12/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and its Member States have called on the Vietnamese authorities to release the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (banned since 1981) and his Deputy, Thich Quang Do, since "the Commission esteems that none of the charges laid against the two men justifies their imprisonment or house arrest". This is what European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten wrote in his reply to a written question by the Lista Bonino MEP Olivier Dupuis, according to a press release issued by Dupuis. Patten also recognised that the situation regarding freedom of the press in Vietnam had not improved in 2002, the press release went on, pointing out that the two had spent more than two decades in prison or house arrest "for their non-violent advocacy of religious freedom, democracy and human rights".