The abduction of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh carried out by the Ministry of Public Security headed by General To Lam continues to heat up in the international media, when on January 28, 2020, the Supreme Court of Germany issued its final conclusion on the crime in Berlin in 2017.
Mr. Thanh’s lawyer, Ms. Petra Isabel Schlagenhauf, on January 28, 2020, issued a press release asking the German government to continue to intervene with the Vietnamese side to release her client.
The press release was issued shortly after she received the decision of Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof- BGH) released its final verdict to reject the appeal of Nguyen Hai Long, who had previously been sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison by Germany for participating in the abduction of Mr. Thanh who was taken back to Vietnam in late July 2017.
The German Foreign Ministry said Thanh was kidnapped while applying for asylum status in Berlin. Vietnam’s state-run media quoted the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security as saying there was no story of abducting Mr. Thanh from Germany and that Mr. Thanh voluntarily surrendered in order to hope for mercy.
Watch the video of German television recreating the abduction process of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security headed by General Lam
A Vietnamese who was in Germany to apply for political asylum status suddenly appeared in Vietnam and was put on trial with an explanation of self-confession. The case has become a model of a kidnapping state, which is Vietnam
In early 2018, a Vietnamese Court tried and convicted Thanh with two life sentences for the charge of “intentionally doing wrong and embezzlement of property” during the time when he was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Corporation (PVC) which belongs to Vietnam Oil and Gas Group.
Now, with lawyer Schlagenhauf’s request to intervene to release her client, Thanh’s case is considered to be revoked. Lawyer Petra Schlagenhauf explained:
“When a country does not ask for extradition and does not wait until the extradition procedure has been completed, it has abducted the person, and if the country where the abduction occurred immediately objected and demanded the kidnappers to return that person, like in the case of Germany with Trinh Xuan Thanh, the abducting country, in this case, Vietnam, could not continue the legal process (ie the conviction) of the abducted person. This is international law.”
Lawyer Schlagenhauf further explained the contents of the decision made by the German court:
“Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has to decide if Vietnam keeps my client as such according to international law. And the court explained it was not because Vietnam had kidnapped, and the German government immediately protested and demanded the return of Trinh Xuan Thanh. Therefore, under international law, Vietnam cannot continue legal procedures with my clients anymore. Therefore Vietnam’s continued detention of Trinh Xuan Thanh is illegal in the viewpoint of Germany.”
The Federal Court of Justice is the highest legal mechanism of the Federal Republic of Germany, where Thanh was abducted and brought home by Vietnamese secret agents. If Germany succeeds with the pressure to return Thanh, Mr. Thanh will be brought back to Germany and enjoy the refugee status granted by Germany.
Lawyer Schlagenhauf said: “He has the right to return to Germany because from December 2017 the German government has granted him asylum status. At that time he was kidnapped. He has the right to come back, get his passport, and stay in Germany … if he is in Germany then no one in Vietnam can ask for his extradition back to Vietnam. Once he returns to Germany, he can stay in Germany. ”
From the perspective of the lawyer Sclagenhauf, the problem between Germany and Vietnam is now no longer in the legal part because if the law is followed, Hanoi should have returned Thanh to Germany from the first day.
But the problem lies in the diplomatic field. After the incident, the German side froze relations with Vietnam, but now the relationship between the two countries is gradually returning for economic benefits … But the case of my client is still a problem in the relationship. Bilateral relations are not only legal but also diplomatic aspects.”
Asked how much she hoped and had to wait for the German government to intervene to release Trinh Xuan Thanh, lawyer Schlagenhauf replied:
“I have to wait for the German government to put pressure on Vietnam to resolve my client’s case. They have pressured but I can only hope that these pressures will work.”
Still, according to her, Vietnam will never acknowledge the abduction of Trinh Xuan Thanh. And if they let her customer go, they would let him go silently, since they would never admit they were wrong. The Vietnamese government does not want to lose its face in Thanh’s case, lawyer Schlagenhauf affirmed.
President of the German Judges Federation awarded the Human Rights Award to lawyer Nguyen Van Dai in Berlin
From Germany, lawyer and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Dai said he agreed with lawyer Schlagenhauf:
“It is known that behind the abduction is Mr. Tô Lâm, Minister of Public Security, Politburo member, and the secretary of the Central Police’s Party Committee. He was the one who directly planned and commanded the abduction. It is allowed to return to Germany, Thanh would talk and Lam will be the leading figure of the kidnap act. This will put the Communist Party of Vietnam in a very awkward position.”
“Vietnam will seek to negotiate with the German side to delay until the Party Congress ends, just as Mr. To Lam ends his term of Minister of Public Security. Then they try to resolve the case and return Thanh to the German side in 2021.”
Mr. Bui Thanh Hieu (Blogger Nguoi Buon Gio) once had a meeting with Mr. Thanh in Germany, also made a comment.
Observing Thanh’s case from Germany and meeting him from the early days, blogger Bui Thanh Hieu, said that it is not easy to force Vietnam to admit to wrongdoing, and German lawyer strongly argued because it was clear that Ha Internal violation of the law.
“When Vietnam stood out and acknowledged abduction, it was then that we talked about releasing Trinh Xuan Thanh and delivering him back. When Trinh Xuan Thanh’s incident arose under the time of President Tran Dai Quang, he reportedly advocated that after a while, he would negotiate with Germany to return Trinh Xuan Thanh. But in the end, when he died suddenly, Nguyen Phu Trong who masterminded the abduction, took the position.”
“Nguyen Phu Trong will never confess that he is the person who directed the abduction so we have to wait for the end of Trong’s term. His successor will return Thanh to Germany, for sure.”
From Thanh’s profile flipped here, his defense lawyer Schlagenhauf said that the incident would more or less impact the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, which is awaiting approval:
“I have concerns (EVFTA approved). However, there are many issues that still exist, including human rights issues, and my clients are also human rights issues. ”
Lawyer Schlagenhauf said that if Vietnam still resolutely does not return Trinh Xuan Thanh to Germany at the request of the German government, Vietnam will forever be labeled as “a kidnapping country.”
In Vietnam, the Communist Party robbed the government since 1945 and has existed for 75 years because it has used propaganda and been cheating the people in the country with foreign communism.
Now, with the civilization of mankind and the people of Vietnam are exposed daily to multidimensional international sources, the deceit caused by the Communist Party has been exposed to the domestic public and the international community.
The atrocities committed by the heads of the Party, the State, and the repressive tool, the Ministry of Public Security, have been recorded in the nation’s dark history and the international criminal records.
Hoang Trung from Hanoi – Thoibao.de (translated)
