian citizens who are threatened by their former country for their legal activities in Norway?
The reason why these questions are asked, is that the Vietnamese government arrested three democracy activists from USA, France and Thailand and 3 Vietnamese citizens. The 3 Vietnamese citizens are brothers but also cousins of a Norwegian citizen from Vietnam. The Vietnamese government pressured his family in Vietnam to disclose his activities in Norway and demanded their cooperation.
Some of those arrested were recently released but one of the brothers, Nguyen The Vu, remained in custody and will be tried for terrorism on May 13, 2008. This chain of events raised fears in the Vietnamese community in Norway, fear of being watched by a foreign government. They also fear for the safety of their families in Vietnam.
According to the parliamentary rules, the Minister of Foreign Affairs must have an official response in 6 days.
On May 8, the officials of the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs met with Mr Nguyen Duc Thuan, a Viet Tan member in Norway, to learn more about Nguyen The Vu’s trial on May 13 and about the Vietnamese government’s harassment of his relatives in Vietnam. During the meeting the Department of Foreign Affairs reconfirmed that Norway does not consider Viet Tan a terrorist organization. They also announced that the Norwegian embassy in Vietnam will work with other foreign embassies to monitor the upcoming trial.