Posted on 04/02/2007 1:19:49 AM PDT by Bloc8406
HUE, Vietnam (AFP) - A dissident Roman Catholic priest in Vietnam was jailed for eight years Friday, yelling defiance to the last as the court convicted him of spreading propaganda against the communist state.
Pro-democracy activist Father Nguyen Van Ly, 60, was found guilty and sentenced together with four other advocates of multi-party democracy in a swift, half-day trial in the central city of Hue.
The priest -- who has been jailed three times since the 1970s for a total of 14 years -- was dragged into the courtroom in handcuffs and shouted angrily as a police officer hastily covered his mouth.
Ly was later ejected and sentenced while being held in a separate room.
The trial drew condemnation from diplomats, Vietnam watchers and human rights groups for the one-party state that has gone to great lengths over the past year to boost its international prestige.
It was the first of several trials expected over the coming months against prominent civil liberties advocates, also including Hanoi human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, detained earlier this month.
Prosecutors said Father Ly was a founding member of the banned "Bloc 8406" pro-democracy coalition, named after its April 8 launch last year, and also a driving force behind the outlawed Vietnam Progression Party (VPP).
The four other defendants, all declared members of the VPP, were given sentences from an 18-month suspended jail term to six years behind bars.
Judge Bui Quoc Hiep said their "criminal behaviour is very serious, damaging the sustainability of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, undermining national security and splitting relations between church followers and the people."
Authorities took the unusual step of allowing foreign media and diplomats into the courtroom for the first and the final few minutes of the trial and letting them follow proceedings via closed-circuit television.
But the audio was briefly cut after Ly loudly criticised the "communist court" and labelled the trial the "law of the jungle" among other angry shouts.
Foreign diplomatic observers swiftly condemned the trial.
"We call upon the Vietnamese government to allow individuals to peacefully exercise their legitimate right to freedom of speech without fear of recrimination," said US Deputy Consul Kenneth Chern.
Vietnam expert Carl Thayer, of the Australian Defence Force Academy, said the trial "was as predictable as it was reprehensible. Communist may be passe but authoritarian rule is not."
Thayer said Vietnam had "put considerable capital into polishing its international reputation and prestige," including hosting an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) summit and entering the World Trade Organisation.
"The imprisonment of Father Ly and several of his associates, to be followed by more show trials, will take the gloss off these efforts," Thayer said.
Police raided Ly's residence on February 18 and seized computers, mobile phone cards and other equipment that was exhibited as evidence in court.
Ly's co-defendants -- party committee chairman Nguyen Phong, 32, technician Nguyen Binh Thanh, 51, office secretary Hoang Thi Anh Dao, 21, and teacher Le Thi Le Hang, 44 -- were convicted of the same charges.
Phong received six years in jail, Thanh five, and Dao and Hang suspended sentences of two years and 18 months respectively.
The judge said earlier that the five could defend themselves, but cut them off after a few sentences or when they sought to present their political views.
Thanh, asked if he had a final message, said, "What I did exactly followed international treaties and law."
Phong told the court: "For the Vietnamese nation, I will continue to fight for the values of freedom and democracy."
Reacting to the jailing, Reporters Without Borders called "on the European Union to suspend its cooperation programmes in judicial matters."
The Paris-based group also also said it would ask the White House to put Vietnam back on its list of countries that restrict freedom of opinion and religion.
Amnesty International's Tim Parritt said the trial was "indicative of a broader crackdown on dissent" that has intensified in Vietnam since the November APEC meeting.
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This is who we call a brave man.
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God bless him. He should be free right now. We failed those people. We let em down. Lets make sure we do not do the same to the Iraqis.
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Exactly so.
The Left really, really hates having their noses rubbed in that, and having it pointed out that it was a Dem Congress that did it.
Blood on the hands of Democrats over this, and Vietnam defeatist Republicans too.
Coming to Iraq soon.......
While Ford Motor Company and others profit from sweat shops in Viet Nam.
Someone emailed me a link to a news clip of the file. I wanted to share it with you. http://youtube.com/watch?v=k2CfXeoMls
Apologies posting wrong link. Here is the correct link http://youtube.com/watch?v=k2CfXeoMls
Someone else posted a clearer, but edited video http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dzk1WmmHo
My apologies if you tried viewing the news clip from my links. For some reason, I can't link youtube videos here. They keep cutting off the last part of the link. Please type in search terms FATHER and LY at youtube to view the videos.
Blood on the hands of Democrats over this, and Vietnam defeatist Republicans too. Coming to Iraq soon.......What a sad history!!! repeats itself
"When they came for the Labor Unionists, nobody spoke up. When they came for the disabled, then for the gays, nobody spoke up. And then when they came for the Jews, nobody spoke up. When they then came for me, there was nobody that was left to speak up".Like Paster Niemuller, If Father Ly doesn't speak up for the Vietnamese who long for freedom, who will!!!
“God bless him. He should be free right now. We failed those people. We let em down. Lets make sure we do not do the same to the Iraqis.”
I agree with your comment, however, “we” in your statement should be spelled “t h e d e m o c r a t c o n g r e s s .”
With that modification, your statement is exactly right!!
“While Ford Motor Company and others profit from sweat shops in Viet Nam.”
The merchandise made in VN by Vietnamese employees is for local consumption. No one is forced to work in those factories; they can quit and go beg in the streets if they feel used by the Capitalist Auto company.
The Ford plant is about a 1 1/2 hour drive East of Hanoi; that’s an agricultural area.
If the jobs are voluntary, the mdse is for local consumption and the people can quit, how is it a sweat shop?
what are you? some kind of sweat shop apologist for FORD.
Let me tell you something, genius
American companies should have NEVER been allowed to operate in Viet Nam until there was a FULL AND COMPLETE ACCCOUNTING OF EVERY AMERICAN POW & MIA.
PERIOD!
Now you know what you can do with your f’ing Ford/Viet Nam excuses.
“what are you? some kind of sweat shop apologist for FORD.”
Ok Kelly, I guess you don’t buy anything made in Japan or made by the Japanese, isn’t that right?
Eventually, we have to get on with the future. I spent plenty of time in VN, but the problem in VN is not the people, it’s the commies in the government. If you want to deny the people an ability to feed themselves and their families, are you better than their government?
Lame excuses.
I know several Catholic refugees from Saigon...they got on a rickety boat the day it fell, after paying a huge ransom to be allowed to flee...they were picked up by an American cargo ship, and brought to the US.
This is not the same as Japan, and you know it. There is no similarity.
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