President Tran Duc Luong

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

c/o Ministry of Foreign Affair

Hanoi, Vietnam

Brussels, March 29, 1999

Mr President,

on behalf of the Transnational Radical Party, and on behalf of all those who believe in the universal value of human rights I want to express our deepest alarm and condemnation for the arrest of dissident writer Nguyen Thanh Giang.

Your police has arrested Mr Giang for possessing documents critical of the Communist Party. As you'll easily acknowledge, this decision of yours violates the basic principle of freedom of expression and freedom of opinion.

We regret that, despite the strong claim for democracy and Rule of Law expressed from the vietnamese people, both inside and outside Vietnam, you, as the highest representative of the Communist Party, decided not to meet with this requests for more freedom and for the respect of fundamental rights.

Mr. President, I strongly urge that Mr. Giang and all the political and opinion prisoners be released from detention, and that you finally decide to meet with the vietnamese people requests for Democracy, Rule of Law and an open market society.

Olivier Dupuis, MEP

Secretary General of

the Transnational Radical Party