Police block Catholics from Vietnam court hearing
HANOI (AFP) — Vietnamese police blocked about 1,000 Roman Catholics from converging on a Hanoi court Friday where they wanted to support eight fellow believers caught up in a land dispute.
AFP reporters saw hundreds of plainclothes and uniformed police, some carrying batons and wearing helmets. Barriers were erected about 200 metres (220 yards) from the complex to stop people approaching the trial area.
Singing from Bibles, the Catholics held paper signs reading: "Justice, truth" and "You are innocent". Another criticised what it called an "unjust" trial.
The Catholics and police stood quite close together as the court heard the appeal against the conviction of the eight in a land dispute with the communist state, but there appeared to be no tension between them.
The eight filed the appeal shortly after they were convicted in December of property damage and disturbing public order during vigils in protest at the seizure, decades ago, of church land by authorities.
They wanted the appeal court to declare them innocent, their main lawyer, Le Tran Luat, has said.
He was not in court Friday. He told AFP from his base in southern Vietnam earlier this week he could not defend his clients because police had "looked for all means to prevent me from going there."
On Thursday, he said Vietnamese authorities had ordered his office shut.
"It is unfair, this court. The main lawyer is not there. The court must announce that they are innocent," said one of the protesters, Nguyen Thi Xuan, 39.
Another, Vinh Son Vinh, 50, said he believed the Catholics would take their case to a higher court if Friday's appeal failed.
"Now we don't ask for the land. We ask for truth and justice... We come here to pray for the protection of our fellow Catholics," he said, wearing a picture of the Virgin Mary round his neck.
Journalists and a handful of diplomats were allowed in to watch the proceedings, but only via closed-circuit television and not from the courtroom itself.
The court president questioned the defendants, who admitted breaking bricks on a wall but said they were innocent. Witnesses told court that the protesters' singing and other noise disturbed local residents.
Nguyen Van Phuong, a Redemptorist priest who joined the crowd outside court, said some protesters who gathered Friday had come from outside Hanoi.
"We want the Vietnamese government to respect the Vietnamese Catholic congregation," said Phuong.
At their December trial, seven of the accused received suspended sentences of between 12 and 15 months, while one was given a warning.
All eight had admitted taking part in rallies calling for the return of a church property seized after the departure of Vietnam's former colonial power France in 1954.
The group, aged between 21 and 63, maintained they simply wanted to protect what they considered church property.
Vietnam, a unified communist country since 1975, includes Southeast Asia's largest Catholic community after the Philippines, with at least six million followers in a population of 86 million.
Most church lands, and many other properties, were taken over by the state after communists took power in North Vietnam in 1954.
The eight Catholics were convicted in connection with rallies at Hanoi's Thai Ha Redemptorist parish that reached their peak last August.
They were among thousands of believers who joined prayer meetings and peaceful rallies in Hanoi that began in 2007 calling for the return of seized church properties.
Religious activity remains under state control, but Hanoi's relations with the Catholic Church had improved before the wave of property protests.
HANOI (AFP) — Vietnamese police blocked about 1,000 Roman Catholics from converging on a Hanoi court Friday where they wanted to support eight fellow believers caught up in a land dispute.
AFP reporters saw hundreds of plainclothes and uniformed police, some carrying batons and wearing helmets. Barriers were erected about 200 metres (220 yards) from the complex to stop people approaching the trial area.
Singing from Bibles, the Catholics held paper signs reading: "Justice, truth" and "You are innocent". Another criticised what it called an "unjust" trial.The Catholics and police stood quite close together as the court heard the appeal against the conviction of the eight in a land dispute with the communist state, but there appeared to be no tension between them.
The eight filed the appeal shortly after they were convicted in December of property damage and disturbing public order during vigils in protest at the seizure, decades ago, of church land by authorities.
They wanted the appeal court to declare them innocent, their main lawyer, Le Tran Luat, has said.
He was not in court Friday. He told AFP from his base in southern Vietnam earlier this week he could not defend his clients because police had "looked for all means to prevent me from going there."
On Thursday, he said Vietnamese authorities had ordered his office shut.
"It is unfair, this court. The main lawyer is not there. The court must announce that they are innocent," said one of the protesters, Nguyen Thi Xuan, 39.
Another, Vinh Son Vinh, 50, said he believed the Catholics would take their case to a higher court if Friday's appeal failed.
"Now we don't ask for the land. We ask for truth and justice... We come here to pray for the protection of our fellow Catholics," he said, wearing a picture of the Virgin Mary round his neck.
Journalists and a handful of diplomats were allowed in to watch the proceedings, but only via closed-circuit television and not from the courtroom itself.The court president questioned the defendants, who admitted breaking bricks on a wall but said they were innocent. Witnesses told court that the protesters' singing and other noise disturbed local residents.
Nguyen Van Phuong, a Redemptorist priest who joined the crowd outside court, said some protesters who gathered Friday had come from outside Hanoi.
"We want the Vietnamese government to respect the Vietnamese Catholic congregation," said Phuong.
At their December trial, seven of the accused received suspended sentences of between 12 and 15 months, while one was given a warning.
All eight had admitted taking part in rallies calling for the return of a church property seized after the departure of Vietnam's former colonial power France in 1954.
The group, aged between 21 and 63, maintained they simply wanted to protect what they considered church property.
Vietnam, a unified communist country since 1975, includes Southeast Asia's largest Catholic community after the Philippines, with at least six million followers in a population of 86 million.
Most church lands, and many other properties, were taken over by the state after communists took power in North Vietnam in 1954.
The eight Catholics were convicted in connection with rallies at Hanoi's Thai Ha Redemptorist parish that reached their peak last August.
They were among thousands of believers who joined prayer meetings and peaceful rallies in Hanoi that began in 2007 calling for the return of seized church properties.
Religious activity remains under state control, but Hanoi's relations with the Catholic Church had improved before the wave of property protests.