A Roman Catholic priest who has spent 15 years in jail in Vietnam, has been jailed again for 8 years, for speaking out against his country's communist government.
Father Nguyen Van Ly was charged with, 'spreading propaganda.' Four of his associates received sentences ranging from 18 months suspended, to six years.
Father Ly started his dissident activities in the 1970s, and was jailed for a year in 1977. He served an additional 9 years from 1983 to 1992 on charges of, 'opposing the revolution and destroying the people's unity'.
In November, 2000, Father Ly gained global and official recognition, when members of the Committee for Religious Freedom visited him in his village, during U.S. President Clinton's visit to Vietnam.
The following year, in 2001, he was arrested again at An Truyen church, for his alleged, 'failure to abide by the decisions of his probation.' He was sent to prison for fifteen years on charges relating to his defence of, 'freedom of expression.'
The term of imprisonment was reduced, and he was freed in February 2004.
A little over two weeks ago, as a member of a pro-democracy movement, Father Ly received his latest eight year jail term from Vietnam provincial court Judge Bui Quoc Hiep. The sentence was for committing 'very serious crimes that harmed national security' by trying to organize a boycott of the upcoming election.
The trial went for just one day. Father Ly, appeared in handcuffs, but refused to stand when the judge entered the room. He later yelled, “Down with the Vietnamese Communist Party,” which prompted police officers to silence him by holding their hands over his mouth. Shortly after he was dragged from the court to a separate room where a video link to the court was established.
In an unusually open gesture, authorities allowed the media to follow excerpts of the trial on a separate video link. The coverage was also televised on Vietnamese national television, however when Father Ly began shouting his opposition, the video link to the press, and television coverage, was cut.
The U.S. is deeply troubled by the treatment extended to Father Ly. The matter has been taken up with the Vietnamese government.
Asked about Ly's conviction and sentence at a March 30 press briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said, 'We're deeply troubled by the March 30th trial and conviction and sentencing of Father Nguyen Van Ly on charges of propagandizing against the state. This trial comes in the wake of an increase in the harassment, detention, and arrest of individuals peacefully exercising a legitimate right to peaceful speech. And this is a case that we have raised with the Vietnamese Government officials among other cases.'
'Secretary Rice did bring the issue up, the issue of human rights as well as democratic rights in Vietnam, when she met with the Foreign Minister here in Washington just a couple of weeks ago. So we're going to be watching the situation very closely and as we said, this is something that is certainly not a positive development. In fact it is a negative development,' said McCormack.
Amnesty International's Deputy Asia Pacific Director Tim Parritt said, "The politically-motivated charges against Father Ly and his associates are a blatant attempt to silence them and to scare off other critics of the government."
"This sentence means Father Ly will be a prisoner of conscience for the fourth time in two decades. It is indicative of a broader crackdown on dissent by the Vietnamese authorities that has been intensifying since the country held the APEC meeting last November," he added
"Father Ly and his associates are the first people who have been brought to trial during the crackdown, we fear others will follow," said Parritt.
"The Vietnamese authorities must immediately release Father Ly, Nguyen Phong, and the three others and stop harassing and arresting those who speak out against the government."
According to Matt Steinglass in Hue (Vietnam), the Catholic Church has been quiet about Ly's imprisonment because it does not appear he was singled out for his religion.
Father Joseph Le Viet Phuc explained that in principle, a priest should not engage in politics. He says he continues to visit Ly, but only out of charity, to show him that he is not abandoned.
Phuc also says Ly's political activism had damaged his ability to serve his parish.
Phuc says he had been sent to minister to Father Ly's congregation, because Father Ly no longer could. He says people no longer dared come to Ly's services, for fear of police surveillance.
The government's restrictions on dissent seem to contrast with its other recent liberalizations. The government press ran stories about Ly's trial. Foreign news reports on the trial, on the Internet and cable television, ran uncensored in Vietnam.
Tourist Gerard Bobie, from Luxembourg, saw reports of the trial on an international television broadcast in Vietnam. He says he had the impression that Vietnamese are free in every sense but one.
'The impression is always the same, that people speak about everything, but just not about politics,' he said.
Hotel and restaurant owner Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong said few Vietnamese are interested in taking the risk of criticizing the government.
Phuong says Vietnamese these days prefer to talk about business and everyday life, which are improving. They never talk about politics.
The ruling Communist Party is increasingly willing to let its citizens do business, read foreign media and worship as they want, as long as they do not challenge the rule of the Communist Party, says Steinglass.
