PRESS RELEASE


Protesting the Jail Sentence of the peaceful voice of Le Chi Quang by Vietnam authorities.

Texas Friends For A Free Vietnam Committee
P.O. Box 262323, Houston, Texas 77207 - USA
Tel: (713) 640-4268
 Fax: (713) 991-1721
 Email: TexasFriends@pdq.net 


Texas Friends for A Free Vietnam Committee are shock and angry to learn that lawyer Le Chi Quang was sentenced to a four-year term and three years of house arrest by just a three-hour trial in Hanoi on November 8, 2002, for the peaceful exercise of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression. We noticed that foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the trial.

Attorney Le Chi Quang was detained on February 21, 2002 at an Internet Cafe for publishing an essay on the Internet that criticized the border agreement between China and Vietnam. Now, Le Chi Quang is serving a four-year prison term and three-year house arrest solely for expressing his viewpoints. Under Article 53, 69, and 74 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, he has the right to free speech, the right to free press and the right to receive information. These are basic human rights provided by the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory. 

The sentence of Lawyer Le Chi Quang showed that the Hanoi authorities are inhuman, lawless and barbarous. Clearly, the Hanoi leaders showed their barbarous action in the trial on November 8, 2002. Hanoi leaders showed their blind eyes to the civilized world. Clearly, the Hanoi leaders have seriously violated the international human rights standards, which are guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam ratified in 1982. 

We, the Texas Friends for A Free Vietnam Committee, a coalition of human rights activists and freedom-loving people in State of Texas:

  1. Strongly condemn the Vietnamese authorities for its serious violations of basic human rights by sentencing the peaceful voice of Le Chi Quang.

  2. Urgently call on the Vietnamese authorities to release unconditionally and immediately Mr. Le Chi Quang. The Hanoi leaders should be responsible for his poor health situation.

  3. Urgently call on the international community of democratic countries, organizations and the media to apply pressure, on the government of Vietnam to immediately release the peaceful voice of Le Chi Quang. 

    Houston, Texas, November 18, 2002 

    David Stockman 

    Executive Director