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“RELEASE OF PRISONERS FROM VIETNAM” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S16723-S16724 on Nov. 7, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RELEASE OF PRISONERS FROM VIETNAM
Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I was very pleased to learn of the release today of two American prisoners in Vietnam. They are Mr. Nguyen Tan Tri and Mr. Tran Quang Liem. Both Mr. Tri and Mr. Liem will arrive in the United States today.
The American citizens were detained 2 years ago, along with Steven Young, a constituent of mine and a well-known promoter of democracy in Vietnam. The three Americans were in Vietnam organizing a conference on democracy with Vietnamese activists.
Unfortunately, the right to free speech is not yet recognized in Vietnam, and the three Americans were detained without charge. Steve Young was released within a few days, but Tri and Liem languished in poor health in a Vietnamese prison for nearly 2 years before they were charged, tried, and convicted of treason in mid-August. Sentences of 7 years for Tri and 4 years for Liem were then issued.
As a member of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Eastern Asia and Pacific Affairs, I made this matter a top priority. On September 19, I passed Senate Resolution 174, which was cosponsored by my colleagues Mr. Dole, Mr. Helms, and Mr. Thomas. The resolution called for U.S. Government intervention at the highest levels to secure freedom for these Americans. At the time it did not appear that Secretary-level contact had been made in this matter, something that I believed was essential after the normalization with Vietnam. Suitable contacts were subsequently made, allowing us to communicate how important the release of these two Americans was to our Government and to the relationship between our two countries.
On October 12, I met with family members of Mr. Tri and Mr. Liem, who had traveled to Washington from Texas and California to urge the Government to give this matter the same priority that it gave to the release of Harry Wu. The families were concerned about the health of the American prisoners, as well as the poor prison conditions to which they were subjected. They were informed by the State Department officials that release had become a top priority for the administration.
Mr. President, shortly after this meeting, it appeared that the Vietnamese were becoming more interested in resolving this matter. The rumors out of Vietnam were rampant. Several times we heard that there would be a retrial. We heard that there would be a release about the same time of President Le's visit to the United States to attend the U.N. anniversary celebration. We then heard the retrial would occur the weekend of October 28, followed by conviction and expulsion from the country. Finally, a commitment was made that the release would occur this past weekend in Vietnam.
While all of this goes to show that freedom of speech and due process are still scarce in Vietnam, I am pleased that normalization has apparently given us more tools to pursue issues of dispute with the Vietnamese Government. The two Americans have now been released, but many political prisoners, whose only crime has been to address issues of religious and political freedom, remain locked away in Vietnamese prisons.
I am encouraged as well that the Vietnamese have been more forthcoming with the release of information about MIA's and POW's after normalization. We must continue our efforts with Vietnam to pursue a full accounting, as my resolution also has requested.
Again, I applaud the personal intervention of Secretary Warren Christopher and Secretary Lord on this important matter, and I also look forward to working with them to pursue our mutual goals now that we have normalized our relationships with Vietnam.
To Mr. Tri and to Mr. Liem I say, Welcome home.
Mr. President, I yield the floor. I note the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ashcroft). Without objection, it is so ordered.
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