Plantiff Tran To Nga will continue to pursue lawsuit in seeking justice for AO/dioxin victims

On August 22, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the lawsuit filed by Nga against the US chemical corporations that supplied AO/dioxin for the US army to use during the war in Vietnam.

Talking to the Vietnamese press, Nga, who is also an AO/dioxin victim herself, said she is not surprised at this ruling, and that she will not give up but keep pursuing this lawsuit.

As Nga’s representatives, William Bourdon and Bertrand Repolt from the Bourdon law office expressed their determination to stay on their client’s side.

The fight by their client does not end with this ruling, and they will take the case to the highest Appeals Court, the lawyers said, noting that judges of the Paris Court of Appeal held a conservative attitude that runs counter to the modernity of law, as well as international law and European law.

The highest Appeals Court will made the decision, they added.

Nga's pursuit of the lawsuit over the past 15 years showed her extraordinary will and the firm support of peace-loving people for her.

Born in 1942 in the southern province of Soc Trang, Nga used to work as a war correspondent of the Liberation News Agency and became contaminated with dioxin during wartime. Medical examination results show that the dioxin level in her blood is higher than the regulated level that leads to serious health impacts. She suffered from five out of the 17 diseases, disorders, deformities, and malformations associated with dioxin exposure recognised by the US.

Not only Nga herself but her children also suffered from heart and bone defects. Her first child died of heart defects at 17 months of age.

In 2009, Nga appeared as a witness at the Court of Public Opinion in Paris against the US chemical companies to support AO/dioxin victims in Vietnam. After that, with support from some French lawyers and social activists, she decided to sue the US chemical companies.

She is one of the few persons able to pursue AO/dioxin-related lawsuits since she has all the three necessary conditions of being a French-Vietnamese citizen; residing in France, where lawyers are permitted to file international lawsuits in defence of French citizens against another country harming them; and being a victim of AO/dioxin.

In May 2013, the Crown Court of Evry city, where Nga resides, accepted her petition against the chemical companies that supplied herbicide for the US army to use in the battlefield in Vietnam. However, after 19 procedural sessions, in its ruling issued on May 10, 2021, this court accepted the arguments of the defendants, saying they had acted under the order of and for the State of the US and thus, they were entitled to the right to “immunity”.

Lawyers of Nga objected to this ruling and said those companies had submitted a tender, which meant they had not been forced to act. The lawyers perceived that the Evry Crown Court applied out-of-date principles running counter to the modern principles of international law and France.

Source: WVR/VNA