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Communist Vision: A Nation Devoid of Independent Lawyers |
Ðằng Vân
Point of View
Week Ending 29 April 2003
To date, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has directed its government to arrest six Vietnamese lawyers whose only crime is to peacefully voice their concerns about the obvious lack of democracy and human rights in Vietnam.
These courageous lawyers are:
Mr. Nguyen Van Dai
Ms. Le Thi Cong Nhan
Mr. Le Quoc Quan
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang
Ms. Bui Thi Kim Thanh, and
Mr. Nguyen Van Chuyen
Even though they are lawyers, they have been denied their basic legal rights under the constitution and the law.
The current constitution states:
“Article 71
The citizen shall enjoy inviolability of the person and the protection of the
law with regard to his life, health, honor and dignity.
No one can be arrested in the absence of a ruling by the People's Court, a ruling or sanction of the People's Office of Supervision and Control except in case of flagrant offences. Taking a person into, or holding him in, custody must be done with full observance of the law.
It is strictly forbidden to use all forms of harassment and coercion, torture, violation of his honor and dignity, against a citizen.
Article 72
No one shall be regarded as guilty and be subjected to punishment before the
sentence of the Court has acquired full legal effect.
Any person who has been arrested, held in custody, prosecuted, brought to trial in violation of the law shall be entitled to damages for any material harm suffered and his reputation shall be rehabilitated. Anybody who contravenes the law in arresting, holding in custody, prosecuting, bringing to trial another person thereby causing him damage shall be dealt with severely.
Article 73
The citizen is entitled to the inviolability of his domicile.
No one can enter the domicile of another person without his consent, except in cases authorized by the law.
Safety and secrecy are guaranteed to the citizen correspondence, telephone conversations and telegrams.
Domiciliary searches and the opening, control, and confiscation of a citizen's correspondence and telegrams can only be done by a competent authority in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
Thus, articles 71, 72, 73 of the constitution guarantee due process, the presumption of innocence and the sanctity of private residence and personal possession respectively.
But all these guaranties are mere smokescreens to assuage international concerns. Article 4 of the constitution is always there to deprive all citizens’ rights of any substance whatsoever. This infamous article guarantees to the CPV political power for eternity. It has been used as legal justification for the CPV to control the government, civil society, the army, the police, and the judiciary. As a result, in Vietnam the CPV is at the same time judge, jury and executioner.
This bizarre article 4 reads:
“Article 4
The Communist Party of Vietnam, the vanguard of the Vietnamese working class,
the faithful representative of the rights and interests of the working class,
the toiling people, and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist-Leninist
doctrine and Ho Chi Minh's thought, is the force leading the State and society.
All Party organizations operate within the framework of the Constitution and the law.”
Only in the so-called Socialist Republic of Vietnam and its Communist allies (Communist China, North Korea and Cuba) are political prisoners denied legal representation.
The trial of two of these lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, has been scheduled to take place on 11 May 2007. There are no words on the exact nature of the charges being contemplated against the remaining lawyers, or their whereabouts or when their matters will be dealt with by a court of law.
In a Communist state, even lawyers are denied of basic legal rights enjoyed by all citizens of the rest of humanity. The fate and ensuing suffering of other lowly citizens, when facing Communist justice, in Socialist Vietnam, must be unfathomable.
The CPV seems to have the Hanoi Law Society in its pocket as well. Indeed, in stark violation of article 72 of the constitution, its infamous president Pham Hong Hai did not see it necessary to wait for the result of the 11 May trial. On 12 March 2007, he issued a decision to withdraw the names of these two dissidents from the roll of lawyers.
It is abundantly clear that Mr. Pham Hong Hai does not have the professional integrity and independent judgment required for being a member of the legal profession anywhere in the world, except in Communist nations.
It is also clear that the CPV is making a supreme effort to root out all independent lawyers from the legal profession in Vietnam. They hope that a nation devoid of independent lawyers will be a nation of slaves over whom it can rule for eternity.
Given the ever increasing number of dissidents inside Vietnam now, the CPV is destined for a rude shock.
Not only Vietnamese dissenting lawyers but the Vietnamese population can read the constitution too. They are an intelligent lot. Article 4 is an insult to their intelligence. It will be tossed into the dustbin of history together with its author the CPV.
Ðằng Vân
1 May 2007