Churches denounce Viet pastor's arrest
HANOI - Braving the risk of reprisals, Christian leaders in Vietnam have denounced criminal proceedings against the pastor of an underground Protestant church due to stand trial tomorrow.
The United States-based Centre for Religious Freedom said it had received a four-page letter from 21 house church organisations protesting the charges against Pastor Bui Van Ba, general-secretary of the Full Gospel Church of Vietnam.
The centre, a division of America's oldest rights group Freedom House, said in a statement over the weekend that Pastor Ba and others were beaten up during a police raid on his home during a prayer meeting in August last year.
'According to reports received by Freedom House, police entered the home illegally and began pushing and beating the occupants,' the statement said.
Detained, Pastor Ba was chained to a post and beaten by plainclothes police before being subjected to a lengthy interrogation, it said.
After being put under house arrest, he was charged last month with 'resisting an officer doing his duty' and ordered to appear in court, the rights group said.
In their Jan 5 letter sent to the centre, foreign embassies and other human rights organisations, leaders of the 21 house churches called for the dismissal of all charges against Pastor Ba.
Agence France Presse - January 12, 2004.
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