WRITTEN QUESTION P-3307/02 by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission. Four-year prison sentence for the cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang.
Date: 2002-11-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Internet, Viet Nam, censorship, freedom of expression, opposition, political prisoner, right to justice

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/17

Recently, the control over the payroll of the West Bank staff has been transferred to the Ministry of
Finance. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance is the responsible entity for the control of the payroll, new
recruitment and the respective allocations for payment of the salaries to the Ministries concerned.

(2004/C 33 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3307/02

by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission

(14 November 2002)

Subject: Four-year prison sentence for the cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang

The Vietnamese ‘cyber-dissident’ Le Chi Quang, accused of publishing criticism of the communist regime
on the Internet, has been jailed for 4 years by a Hanoi court for ‘offences against the State and the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam’. Foreign journalists were not allowed to attend the trial, which lasted only a few
hours.

Le Chi Quang was arrested on 21 February 2002 at an internet café in Hanoi and has since been detained
in the ‘B14’ prison accused of circulating via the Internet a letter on the situation in the border regions
with China. The letter was addressed to the Chinese President Jiang Zemin on the occasion of an official
visit to Vietnam. The 32 year old IT professor accused Hanoi of having made territorial concessions to
China when negotiating the common borders. He also circulated on the Internet some documents in
support of democracy.

Since June, free access to the Internet and satellite television has been reserved for Communist Party and
Vietnamese government cadres, while those responsible for cybercafés have been required to monitor how
their clients use the Internet. France has reportedly provided the Vietnamese government with control
systems for Internet access free of charge.

Did the Commission ask to attend Le Chi Quang’s trial? What steps has the Commission taken or does it
intend to take to secure the immediate release of Mr Le Chi Quang and the review of his trial on the basis
of the relevant international standards? What control mechanisms has the Commission established to
ensure that EU funded or co-funded development and cooperation programmes are not used by the
Vietnamese authorities to implement anti-democratic and repressive policies, such as the recent measures
concerning the use of Internet?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(6 December 2002)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to Written Question E-2854/02 by
Mr Pannella (1).

The Commission did not request to be present at the trial of Mr Quang, nor was it informed in advance of
its date and place. It is not customary for the Commission to attend trials of Vietnamese citizens as official
observers.

Promotion of human rights and democracy and of good governance were identified as cross-cutting
themes in the Country Strategy for Vietnam approved by the Commission in May 2002. In this context,
the Commission and the Member States have welcomed the elaboration by the Government of Vietnam of
a Master Plan for legal reform based on a ‘Legal Needs Assessment’ prepared in collaboration with the
international donor community.

All projects and programmes supported by the Commission in Vietnam, as in other countries, are subject
to a rigorous process of (cid:1) financial and other (cid:1) checks and balances, including for compliance with
Union policy on human rights and democracy.

In addition, the Commission has obtained confirmation that there is no foundation for the suggestion
referred to by the Honourable Member that the French Government has supplied the Government of
Vietnam with control systems for the Internet.

(1) OJ C 192 E, 14.8.2003, p. 82.