E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.2 page 16 3. Information received from prisoners in the re-education camp 62. The Special Rapporteur interviewed two members of the EBUV, Thich Khong Than and Thich Thien Minh, in re-education camp No. Z30A in Xuan Loc in the province of Dong Nai, in the conditions described in paragraph 5 above. Thich Khong Than said that he had been imprisoned for his religious beliefs and because he had transmitted a document to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention during its visit to Viet Nam in 1994. The Special Rapporteur was able to establish that, in fact, it was only an open letter by Thich Quang Do addressed to the Secretary-General of the Communist Party. Thich Tien Minh said that he had been detained because of his past opposition to the arbitrary use of a pagoda by the authorities as an office and because of his denunciation of violations of human rights in Viet Nam. 63. The two prisoners confirmed that religious prisoners were not separated from common criminals, that all religious activity was forbidden, that they were not permitted to address one another by their religious names and that they were obliged to work, since that requirement was applied to bonzes also. They deplored the bad prison conditions, particularly the fact that the prisoners were held in solitary confinement, chained and forbidden to use pen and paper, that there was a danger of AIDS as a result of the common use of a single razor blade, that work was imposed on elderly persons (over 70 years of age) and that sick people were being held in prison, some of whose lives were in danger. They demanded the independence of the EBUV. 64. Thich Thien Minh said he hoped that the Commission on Human Rights would request the unconditional release of all religious and political prisoners, the restitution of religious property and respect for human rights and for a plurality of parties, particularly by the repeal of article 4 of the Constitution on the supremacy of the Communist Party, so that everyone could participate in the development of Viet Nam. 4. Non-governmental information 65. As regards the general situation of the Buddhists, the non-governmental information given in chapter II on State policy is still valid. 66. With respect more particularly to the EBUV, many non-governmental sources, including the EBUV itself, explained that the organization had refused to become part of the Buddhist Association of Viet Nam, which was seen as a State-controlled association, in order to prevent any attempt by the authorities to neutralize Buddhism. The establishment of the Buddhist Association of Viet Nam had, in fact, outlawed the EBUV. The Buddhist dispute had become more acute at the time of the funeral of Thich Don Hau, the Patriarch of the EBUV, in 1992, and the succession of Thich Huyen Quang (held without trial since 1982). According to the same sources, the authorities had suppressed the demonstration of the bonzes in Hue in May 1993 (particularly by arresting Thich Tri Tuu, Thich Hai Tang, Thich Hai Tinh and Thich Hai Chanh) and the EBUV mission of assistance to the victims of the Mekong Delta floods (arrests of Thich Khong Than, Thich Nhat Ban, Thich Tri Luc, Nhat Thuong and Dóng Ngoc and, in January 1995, of Thich Quang Do, Secretary-General of the EBUV) and had maintained pressure on the EBUV Buddhists (harassment,