8 November 1995
Tri and Liem, both United States citizens, were sentenced to seven and four years imprisonment in August this year, for their membership of the political group "Movement to Unite the People and Build Democracy in Vietnam". They were released on November 3. The Movement's leader, Professor Nguyen Dinh Huy, remains in detention and is serving a 15 year sentence.
At the time of the sentencing, the Australian Government publicly deplored the trial and imprisonment of Nguyen Dinh Huy and his associates and called on Vietnam to grant amnesty to political prisoners. In September, Trade Minister Senator McMullan raised Australian concerns about political detainees with Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, in Hanoi. Other nations, including the United States, also made representations about the case of Nguyen Dinh Huy. Earlier in the year the Australian Parliamentary Consultative Delegation raised this case with the Vietnamese authorities.
Australia sees the release of Nguyen Tan Tri and Tran Quang Liem as a positive development in Vietnam's approach to human rights. However, we remain concerned by the continuing detention of political and religious dissidents in Vietnam, including Professor Nguyen Dinh Huy and the Buddhist leader, the Venerable Thich Quang Do.
We will continue to press Vietnam for the early release of political and religious dissidents who have been imprisoned for the non-violent expression of their beliefs. The dissidents' imprisonment is contrary to internationally accepted standards embodied in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a party.