March 7, 1995 - The Paris-based International Federation of Leagues of Human Rights (IFHR) has written to the Vietnamese Ambassador in Paris asking for visas to be delivered to three French lawyers mandated to defend Venerable Thich Quang Do, Secretary General of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) who is to stand trial in Ho Chi Minh City on charges of "provoking trouble contrary to Vietnamese law". The three French lawyers are Etienne GRUMBACH, former President of the French Bar, Guy AURENCHE, President of the Association of Christians Against Torture, and Carine JACOBY. Although the authorities have not yet confirmed the date of the trial, they have said that Thich Quang Do, arrested on 4 January 1995, will be tried "as a Vietnamese delinquent and not as a Buddhist". In its letter to the Vietnamese Ambassador, IFHR President Patrick Baudoin said that the three lawyers were mandated by the UBCV in Viet Nam, and urged that the lawyers be allowed to leave as soon as possible to consult with Thich Quang Do and confer with the relevant Vietnamese judiciary organs on questions of defence procedure.
SRV delegation defends its human rights practices at the European Parliament
A delegation from the SRV National Assembly headed by its President, Nong Duc Manh, visited the European Parliament recently to defend Viet Nam's performance on human rights and religious freedom which were criticized in a Resolution adopted in the European Parliament on 19 January 1995. The Resolution condemned the arrests of UBCV leaders and called on Viet Nam to release Thich Huyen Quang, Thich Quang Do, and other monks and laypersons arrested for their participation in a relief operation for flood victims in the Mekong delta in November 1994. The resolution also called for the release of UBCV dignitaries arrested in Hue and in Ba-Ria in 1993.
Among the four-person delegation was Ven. Thich Thien Sieu, Deputy Head of the (State-sponsored) Viet Nam Buddhist Church Executive Board, and Member of the National Assembly. This is the first time Thich Thien Sieu has taken part in an overseas visit, and his presence is seen as an attempt to illustrate the Government's claims that "there is no persecution against Buddhists in Viet Nam". However, Venerable Sieu made no comments during the visit, and kept silent throughout Mr. Nong Duc Manh's briefing which was attended by a modest group of MEPs on 21 February 1995. Thich Thien Sieu's appearance in Brussels is all the more remarkable in the light of recent reports that he has asked to be relieved of his functions within the (State-sponsored) VBC. He is said to have left Hue and taken refuge in Nhatrang after recent incidents broke out at the reopening of the School of Fundamental Buddhist Studies at Bao Quoc Pagoda, Hue, where he was to be the Headmaster. On November 27 1994, novice Buddhists and students disrupted the ceremony to hand over a petition protesting at the political content of the schools curriculum and selection criteria.
His resignation was revealed in a Statement (No 341/CV/HDTS, 15.1.1995) issued on behalf of the VBC Central Executive by Thich Thien Hao, one of the VBC's head dignitaries and main protagonists, which illustrates the gravity of the crisis within the State-sponsored Church. "Since 1992, the activities of a group of monks in Hue posing as the so-called "Provisional Executive Board of the Thua Thien-Hue Sangha" have caused great difficulties to the pursuance of Buddhist activities in Thua Thien-Hue." "On 27.11.1995, this group disturbed the Opening ceremony of the School of Fundamental Buddhist Studies. As a result, Venerable Thich Tri Sieu... and the entire Executive Board [of the VCB] in Thua Thien-Hue were obliged to cease all Buddhist activities and leave town. In short, they have all submitted their resignations to the VBC Central Executive". Thich Thien Hao's Statement reveals the fundamental political character of the VBC by calling on the Party and the Government to sanction the protesters instead of dealing with the problem within the Buddhist Church: "The Permanent Committee of the [VBC] Executive Board... has written to the President of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, urging them to take stern punitive measures against those who violate the law, and calling upon them to guarantee the security of Ven. Thich Thien Sieu and the Thua Thien-Hue Executive Board. We have also written to Thich Thien Sieu and the members of the Thua Thien Hue Executive Board, asking them to carry on their functions within the Church".
Buddhist sources report that the authorities have unleashed a wave of repression in response to the VBC appeal by systematically raiding pagodas, checking identity papers, harassing and interrogating monks in Hue over the past three months. The fate of Thich Nhu Dat and 12 novices arrested and detained for "working sessions" at the Security Police Headquarters on 7 December is still unknown. So far, two of the novices who signed the Bao Quoc Petition, Thich Hai Hung (from Phuoc Duyen Pagoda) and Thich Hanh Duc (from Linh Quang Pagoda) have been arrested on charges of "disrupting public order" and a third, Thich Huyen Van, was placed under house arrest at Tho Duc Pagoda on 24 December 1994.
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