In an open letter to all Vietnamese Catholic priests released Sunday, asking for spiritual support, the Redemptorist province in Vietnam claims there has been a campaign of state-run media assaulting Redemptorists in Hanoi with false accusations, distortions and mockeries.
“In the wave of a lying media campaign manipulated exclusively by state-run television, radio, and newspaper, we need to raise our voice to establish the truth. We have no media outlet other than this letter to tell you all the truth relating to Thai Ha issue,” the letter says.
Fr. Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai, the general secretary of Redemptorist province in Vietnam, restated the accusation that the local government illegally seized the land. “Fr Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich,” - who was left in charge of the 15 acres of monastery’s land and the parish church when the Communists took over in 1954 - “never sold, or donated the land. Repeatedly Fr. Vu stated in words and in writing that he never done that,” Fr. Joseph Dinh stated.
“Moreover,” he emphasizes, “we have all necessary documents and witnesses to prove that the property had belonged completely to Hanoi Redemptorist monastery and Thai Ha parish until it was seized unlawfully by government organizations.”
According to the general secretary of Vietnam Redemptorist province, the root of the problem is that the government lacks of good will to return the property to its true owner. Instead, it trembles the good will of protestors to dialogue in truth and fairness by launching a general hate campaign of distortions and false accusations: “Hanoi TV station, the New Hanoi, the police newspaper Capital Security, and the People have falsely reported what has been going on at Thai Ha in order to create a cause of an assault to disperse peaceful protests at Thai Ha by force.”
Fr. Joseph Dinh also complaints the Saigon Liberated Newspaper which “defamed Hanoi Redemptorists with distortions and false accusations in an article on August 20th”.
He goes on expressing the deep concerns of Vietnam Redemptorist province that the government is conducting a harsh persecution on protestors as seen in a series of arrests in Hanoi nowadays. Despise all those, Fr. Joseph Dinh vows that “We continue to fight for justice within the framework of Vietnam laws and all international laws that Vietnam government has signed”.
On August 29th, Hanoi Redemptorists also released an “Emergency Claim” regarding the police's break-down and assault on praying parishioners by force. The letter was sent to the President of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Prime Minister, the People's Bureau of Investigation of Hanoi, the People's Supreme Court of Hanoi and other state organizations.
The Redemptorists states that on “August 28th, at around 7:45 pm, while our parishioners were holding a peaceful prayer-vigil at the gate of Department of Public Safety of Dong-Da District intending to request the Department( of Public Safety) to comply with the law, ending illegal detention of innocent people and release those who were arrested during an illegal raid, many policemen from mobile units had used electrical batons and others supporting tools to break-down and assault the prayer-vigil participants barbarously”.
“As a result of this action many parishioners suffered serious injuries. Others were beaten until losing consciousness. Numerous of them were taken away and to date still not accounted for. The incident happening on the main road of Hanoi had caused an outrage among not only our parishioners but also bystanders, those living in the vicinity of Thai Ha street who had witnessed savage treatments on religious civilians”
The Redemptorists conclude their letter with requests for the “immediate release of detainees... the care and treatment for injured victims... immediate cease to the unconstitutional, unlawful claim on the property of the Redemptorist Order and Thai Ha Parish as that claim had turned victims into perpetrators, and vice versa.”
“In the wave of a lying media campaign manipulated exclusively by state-run television, radio, and newspaper, we need to raise our voice to establish the truth. We have no media outlet other than this letter to tell you all the truth relating to Thai Ha issue,” the letter says.
Fr. Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai, the general secretary of Redemptorist province in Vietnam, restated the accusation that the local government illegally seized the land. “Fr Joseph Vu Ngoc Bich,” - who was left in charge of the 15 acres of monastery’s land and the parish church when the Communists took over in 1954 - “never sold, or donated the land. Repeatedly Fr. Vu stated in words and in writing that he never done that,” Fr. Joseph Dinh stated.
“Moreover,” he emphasizes, “we have all necessary documents and witnesses to prove that the property had belonged completely to Hanoi Redemptorist monastery and Thai Ha parish until it was seized unlawfully by government organizations.”
According to the general secretary of Vietnam Redemptorist province, the root of the problem is that the government lacks of good will to return the property to its true owner. Instead, it trembles the good will of protestors to dialogue in truth and fairness by launching a general hate campaign of distortions and false accusations: “Hanoi TV station, the New Hanoi, the police newspaper Capital Security, and the People have falsely reported what has been going on at Thai Ha in order to create a cause of an assault to disperse peaceful protests at Thai Ha by force.”
Fr. Joseph Dinh also complaints the Saigon Liberated Newspaper which “defamed Hanoi Redemptorists with distortions and false accusations in an article on August 20th”.
He goes on expressing the deep concerns of Vietnam Redemptorist province that the government is conducting a harsh persecution on protestors as seen in a series of arrests in Hanoi nowadays. Despise all those, Fr. Joseph Dinh vows that “We continue to fight for justice within the framework of Vietnam laws and all international laws that Vietnam government has signed”.
On August 29th, Hanoi Redemptorists also released an “Emergency Claim” regarding the police's break-down and assault on praying parishioners by force. The letter was sent to the President of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Prime Minister, the People's Bureau of Investigation of Hanoi, the People's Supreme Court of Hanoi and other state organizations.
The Redemptorists states that on “August 28th, at around 7:45 pm, while our parishioners were holding a peaceful prayer-vigil at the gate of Department of Public Safety of Dong-Da District intending to request the Department( of Public Safety) to comply with the law, ending illegal detention of innocent people and release those who were arrested during an illegal raid, many policemen from mobile units had used electrical batons and others supporting tools to break-down and assault the prayer-vigil participants barbarously”.
“As a result of this action many parishioners suffered serious injuries. Others were beaten until losing consciousness. Numerous of them were taken away and to date still not accounted for. The incident happening on the main road of Hanoi had caused an outrage among not only our parishioners but also bystanders, those living in the vicinity of Thai Ha street who had witnessed savage treatments on religious civilians”
The Redemptorists conclude their letter with requests for the “immediate release of detainees... the care and treatment for injured victims... immediate cease to the unconstitutional, unlawful claim on the property of the Redemptorist Order and Thai Ha Parish as that claim had turned victims into perpetrators, and vice versa.”