HANOI (AFP)--Eight Vietnamese Catholics went on trial Monday, charged with disturbing public order and destroying property in the communist country during rallies over a land dispute this year.
The trial is the first stemming from a year-old series of mass prayer vigils and peaceful rallies in the capital Hanoi in which Catholics have demanded the return of some church lands seized by the state half a century ago.
Hundreds of Catholic faithful, including robed priests holding religious icons, rallied outside the local government building where the trial was being held, guarded by hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police.
"We came here to ask for justice," said one supporter in the fast-growing crowd, 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Hoa. "The Catholic detainees are all innocent."
Another supporter, holding up a picture of the Virgin Mary, said "the charges are groundless because these people only protected the land of the church. They did not commit any violence against the authorities."
Vietnam, a former French colony and a unified communist country since the war ended in 1975, has Southeast Asia's largest Catholic community after the Philippines - at least six million out of a population of 86 million.
The eight defendants - four men and four women - are accused of causing public disorder and destroying property, charges which each carry up to seven years' jail, at the height of the protests in August.
To back their case, Vietnamese authorities have in the past released video footage showing Catholic protesters tearing down part of a brick wall around a disputed parcel of land adjacent to the Thai Ha Redemptorist parish.
The property and another disputed plot of land in the center of the capital - the site of the former Vatican embassy adjacent to St. Joseph's Cathedral - have since been turned into public parks.
Access to Monday's hearing was restricted by officials who cited the small size of the courtroom in the Dong Da local government building. The few foreign reporters allowed in had to hand their cellphones to police.
Vietnam's tightly controlled media has largely ignored the case.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency, or VNA, named two detained defendants as 46-year-old Nguyen Thi Nhi, a female resident of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, and 54-year-old woman Ngo Thi Dung.
Also on trial but earlier freed on bail were two more women - Nguyen Thi Viet, 59, and Le Thi Hoi, 61 - and four men - Le Quang Kien, 63, Pham Chi Nang, 50, Ngyen Dac Hung, 31, and Thai Thanh Hai, 21 - said VNA.
Catholics in hundreds of parishes across Vietnam, including southern Ho Chi Minh City, have organized prayers and vigils to support the defendants, said the online Catholic news service vietcatholic.net.
(Source: AAFP, Monday December 8th, 2008 - http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/catholic-protesters-face-court-in-vietnam-574922)
The trial is the first stemming from a year-old series of mass prayer vigils and peaceful rallies in the capital Hanoi in which Catholics have demanded the return of some church lands seized by the state half a century ago.
Hundreds of Catholic faithful, including robed priests holding religious icons, rallied outside the local government building where the trial was being held, guarded by hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police.
"We came here to ask for justice," said one supporter in the fast-growing crowd, 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Hoa. "The Catholic detainees are all innocent."
Another supporter, holding up a picture of the Virgin Mary, said "the charges are groundless because these people only protected the land of the church. They did not commit any violence against the authorities."
Vietnam, a former French colony and a unified communist country since the war ended in 1975, has Southeast Asia's largest Catholic community after the Philippines - at least six million out of a population of 86 million.
The eight defendants - four men and four women - are accused of causing public disorder and destroying property, charges which each carry up to seven years' jail, at the height of the protests in August.
To back their case, Vietnamese authorities have in the past released video footage showing Catholic protesters tearing down part of a brick wall around a disputed parcel of land adjacent to the Thai Ha Redemptorist parish.
The property and another disputed plot of land in the center of the capital - the site of the former Vatican embassy adjacent to St. Joseph's Cathedral - have since been turned into public parks.
Access to Monday's hearing was restricted by officials who cited the small size of the courtroom in the Dong Da local government building. The few foreign reporters allowed in had to hand their cellphones to police.
Vietnam's tightly controlled media has largely ignored the case.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency, or VNA, named two detained defendants as 46-year-old Nguyen Thi Nhi, a female resident of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, and 54-year-old woman Ngo Thi Dung.
Also on trial but earlier freed on bail were two more women - Nguyen Thi Viet, 59, and Le Thi Hoi, 61 - and four men - Le Quang Kien, 63, Pham Chi Nang, 50, Ngyen Dac Hung, 31, and Thai Thanh Hai, 21 - said VNA.
Catholics in hundreds of parishes across Vietnam, including southern Ho Chi Minh City, have organized prayers and vigils to support the defendants, said the online Catholic news service vietcatholic.net.
(Source: AAFP, Monday December 8th, 2008 - http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/catholic-protesters-face-court-in-vietnam-574922)