[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1089 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1089

 Calling on the government of Vietnam to release from prison, end the 
 detention without trial, and cease the harassment and house arrest of 
   the people who signed the Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for 
Vietnam, and expressing the sense of Congress that the President should 
encourage Vietnam to release such people from prison and to direct the 
Secretary of State to establish a Countries of Particular Concern list 
   to condemn countries like Vietnam, which engage in ``particularly 
                  severe violations'' of human rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2008

 Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California (for herself and Ms. Zoe Lofgren of 
 California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                    the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling on the government of Vietnam to release from prison, end the 
 detention without trial, and cease the harassment and house arrest of 
   the people who signed the Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for 
Vietnam, and expressing the sense of Congress that the President should 
encourage Vietnam to release such people from prison and to direct the 
Secretary of State to establish a Countries of Particular Concern list 
   to condemn countries like Vietnam, which engage in ``particularly 
                  severe violations'' of human rights.

Whereas on April 8, 2006, 118 Vietnamese citizens signed a Manifesto on Freedom 
        and Democracy for Vietnam, with the objective ``to reestablish 
        fundamental rights of the people'' of Vietnam, ``sacred rights of the 
        Vietnamese nation [which] have been brutally trampled upon the moment 
        the communist government was installed in Vietnam'';
Whereas these 118 Vietnamese citizens and the thousands who have subsequently 
        signed the Manifesto are referred to as the Bloc 8406, based on date the 
        Manifesto was signed, on the eighth day of April in the year 2006;
Whereas the Manifesto calls on those inside and outside Vietnam to support 
        peaceful, non-violent action to bring democracy and basic human rights 
        to the Vietnamese people;
Whereas 13 of these brave supporters of democracy have since been sentenced to a 
        total of 68 years in prison for signing the Manifesto;
Whereas at least 10 of these democracy advocates have since been detained by the 
        Government of Vietnam for 18 months or more, for signing their names to 
        the Manifesto;
Whereas at least five other signers of the peaceful, non-violent Manifesto have 
        been harassed and placed under house arrest by the Government of 
        Vietnam; and
Whereas in addition to the signers of the Manifesto, the Government of Vietnam 
        has continued to harass, arrest, and detain peaceful, non-violent 
        supporters of democracy, including United States citizens Cong Thanh Do, 
        Truong Van Ba, Nguyen Quoc Quan, and to unlawfully arrest United States 
        citizens traveling to Vietnam, including Le Van Phan, and Nguyen Thi 
        Thinh: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That
            (1) the House of Representatives--
                    (A) calls on the government of Vietnam to release 
                those imprisoned for signing the Manifesto on Freedom 
                and Democracy for Vietnam, including--
                            (i) Father Nguyen Van Ly, sentenced to 8 
                        years;
                            (ii) Nguyen Phong, sentenced to 6 years;
                            (iii) Nguyen Binh Thanh, sentenced to 5 
                        years;
                            (iv) Nguyen Bac Truyen, jurist, sentenced 
                        to 4 years;
                            (v) Le Nguyen Sang, medical doctor, 
                        sentenced to 5 years;
                            (vi) Huynh Nguyen Dao, journalist, 
                        sentenced to 3 years;
                            (vii) Nguyen Van Dai, lawyer, sentenced to 
                        5 years;
                            (viii) Le Thi Cong Nhan, lawyer, sentenced 
                        to 4 years;
                            (ix) Tran Quoc Hien, jurist, sentenced to 5 
                        years;
                            (x) Le Van Soc, Hoa Hao Buddhist, sentenced 
                        to 6 years;
                            (xi) Hang Tan Phat, sentenced to 6 years;
                            (xii) Truong Quoc Huy, freelance 
                        journalist, sentenced to 6 years; and
                            (xiii) Truong Minh Duc, sentenced to 5 
                        years;
                    (B) urges the Government of Vietnam to end its 
                detention of those who are being held without a trial, 
                for their signature to the Manifesto, including--
                            (i) Vu Hoang Hai;
                            (ii) Nguyen Ngoc Quang;
                            (iii) Pham Ba Hai;
                            (iv) Nguyen Tan Hoanh (aka Doan Huu 
                        Chuong);
                            (v) Tran Thi Le Hang;
                            (vi) Doan Van Dien;
                            (vii) Le Ba Triet;
                            (viii) Ho Thi Bich Khuong;
                            (ix) Vu Van Hung; and
                            (x) Dang Hung; and
                    (C) insists that the Government of Vietnam cease 
                harassment and house arrest of those non-violent 
                democracy advocates who signed the Manifesto, 
                including--
                            (i) Bui Kim Thanh, jurist;
                            (ii) Do Nam Hai, co-founder of Bloc 8406;
                            (iii) Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, novelist;
                            (iv) Hong Trung, Seventh-day Adventist 
                        pastor;
                            (v) Nguyen Hong Quang, Mennonite pastor; 
                        and
                            (vi) Pham Ngoc Thach, Mennonite evangelist; 
                        and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
                    (A) the members of the Bloc 8406 should be 
                commended for their selfless, peaceful efforts, to 
                bring democracy and human rights to the Vietnamese 
                people;
                    (B) the President should request that the 
                Government of Vietnam release all of these non-violent, 
                peaceful supporters of Democracy, including United 
                States citizen Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, who has been held 
                without charges in Vietnam since November 17, 2007; and
                    (C) the President should direct the Secretary of 
                State to establish a Countries of Particular Concern 
                list to condemn countries like Vietnam, which engage in 
                ``particularly severe violations'' of human rights, 
                parallel in structure to the Countries of Particular 
                Concern list for countries with ``particularly severe 
                violations of religious freedom,'' as mandated under 
                the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 
                U.S.C. 6401 et seq.).
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