WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2780/98 by Johanna MAIJ-WEGGEN to the Commission. Political detainees in Vietnam
Date: 1998-09-14
Institutions: European Parliament, MAIJ-WEGGEN
Subjects: Amnesty International, Viet Nam, barring of penalties by limitation, freedom of opinion, human rights, political prisoner, political rights, the EU's international role

14.5.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 135/115

(1999/C 135/136)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2780/98

by Johanna Maij-Weggen (PPE) to the Commission

(14 September 1998)

Subject: Political detainees in Vietnam

Is the Commission aware that hundreds of political detainees are still in prison in Vietnam?

Is the Commission prepared to ask the Vietnamese government for information on the following
detainees: Nguyen Dinh Huy, Pham Tuong, Bui Kim Dinh, Pham Thai Nguyen Ngoc Tan, Dong Tuy,
Nguyen Van Chau and Nguyen Van Bien?

Is the Commission prepared to ask the Vietnamese government to release all political detainees?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission

(14 October 1998)

The Commission is not only aware of the detention of prisoners of conscience in Vietnam (a recent
Amnesty International report puts their number at 70) but is, together with Member States, pursuing the
matter actively. A list of prisoners of conscience (referred to as the Union list hereafter) has been drawn up
and presented on several occasions, through Troika demarches, to the government of Vietnam.

Following the demarches by the Commission, Member States and like-minded countries, the government
amnestied 5219 prisoners on 2 September 1998. An overwhelming number were common law detainees,
but six of them were on the Union list. Furthermore, the Commission has grounds to believe that the
release of some 3 000 more detainees is being prepared, and it hopes that more people on the Union list
will be included.

The Commission informs the Honourable Member that Mr Dong Tuy was already released on 2 September
1998. All the others, with the exception of Mr Pham Thai Nguyen, are part of the Union list and their cases
will be followed closely.

The Commission, in close coordination with the Member States, will continue its action until the full
release of all prisoners of conscience in Vietnam.

(1999/C 135/137)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2785/98

by Jean-Antoine Giansily (UPE) to the Commission

(9 September 1998)

Subject: Presidential elections in Togo

In connection with the presidential elections in Togo, the Commission funded media observation projects
by Reporters Without Frontiers (RSF) in the sum of ECU 110 000, and an electoral observation mission
coordinated by Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) to the tune of ECU 560 000.

In funding these projects from heading B7-7020, lacking a legal basis, the Commission felt free to ignore a
number of rules.

Is this why, in its reply of 24 July 1998 to Written Question P-2187/98 (1), the Commission says that ‘the
projects were submitted by the bodies in question and were approved in accordance with the arrangements
appropriate to the management of this budget heading’?

Does this mean that ECU 560 000 were allocated to ERIS and ECU 110 000 to RSF without any selection
procedure being used?

If there was no selection procedure, and since these two organisations were well-known to be close to the
Togolese opposition, how does the Commission justify taking this politically sensitive decision?

(1) OJ C 50, 22.2.1999, p. 132.