Lawyer Le Tran Luat detained

Vietnam human rights lawyer Le Tran Luat says he was detained by Ho Chi Minh City police for questioning on Tuesday, as he was about to board a plane for Hanoi, just days after his office in Ho Chi Minh City was raided by police and five computers seized. Luat has been defending Catholics involved in a land dispute in Hanoi over Thai Ha parish and was enroute to Hanoi in order to work on a defense for the appeal of their sentence. The local police newspaper has been denouncing him for alleged tax fraud and faking house rental contracts, in what appears to be an act of political intimidation and possibly establishing the ground for future arrest.

Source: Agence France Presse March 2.