PRESS RELEASE
Mr. Vo Van Ai wrote to H.M. Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
requesting to annul the verdict on Ly Tong’s extradition to Vietnam
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Kingdom of Thailand
Paris, September 11, 2006
Your Majesty,
Last July, while You were hospitalized for surgery, I stopped in Bangkok on my way to an international meeting in Asia. I will never forget the bright yellow color that lit the streets with waves of people in yellow clothes bearing the phrase “Long Live the King!” I also witnessed so many Thai citizens standing anxiously before the Siriraj Hospital waiting to see, even to catch a glimpse of You, the King they have loved and respected. But what made me moved most was that You appeared on the balcony before entering the surgery room. With Your skinny face, You looked tired, but You still tried to raise Your camera to take the pictures of Your subjects who had come to pray for Your quick recovery. With me, that image was the embodiment of Benevolence and Humanity, therefore Your people feel deep affection for You and the world adores You.
With such admiration, today I beg to write You requesting of Your Mercy and Compassion to help Ly Tong, the Vietnamese who has been imprisoned in the Kingdom of Thailand and is vulnerable to be extradited to Vietnam. In November 2000, former Air Force pilot Lieutenant Ly Tong, 55 years old, a Vietnamese American, took a civilian aircraft from Hua Hin beach in Southern Thailand and persuaded the pilot thereof to fly to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City where he dropped 50,000 leaflets calling for Democracy for Vietnam. On his return to Thailand, he was arrested and sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment for violating Thai airspace. He had already served his prison term and was released last May. But the Vietnamese authorities asked the Thai Government to extradite Ly Tong to Vietnam to stand trial there. He had to be jailed again waiting for the extradition court to judge, and last week, on September 7, 2006, this court decided that Ly Tong be extradited to Vietnam. He has 15 days to lodge an appeal against this verdict.
According to the Thai 1929 Extradition Law, no political activists may be extradited. The Vietnamese authorities offered to the Thai court that they would not try Ly Tong for political crimes, that was why Judge Peeravut Ang-chuan allowed Ly Tong’s extradition because the judge thought that Ly Tong would not be tried for his political activities. However, just after the verdict was returned, the Vietnam’s Foreign Affaris Ministery Spokesman, Le Dung, stated right away that Ly Tong “gravely violated Vietnam’s territorial security and national security” and “should be severely punished.” According to Vietnam’s Criminal Code, “violation of territorial and national security” is a serious political crime, and although this phrase has a vague meaning, that offence is punished by heavy imprisonment. Ly Tong might be life-sentenced by Vietnam if sent there.
Myself, as President of the Committee to Protect Human Rights, also as Vice-President of the International Federation of Human Rights, I am very concerned that Ly Tong would not be tried fairly and justly in Vietnam. Under the current one-party system in Vietnam, the 3 branches - Legislative, Executive and Judicial – are all controlled by the Communist Party. The court hearings are not open but kept inside closed doors, without defence lawyers, and the defendants are not allowed to have a counsel for their defence. In Ly Tong’s case, he cannot have recourse to international attorneys, because, according to Vietnam’s 2003 decree No. 89-ND-CP, the international law offices are not allowed to protect defendants, and international law offices may not even hire Vietnamese lawyers to represent them to work in the courts. Moreover, according to the Vietnam Foreign Affairs Ministry recent declaration, Ly Tong was already considered guilty while there is not a court judgment yet.
Vietnam accused Ly Tong of being a “dangerous terrorist,” but in fact he has never used violence to harm anybody’s life. His only “crime” if any is his infinite aspiration for Vietnam to be free. As a former Air Force officer of the Republic of Vietnam, Ly Tong had to spend 5 long years in the harsh prisons, forced to labour under inhuman conditions, with starvation ration. In 1980 he had to escape from the Phu Yen Province A-20 concentration camp, fording springs and crossing forests, walking, riding bicyles, hitchhiking... along 2,500 miles, through Cambodia to Thailand, then swimming across Johore Strait from Malaysia to Singapore, to seek refuge at the American Embassy. Accepted to enter the US, he ceaselessly raised his voice to denounce the lack of democracy in Vietnam; he organized demonstrations by himself. In 1992, he dropped anti-communist leaflets from a Vietnam Airlines plane over Ho Chi Minh City then parachuted down there. He was arrested and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. After 6 years of solitary confinement in Nam Ha Province’s Ba Sao camp, he was released on the 1998 Amnesty.
Mr. Ly Tong always acted alone, carrying out anti-communist operations by himself. His activities are always spectacular, sometimes undue, sometimes illegal, such as entering Vietnam’s airspace to drop down leaflets calling for Democracy for Vietnam. But absolutely Ly Tong has never used violence. He only wanted to remind the world of the worst Human Rights abyss in Vietnam which the international press and media had not seemingly paid attention to. As a former Air Force pilot, his forte was to use planes, he took advantage of this strong point to shed light on the Vietnamese people’s heart-breaking situation.
Mr. Ly Tong has already paid a too expensive price for his acts and belief. If he were extradited to Vietnam this time, he surely would be avenged and oppressed by that regime, a system that never tolerates political difference and dissidence.
This is the last occasion to save him. I urgently appeal to You for Your intervention in Mr. Ly Tong’s case and have the Thai court annul the verdict on Ly Tong’s extradition to Vietnam. I pin all my hopes on You, Your Majesty, Your Mercy and Humanity, as well as on the legal system of the Kingdom of Thailand, so that Mr. Ly Tong be not extradited to Vietnam unfairly and unjustly in the poor fate of a human being emaciatedly and desperately in some hellish terrible Vietnam prison.
Signed and sealed,
Vo Van Ai
President, Committee to Protect Human Rights for Vietnam, concurrently
Vice-President, International Federation of Human Rights
