Doan Van Vuon, who was arrested after a violent stand-off on January 5 against local authorities trying to repossess 40 hectares of public land rented to them, says he doesn’t want an attorney defense, a representative of the investigation agency of Hai Phong northern city told lawyer Nguyen Duy Minh on Wednesday.

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The lagoon of Doan Van Vuon's family.


Minh said he wanted to meet Vuon to convince him but according to the representative, Vuon refused to see him.

However, Colonel Do Huu Ca, director of Hai Phong’s Public Security, told Tuoi Tre the investigation agency has no knowledge of Vuon’s refusal of a lawyer’s service and cannot give an official answer to the press.

“All information lawyer Minh received on the phone has no legal value,” Ca said.

According to Lawyer Nguyen Hong Bach of Hanoi Attorney Delegation, Hai Phong’s investigation agency on Wednesday received his law firm’s file for the right to represent Vuon in court.

Bach said the agency will give him the answer in 3 days.

On the afternoon of the same day, Le Thanh Liem, chairman of People’s Committee of Vinh Quang Commune in Tien Lang District, said an inspection team from Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment has come to the commune to review the allocation of the land to Vuon’s family and its usage.

A local registrar took them to the area where the forced eviction took place on January 5, Liem said, but he declined to comment about the content of the team’s working session on that day.

In the mean time, Hai Phong police are instructing concerned agencies to investigate the complaint by Nguyen Thi Phuong, Vuon’s wife, who lodged a petition with local authorities that several tons of shrimps raised in their farm have been lost after the forced removal.

According to a recent report by Tien Lang district’s authorities, angry local people were reposnsible for the demolition of Vuon’s house. But, local residents confirmed with Tuoi Tre that they did not do so.

Some said one day after the forcible removal on January 5, a force was mobilized to the scene to raze his two-storey building.

“After taking the land, they let all water in farm out and did not allow local residents to come in. Dozens of people joined in to flatten his house. It is impossible that local people did it because there were a lot of police officers there,” a witness in Chua hamlet in Vinh Quang commune told Tuoi Tre.

As reported earlier, on January 5 more than 100 armed policemen and soldiers executed a local authorities’ decision to force Vuon and his family to vacate their premises and return the land, more than 40 hectares in size, to local authorities for an airport project.

The authorities forced Vuon to return the land, stating that his lease on the land expired in 2009, but Vuon disagreed, saying he was eligible to continue using the land.

Vuon and his family members planted home-made mines in their garden and used shotguns to injure 6 police officers, including Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Mai, head of the Tien Lang District Police.

Vuon, 49, and three other members of his family were later arrested and prosecuted on charges of attempted murder, while two other members, including Vuon’s wife, were indicted for resisting law enforcement officers on duty but were let out on bail.

Tuoitre