Vietnam War vet appeals French court's Agent Orange ruling
	French court rejects Vietnamese woman’s claim in landmark Agent Orange lawsuit
	Agent Orange lawsuit: A plaintiff one million victims

Vietnamese-French citizen Tran To Nga. Photo: VNA

Nga is appealing a French court's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against firms that manufactured the toxic Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War.

The court ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to judge a case involving wartime actions of the US government, the AFP reported.

Senior Lieutenant General Rinh said he is not satisfied with the court’s ruling, saying it is not persuasive considering the fact that the US firms had manufactured about 80 million litres of the Agent Orange (AO) defoliant for US forces to spray in Southern Vietnam, causing serious environmental and human health consequences.

Used to be a plaintiff in the VAVA’s 2004 lawsuit in the US, VAVA Vice President Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong said she is not surprised at the Evry court’s decision but felt sad as the court did not take into account AO victims of Vietnam and France.

The lawsuit does not target the US government but the US firms for their irresponsibility, she further explained.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, VAVA emphasised that the court made a decision that was not based on the principles of existing international law and did not sufficiently consider relevant factors, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

Its decision rejecting Nga’s lawsuit shows that it denied the right of French citizens who suffered damage from foreign legal entities to be recognised by the French law.

The statement also mentioned an announcement from Nga’s lawyers in which they said the court applied an obsolete definition of the immunity of jurisdiction principle that contradicted modern principles of international and national law.

A Vietnamese AO victim. Photo: VNA

The court did not take into account relevant factors such as US companies being free to participate in tenders to produce toxic chemicals for profit and not being forced to do so.

It also did not consider the fact that the chemical companies had known that dioxin was a highly toxic substance but still intentionally changed the technical process to shorten the production time of AO, thus reducing costs and increasing profits.

VAVA emphasised that the Evry court "should reconsider its decision and expected that an appeal court would consider all relevant factors to make a ruling requiring US chemical companies to pay compensation".

The association also affirmed its backing for Nga’s appeal and hoped that all lovers of peace, justice and progress around the world would support her and other AO victims in Vietnam./.

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