IV 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 334 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 21, 2009 Ms. Loretta Sanchez 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 who 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, nonviolent 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 11 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, nonviolent Manifesto have been harassed and placed under house arrest by the Government of Vietnam; and Whereas in addition to the 118 signers of the Manifesto, the Government of Vietnam has continued to harass, arrest, and detain peaceful, nonviolent supporters of democracy: Now, therefore, be it

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)Nguyen Van Dai, lawyer, sentenced to 5 years; (vi)Le Thi Cong Nhan, lawyer, sentenced to 4 years; (vii)Tran Quoc Hien, jurist, sentenced to 5 years; (viii)Le Van Soc, Hoa Hao Buddhist, sentenced to 6 years; (ix)Hang Tan Phat, sentenced to 6 years; (x)Truong Quoc Huy, sentenced to 6 years; (xi)Truong Minh Duc, sentenced to 5 years; (xii)Pastor Nguyen Thi Hong, sentenced to 3 years; (xiii)Nguyen Van Hai, sentenced to 2.5 years; (xiv)Luong Van Sinh, sentenced to 2 years; (xv)Vu Hoang Hai, sentenced to 2 years and 2 years probation; (xvi)Nguyen Ngoc Quang, sentenced to 3 years; (xvii)Nguyen Ngoc Quang, sentenced to 5 years; and (xviii)Doan Van Dien, sentenced to an unknown number of years; and (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)Le Ba Triet; (ii)Ho Thi Bich Khuong; (iii)Vu Van Hung; (iv)Dang Hung; (v)Pham Thanh Nghien; (vi)Pham Van Troi; (vii)Ngo Quynh; (viii)Vu Hung; (ix)Nguyen Van Tuc; (x)Nguyen Xuan Nghia; (xi)Tran Duc Thach; and (xii)Le Thi Kim Thu; and (C)insists that the Government of Vietnam cease harassment, police surveillance, and house arrest of those nonviolent democracy advocates who signed the Manifesto, including— (i)Do Nam Hai, co-founder of Bloc 8406; (ii)Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, novelist; (iii)Hong Trung, Seventh-day Adventist pastor; (iv)Nguyen Hong Quang, Mennonite pastor; (v)Pham Ngoc Thach, Mennonite evangelist; (vi)Nguyen Tan Hoanh (aka Doan Huu Chuong), labor rights activist; (vii)Somsak Khunmi (aka Nguyen Quoc Hai); (viii)Nguyen The Vu; and (ix)Le Nguyen Sang, medical doctor; and (2)it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (A)the President should request that the President of Vietnam release all of these nonviolent, peaceful supporters of Democracy; and (B)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 and amended under Public Law 106–55.