Diocese of Vinh to appeal judges: acquit three young innocent Catholics
Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The Commission for Justice and Peace
of the Catholic Church of Vinh, in the north of Vietnam, is demanding that the
appeal process against three young people is "consistent with
international law." In
a statement published on the website of the diocese, the Christian body picks
apart the charges behind the sentence laid by judges at the preliminary ranging
from 18 to 42 months in prison. The
three young Catholics where found guilty of "propaganda against the State
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" and distributing
"anti-government leaflets," according to Articles 88 and 79 of the
Criminal Code of the country.
To
date, only four out of 17 Christian activists, who were arrested by the police
in June 2011, have undergone trial. The
first hearing was held on 25 May in a people's court of the province of Nghe
An (see AsiaNews 05/25/2012 Four Catholic activists, on trial for "propaganda against the
state", are sentenced"). The
judges issued a sentence of 42 months in prison, plus 18 months probation for
Dau Van VIETNAM
Four Catholic activists, on trial for "propaganda against the state",
are sentenced - Asia NewsDuong, 39 months in prison and one year of
probation for Tran Huu Duc; 36 months and one year of probation
for Chu Manh Son,
and finally Hoang Phong, was sentenced to 18 months. Three of them have appealed
the sentence.
In
the statement released by the Justice and Peace Commission - launched by the
diocese on the eve of the trial and published by Eglises d'Asie - the Catholics
insist the Criminal Code article on which the charge is based is unconstitutional.
The
crime of propaganda against the state, in fact, is contrary to the
constitutional principles relating to civil rights. The
Commission also emphasizes the "non-compliance" of the articles of
the Criminal Code in relation to international legislation. Finally,
it rattles off numerous "procedural" errors that characterized the trial.
For
Catholic leaders, the first trial was a "parody " in which civil
rights that are enshrined in the Constitution were violated: freedom of speech,
press, assembly and information. None
of these rights, they say, are included in the Civil Code of 2006. In
this regard, young people are only expressing their personal opinions could -
in theory - rely on the basic rights of
the human person. They,
concludes the statement of the diocese, are "good students" and come
from "poor and hard-working" families.
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