[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 1, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CALLING ON GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM TO RESPECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, we can see that 
Vietnam's communist government's escalation of crackdowns has targeted 
the voices of the conscience such as Paulus Le Son and many other 
Vietnamese patriots for exercising their rights of free speech and 
expression.
  Recently, I received disturbing reports that another youth activist 
and Vietnamese songwriter, Viet Khang Tri Minh Vo, was detained and 
imprisoned by the Vietnamese police and government. Viet Khang's songs 
question the conscience of the Vietnam police, who have brutally 
assaulted and arrested demonstrators at peaceful gatherings. It is time 
for the Government of Vietnam to respect the freedom of expression 
through the arts and stop these arbitrary arrests and recognize the 
basic human rights of the individual.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor House Resolution 484, calling on 
the Vietnamese Government to cease the abuse of vague national security 
provisions in the Vietnamese penal code, which are used to justify the 
detention and the abuse of their own citizens.

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