June 16, 2009
A prominent lawyer arrested in Vietnam may have been detained because of his opposition to a bauxite mine being developed by Chinese interests, says an activist in Australia.
The United States has expressed deep concern over the arrest and called for the lawyer’s immediate release.
Nguyen Do Thanh Phong, a Sydney-based cardiologist, says Le Cong Dinh, 41, has also been actively involved in a number of other cases, and is known for his aspirations to try to improve Communist-controlled Vietnam.
He was arrested under a law banning distribution of anti-state propaganda, says Mr Nguyen, who is a leader of Viet Tan – an international political party calling for reform in Vietnam.
“But basically what we believe is that Le Cong Dinh was arrested purely because of his expression,” he told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia Program.
PM involved
“He has written a lot of articles making comments and suggestions to government policies, ranging from . . . things like the recent debatable bauxite mine in the central part of Vietnam, which involved the Prime Minister.
“It had caused a lot of discontent within the country.
“Previously he has been doing his work by defending cases such as a well-known case a couple of years ago involving human rights activists.
“So he was basically, we believe, being arrested and imprisoned for more or less his job, his work.”
It has been reported that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is determined to go ahead with a aluminium project in the central highlands region, despite public protests.
War hero’s letter
Famed war hero General Vo Nguyen Giap, aged 97, recent sent an open letter to Mr Dung asking for plans for bauxite mining to be put on hold until international experts had studied the ecological impact.
Mr Nguyen says since the general spoke out, “it has caused a lot of comments and concern within the country, mostly within the scientific or environmentalist groups”.
“But because it’s involved government officials, particularly the Prime Minister . . . it had caused a lot of worries and concern from the government perspective because of the public discontent.”
The cardiologist says it is not known where Le Cong Dinh is being held, or his condition since his arrest last Saturday.
’Collusion’
State media reports in Vietnam say he was arrested for colluding with “foreign forces”.
A State Department spokesman in Washington says no one should be arrested for expressing the right to free speech.
The spokesman said no lawyer should be punished because of the individuals they choose to counsel.
Security authorities in Vietnam have described Mr Dinh as a key member of a Vietnamese opposition group that seeks to overthrow the regime by creating two opposition parties.