Senator Norm Coleman, May 21: Letter Urging Fellow Senators to Protest the Arrest of Le Quoc Quan (Plus a Letter to Vietnamese President Triet)

Washington, D.C., May 21, 2007

As a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), I urge you to join me in protesting the arrest of a former NED fellow, Le Quoc Quan, by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and to call for his immediate release from prison.

Le Quoc Quan, a lawyer from Hanoi, conducted independent research on civil society while in residence at the NED under the congressionally funded Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program. Previously, he worked as a local governance consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development bank, UNDP, and the Swedish International Development Agency. Within a few days of returning from the fellowship at NED, Quan was arrested and charged under Article 79 of the Criminal Code, which proscribes “activities aimed at overthrowing the Government.” His family has not been permitted to visit him.

www.ned.org/docs/052107-Coleman.pdf