Dissident Catholic Priest Sentenced to 8 years in Prison

BEN STOCKING
Associated Press

A high-profile dissident Catholic priest denounced Vietnam's Communist Party as he went on trial Friday, March 30, 2007, accused of disseminating materials intended to undermine the country's government.

HUE, Vietnam - A Vietnamese court sentenced a dissident Catholic priest to eight years in prison for anti-government activities during dramatic proceedings Friday in which the priest shouted denunciations of Vietnam's Communist leaders.

Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly was sentenced in Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court on charges of disseminating materials intended to undermine the government, and communicating with anti-communist groups overseas.

Authorities said Ly, 60, is one of the founders of the "Vietnam Progression Party" and was plotting to merge with overseas democracy activists to form a new political umbrella group called "Lac Hong."

"Down with the Communist Party of Vietnam!" Ly shouted when he was first brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, along with four co-defendants.

It was a striking outburst of defiance in a country where dissent is harshly punished.

A police officer quickly covered Ly's mouth, and removed him to a nearby room where the proceedings were broadcast on a loudspeaker. 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.

"Father Ly turned his bedroom into the headquarters of political parties opposing the government," one of the prosecutors said during sentencing arguments. "His actions were extremely dangerous and violated national security.

"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 Ly shouted.

Last month, authorities moved Ly from his home in the central 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 on Friday.

The court sentenced four co-defendants who were accused of being Ly's accomplices.Ly's four co-defendants stood and identified themselves at the start of proceedings Friday, while he defiantly remained seated on a chair.

Ly, has spent more than a decade in prison for his political activism and is one of the best-known members of Vietnam's small dissident community. In 2001, after he openly called for linking U.S. trade with Vietnam to Hanoi's human rights record, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.Western governments and international human rights groups protested, and Ly was released early in a 2005 prison amnesty.

Ly's arrest comes as Vietnamese authorities have been 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.

The day-to-day freedoms of ordinary Vietnamese have increased greatly in the last 20 years, as the country has opened its economy and increased contact with other countries.

But the Communist Party still does not allow challenges to its single-party rule, and it is especially vigilant about efforts by Vietnamese dissidents to join forces with overseas pro-democracy groups.