The Czech Republic's first post-communist president, Vaclav Havel, has backed a call by other former communist-era dissidents for the release of Fr Nguyen Van Ly, the pro-democracy priest sentenced to eight years prison in Vietnam for disseminating "anti-government propaganda".
The International Herald Tribune reports that four of Fr Ly's associates were also jailed, one to a six-year term.
Another two activists, lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, are due to go on trial later this month.
"We are worried by this undemocratic action which we perceive as a gross violation of civic rights," said an open letter to the Vietnamese prime minister, president and parliamentary speaker, signed by Havel and dozens of other prominent Czech personalities.
"We express our solidarity with the convicts and demand an immediate release of the convicts and the arrested," the letter said.
"We express our solidarity with the convicts and demand an immediate release of the convicts and the arrested," the letter said.
Roman Catholic Bishop Vaclav Maly, Rabbi Karol Sidon or Senator Petr Pithart - dissidents under the former communist regime - are among the letter's signatories.
1 comment:
From the bottom of my heart,
thank you for creating this blog,
thank you for speaking for the defenless.
Vietnamese history will appreciate your good will.
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