Vietnam Suspends Treason Probe
HANOI - Authorities have suspended an inquiry into treason charges against a leading dissident
but restricted his movements to a city in central Vietnam, the official police newspaper reported Monday.
Biologist Ha Si Phu and a colleague, former Communist Party official Mai Thai Linh, have been under
investigation since May on suspicion of collaborating with overseas groups calling for democracy and
human rights in Vietnam.
The government dropped its probe, saying the two men confessed their crimes, Cong An Nhan Dan,
or the People's Police newspaper reported.
``Due to their old age, their sincerity in reporting, their admission of guilt and their pleading for lesser
punishment, the security investigation bureau of the Ministry of Public Security has suspended their
investigation into the case,'' the paper said.
Phu, 60, and Linh, whom police say is in his 50s, are barred from leaving the central city of Dalat under
an order issued Friday. The order formalizes the restricted conditions the men have been living under
since the probe was launched, a move that triggered protests from human rights groups.
International rights organizations say Vietnam routinely clamps down on political and religious
dissidents.
Phu and Linh are part of a group of dissident intellectuals who are closely watched by the government.
Phu, former vice director of the Vietnamese Institute of Science in Dalat, has written numerous
critiques of the government.
The newspaper World Security, run by the Ministry of Public Security, reprinted excerpts Monday
from a January interview in which it said Phu admitted he ``made mistakes due to lack of understanding
of politics'' and said he did not want to be the ``instrument'' of extremist groups.
``I'm willing to exchange ideas with others on ideology, but I am not a fighter and never want to be
used as another's symbol,'' he was quoted as saying.
A treason conviction carries a penalty ranging from seven years' imprisonment to the death penalty.
The Associated Press - February 12, 2001.
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