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The Vietnam News

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Vietnam sentences priest to prison

HUE - A court sentenced a dissident Catholic priest to eight years in prison yesterday for anti-government activities after a dramatic trial in which the defendant shouted denunciations of the ruling Communist Party.

A judge at Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court in central Vietnam sentenced the Rev. Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly on charges of disseminating anti-government documents and communicating with pro-democracy activists overseas. It was the first time the government has opened a high-profile dissident's trial to reporters. Authorities said Father Ly, 60 -- who has been jailed twice before for his pro-democracy activities -- was plotting to merge his Vietnam Progression Party with overseas democracy activists.

Father Ly was brought handcuffed into the courtroom along with four co-defendants at the start of the trial. He began to shout about Vietnam's Communist Party, but a police officer quickly covered his mouth and removed him to a nearby room where the proceedings were broadcast on a loudspeaker. Father Ly was later brought back, but he refused to answer prosecutors' charges against him, declaring, "The communists use the law of the jungle" before being removed again.

In sentencing, Judge Bui Quoc Hiep said Father Ly deserved "severe punishment" for masterminding efforts to boycott Vietnam's upcoming legislative elections, establish unsanctioned political parties and overthrow the government. Judge Hiep said the priest and his co-defendants had committed "very serious crimes that harmed national security." Prosecutors said Father Ly was the mastermind of Bloc 8406, an organization that circulated pro-democracy petitions last year.

Authorities allowed limited press coverage of the trial, a highly unusual move in a country where judicial proceedings against political defendants are typically conducted behind closed doors. About a dozen reporters and foreign diplomats watched the proceedings on a closed-circuit television in a separate room of the courthouse. The sound was cut briefly when Father Ly shouted. Last month, authorities moved Father Ly from his home in the city of Hue, where he was under virtual house arrest, and took him to a smaller parish outside the city. They seized hundreds of documents, six computers and 136 mobile phone cards, and much of that evidence was on display at the front of the courtroom yesterday.

The court sentenced four co-defendants who were accused of being Father Ly's accomplices. The defendants were not represented by a lawyer. Nguyen Phong, 32, of Hue, was sentenced to six years in prison; Nguyen Binh Thanh, 51, of Hue, was sentenced to five years; Le Thi Le Hang, 44, of Hue, got a two-year, suspended sentence; and Hoang Thi Anh Dao, 21, of Gialai province, got an 18-month suspended sentence. Mr. Phong acknowledged in court that he had written the political platforms for Bloc 8406 and the Vietnam Progression Party, but said his actions did not constitute a crime. "For the motherland of Vietnam, I will continue to fight for democratic values," he said. At that point, police swiftly removed the defendants from the courtroom and the judge left to decide their sentences. Father Ly was not present in the courtroom when the sentences were read.

The priest's arrest occurred as Vietnamese authorities were cracking down on dissidents. On March 6, they arrested Hanoi human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, accusing them of violating a prohibition on distributing information deemed harmful to the state. After the sentencing, Kenneth Chern of the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, read a statement expressing U.S. concern over Vietnam's recent actions against dissidents. "We call upon the Vietnamese government to allow individuals to peacefully exercise their legitimate rights to freedom of speech without fear of recrimination," he said.

By Ben Stocking - The Associated Press - March 31, 2007.


Vietnam sends dissident priest to prison

BANGKOK - Vietnam has sentenced a Catholic priest to eight years in prison for his pro-democracy activities as the communist regime stepped up its crackdown on dissidents calling for greater civil liberties and independent organisations, including opposition parties.

Father Nguyen Van Ly, a 60-year-old priest who previously served about 15 years in prison for criticising the government, was convicted of “conducting propaganda against the state”, in a half-day trial. He was a founding member of “Block 8406”, a group that last April launched an internet petition signed by 118 pro-democracy advocates calling for an end to one-party rule and greater respect for human rights. In September, he launched the Vietnam Progression party, which has been outlawed by authorities. Another four members of the VPP were also convicted, with punishments ranging from an 18-month suspended sentence, to six years’ imprisonment.

The trial came as Hanoi was talking about establishing full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, after Nguyen Tan Dung, the prime minister, recently made a groundbreaking visit to Pope Benedict. But the Vatican made little public comment about the case of Father Ly. Human Rights Watch called the trial part of “the worst crackdown” on dissent in nearly 20 years in Vietnam, which joined the World Trade Organisation in January and is drawing a flood of new foreign investment. As the economy motored ahead, authorities in recent months arrested two of Vietnam’s few practising human rights lawyers and several members of a new independent trade union, the United Workers-Farmers Organisation of Vietnam. Other free speech activists were detained and questioned.

Sophie Richardson, a Human Rights Watch analyst, predicted state repression would rise as increasingly affluent and emboldened Vietnamese demand greater political freedoms, including the right to free expression and fair, apolitical trials. “The economic development that has taken place has led to real improvements in social freedoms, in ways similar to what we have seen in China,” Ms Richardson said. “But the fact of the matter is that there are basic, fundamental rights, mostly related to civil and political rights, that are guaranteed by the constitution, but in reality are as constrained as ever – if not more so.”

Just a year ago, Vietnam’s Communist rulers appeared to allowing greater space for public discussion of the normally taboo topic of politics, as it sought to woo international favour.

By Amy Kazmin - The Financial Times - March 30, 2007.


Vietnam priest jailed for dissent

A Catholic priest has been jailed for eight years in Vietnam on charges of disseminating information to undermine the state. Father Nguyen Van Ly is a prominent democracy activist and long-time opponent of Communist Party rule. The 60-year-old has been under house arrest since early February. His trial lasted one day. Four co-defendants received prison terms ranging from 18 months suspended to six years. "The behaviour of the defendants amounts to the crime of spreading propaganda against the Socialist state", Judge Bui Quoc Hiep told the court in the central city of Hue. Earlier, a policeman had removed Father Ly from the court after he shouted "Down with the Communist Party". In an unusual move, journalists were allowed limited access to the proceedings.

Political crackdown

Father Ly has already spent 14 of the past 24 years in prison, the BBC's Chris Xia reports. He was last jailed in 2001 after he urged the US to link its trade policy with Vietnam's human rights record. He was released as part of an amnesty in 2005. Father Ly is a founding member of Bloc 8406, a pro-democracy movement launched last April. He is also a member of the Progression Party. Leading members of both groups have been detained in recent months, our reporter adds, in what appears to have been a concerted drive against opponents of the communist government. An envoy from the Vatican raised the case of Father Ly with the authorities during a visit to Vietnam earlier this month, but the envoy would not say what Vietnam's response was.

State media has accused Father Ly and other pro-democracy activists of trying to undermine the Communist Party by forming illegal parties to field candidates in National Assembly elections in May. Only the Communist Party is allowed to stand, although a small number of seats are reserved for non-party members.

BBC News - March 30, 2007.