FATHER LY TRIED, CONVICTED AND SENTENCED IN HUE: PRELIMINARY

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000294

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL VM
SUBJECT: FATHER LY TRIED, CONVICTED AND SENTENCED IN HUE: PRELIMINARY
REPORT



1. (U) Summary: Father Nguyen Van Ly, a prominent democracy
activist and Catholic priest, was tried and found guilty on
March 30 of progagandizing against the state. He was sentenced
to eight years in prison. Two of his four co-defendents were
sentenced to five to six years respectively to be followed by
several years of house arrest thereafter, for their roles in
circulating anti-GVN propaganda. Vietnamese authorities allowed
diplomats and journalists to witness the trial, which included
dramatic moments of protest by Father Ly. ConGen HCMC DPO Chern
observed the trial and remains in Hue. He provided Department
press guidance to international media following the trial, and
will meet with local officials before returning to HCMC and
preparing a more extensive report. End Summary


2. (SBU) Father Nguyen Van Ly was last released from prison as
part of the February 2005 Tet Amnesty. A longtime democracy
activist, Ly had been in prison on this stint since 2001.
Though technically subjected to "administrative restrictions" (a
loose house arrest) after his release, Ly neither adhered to any
restrictions nor were they enforced. He resumed his
pro-democracy work and was a founding member of the "8406 Bloc"
established in April 2006 on the eve of the Tenth Party
Congress. Ly, along with the other Hue defendents, branched off
of the 8406 Bloc and established the Vietnam Progressive Party
late last year. In February, the VPP announced it would join
with the U.S.-based "For the People" Party to form the "Lac
Hong" Coalition. Immediately following this announcement, the
GVN placed Ly under strict church arrest, first at the
Archbishop's Residence in Hue and later at a more isolated
provincial church. (Note: USG officials met with Ly in Hue on
two occasions following his release. In May 2005, HCMC Poloff
met with Ly and returned with Congressman Chris Smith in
December 2005. Neither the Archbishop of Hue, nor the Vatican,
has embraced Father Ly. The Church has seen Ly as a political
rather than a religious advocate. Unofficially, church
officials have indicated to us that they saw Ly as an obstacle
to the Church's efforts to convince the GVN that the Catholic
Church did not have an anti-Party political agenda. End Note)


3. (U) According to a preliminary readout by CONGEN HCMC DPO
Chern, the trial of Father Ly and four other defendants was held
as scheduled in Hue City on the morning of March 30. DPO Chern
and observers from the European Commission, Sweden, Norway,
Switzerland and Australia were allowed to watch the proceedings.
They were permitted to witness the first 10 minutes of the
trial in the actual courtroom and were then moved to an adjacent
room where they could observe the proceedings on closed-circuit
TV. Several dozen international and Vietnamese reporters were
also in the TV viewing room. The trial lasted three hours, at
the end of which time the DPO Chern and the other diplomatic
observers were allowed back into the courtroom to observe the
sentencing.


4. (U) The trial was a heated affair starting with Father Ly
three times shouting out that the court was a puppet and three
times being ejected from the courtroom, departing the third time
with the rejoinder that "the Communist Party of Vietnam knows
only the law of the jungle." None of the defendents was
represented by counsel, based on the defendents' decisions to
represent themselves, the judge stated. In the trial's most
dramatic moment, the judge asked Hue activist Nguyen Phong if he
had "consulted the laws of Vietnam" when forming his
association. Phong replied that he had done nothing wrong. The
political grouping was formed according to the right of
association which was "enshrined in UN human rights covenents."
The judge shouted him down and demanded that he answer question
asked or lose the right to speak. At the conclusion of the
trial, the court sentenced Ly to eight years in prison, and his
co-defendants Nguyen Phong and Nguyen Binh Thanh to six and five
years in prison, respectively. The other two defendants
received suspended sentences and several years of administrative
probation.

WINNICK