Le Cong Dinh was trained and sent abroad for further studying by the State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and upon his returning, was created favourable conditions for practicing his profession. He used to be the Vice Chair of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association. This testifies to the fact that the State of Vietnam  has no discrimination against Le Cong Dinh.

Le Cong Dinh has enjoyed the rights to express his opinion and been able to write and voice his personal views. He has written many articles for such news papers as Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre, Sai Gon Tiep Thi, Saigon economic times, Tia Sang magazines or the BBC Vietnamese. He has also given interviews for BBC, RFI and RFA …

However, Le Cong Dinh has recently committed acts of violation of the Vietnamese laws. He has directly contacted and colluded with some exile Vietnamese organizations and groups abroad, including those listed by the Vietnamese government as terrorist groups, in an attempt to prepare for riots and cause social instability and public disorder with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the State of Viet Nam. Le Cong Dinh used the democracy and human rights as a cloak to carry out his subversive plots, which are as follows:

Since 2005, Le Cong Dinh has communicated with Nguyen Sy Binh, head of the exile U.S. based organizations of “People’s Action Party” and “ Viet Nam Democratic Party”, who maintained close ties with heads of other exile groups, such as Ha Dong Xuyen (Viet Tan Group), Pham Nam Dinh (Democratic Get-Together Group), Doan Viet Hoat (Viễn tượng Việt Nam- Viet Nam Vision Group) with a view to designing the action plans to involve and establish subversive organizations in Viet Nam in order to realize the plot of “attacking from the outside to cause major disorder inside the country”. Le Cong Dinh was assigned to  collaborate for the development of organizations in Viet Nam to establish an illegal entity called “Viet Nam Democratic Party” and “Viet Nam Labour Party” and communicate with anti-Vietnamese State abroad. Le Cong Dinh was chosen by the hostile forces and anti-state exile forces to be trained abroad for  sabotage activities against the state, including the one organized by Viet Tan in Pattaya, Thailand in late February 2009. Le Cong Dinh has visited the U.S. and Thailand for many times to meet with Nguyen Sy Binh to discuss and set out action plans to prepare for the opportunity to overthrow the regime in Viet Nam, which Dinh and his accomplices believed to arrive by the end of 2009 and early 2010. Le Cong Dinh participated in compiling a book, which served as the action platform for the group, called “the Road for Viet Nam” and he drafted the “New Constitution” to prepare for the new government upon the overthrowing of the current government.

Following his arrest, on 17 June 2006, Le Cong Dinh declared at the public security agency his acts of law violations and expressed his “deep regret for my wrongdoings. I hope that the State will consider  granting me leniency” Some related elements, such as Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and Le Thang Long have also been initiated for investigation by the security agency.

The arrest of Le Cong Dinh and his accomplices conducted by Vietnamese security and investigation agencies for investigation of their law-breaking acts is fully in conformity with the Vietnamese law,  an internal affair of Viet Nam, and  also in line with international laws, particularly Articles 19c, 20 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which stipulates that the freedom to expression, peaceful assembly, etc., go hand in hand with the obligation and responsibility as well as regulations to ensure national security and public order. This is also a practice observed by other countries in the world to ensure their own national security,  public order and safety for their citizens.

The Declaration of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna also emphasized that it was necessary to take into account the specific circumstances of each country and region as well as their different cultural, historical and religious backgrounds in the protection and promotion of human rights. Viet Nam also has specific conditions since Viet Nam has had to undergo 30 years of war against foreign aggression to regain its peace, independence and national liberty. Until today,  hostile forces have not given up their political ambition and they keep setting up new organisations from abroad to nurture and collude with certain elements inside the country, infiltrating into Viet Nam in order to overthrow the Vietnamese State.

Among such hostile organisations, the reactionary group ‘Revolutionary Party for the Reform of Viet Nam (Việt Nam Cách tân Cách mạng Đảng)’ or ‘Viet Tan’ in short is an example. The group was established in 1982 and led by Hoang Co Minh. The ultimate goal of this organisation was to abolish the regime in Viet Nam. Its armed terrorist teams have conducted many infiltrations into Viet Nam such as the Dong Tien I operation (Marching East I) in June 1986 led by Duong Van Tu involving more than 100 gunmen or the Dong Tien II operation in December 1986 (phase 1) and July 1987 (phase 2) led by Hoang Co Minh and he was killed. At present, Viet Tan continues to operate under the cover of struggle for democracy and human rights while actually attempting  to overthrow the Vietnamese State. Another organisation is the Mat tran Thong nhat cac Luc luong Yeu nuoc Giai phong Viet Nam (United Front of Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Viet Nam) led by Le Quoc Tuy. This organisation conducted many acts to overthrow the Government of Viet Nam. During 1981-1984 alone, it had sent 10 armed groups to infiltrate into the Vietnamese territory, among which Tran Van Ba and Mai Van Hanh, along with 19 other members were arrested when they landed on the coast of Ca Mau during the tenth infiltration. Or the FULRO (Front Unis de Lutte des Races Oppimees) established in 1964 conducted military attacks along the borderline of Viet Nam and armed activities against the administration during the 1960s and 1970s. After 1975, it continued to conduct armed activities against the State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, inciting local people in the Central Highlands of Tay Nguyen to riot during 2001-2004.

Viet Nam has officially listed and informed other States that Viet Tan is a terrorist organization. These organizations and their members, though with different names such as “Viet Tan”, “People’s Action Party”, “Democratic Party of Vietnam”, “Democratic Youth Assembly” or “Democratic Gathering” and “Viễn tượng Vietnam”, and under differrent covers for their activities such as non-violence, for democracy and freedoms, human rights or for religious and belief freedoms etc. are all sharing one ultimate goal of overthrowing the State of Vietnam.

To maintain peace, security and public order of a country is a vital interest of all nations. Vietnam wishes to seek understanding and support for its struggle against conspiracies and acts conducted by organizations and individuals to carry out acts of terrorism and unrest, overthrow the State and destroy the peaceful life of the people. Vietnam’s success in maintaining peace and stability for national development during the past years has contributed to maintaining peace and stability of the region and the world over./.