US lawyers to help Vietnam win at Agent Orange lawsuit
US lawyers said they will do their utmost to help Vietnamese Agent Orange victims win at a court of appeal, after the dismissal of a US court of the lawsuit against 37 US chemical companies filed by the local victims.
"The verdict of the court of first instance is incorrect. US troop used toxic defoliant, not normal one. We will collect more evidences for the lawsuit," local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Sunday quoted Jonathan Moore, head of a visiting US lawyer group as saying.
"Like our Vietnamese colleagues, local Agent Orange victims and those have conscience and love justice in the world, we believe the victory of the lawsuit," he said, adding that the winning is important to not only Vietnamese victims, but others in the world and those who are concerned about equality, justice and violation of international laws on human rights.
"In the worse case, we will continue to appeal to the US Supreme Tribunal," he noted.
The lawyers will help Vietnamese Agent Orange victims to file an appeal to the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Sept. 30. The case was dismissed at the US Federal Court in Brooklyn in March last year, citing a lack of legal basis to be heard in court.
According to studies of US scientists, the US army forces dropped some 80 million litters of defoliants, mostly Agent Orange, which contained nearly 400 kilograms of dioxin, an extremely toxic substance, to Vietnam between 1961 and 1971.
Among 4.8 million local people exposed to the dioxin, 3 million are Agent Orange victims, many of them, even their children and grandchildren, suffer from cancer and genetic deformities.
Xinhua - September 19, 2005.
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