At An Truyen
Resistance to Repression
At An Truyen
although the peiest was, again, subject to surveillance. His relations with the outside world was controlled.
He nevertheless successfully sent his “Papers on Serious Violations of Human
Rights to the Communist Authorities” to world organizations and agencies. In his papers, the dissident priest
called into question the shortcomings and erroneous conduct of affairs of the
Communist administration in Vietnam. In reality, he had worked on this project
since November 1999, promoting a campaign of protests against the violations of
religious liberty in Vietnam. And, his displacement to An Truyen was not
accidental. He would have received the visit of the archbishop of his diocese
sometime on January 20, 2001. and learnt from him the situation in the parish
of An Truyen, the parish of about 900 Christians (according to the statistics
of 1995) situated 12 kilometers from Hue and 17 kilometers from Nguyet Bieu
Parish, the small christendom where he had been in residence and of which he had
been in charge of a chapel. It seems that the pastoral duty confided in him had
been effective since. Also, according sources, the ordinary of the archdiocese
of Hue might have reflected an act of coercion since on January 2, 2001, the
authorities of Thua Thien - Hue “had
given” the authorization to displace Fr.
Nguyen Van Ly to An Truyen.” The
decicion was a predisposition. It was not until January 16, 2001 that the
official order to remove Fr. Nguyen Van Ly
from Nguyet Bieu Parish came into effect.
The Appeals
In every way, this new appointment would nott slow
down the fight for faith and rights of
Fr. Nguyen Van Ly who had multiplied declarations and extended the domain of
protests. In fact, after a series of open letters sent the authorities on the
occasion of the Lunar New Year’s Day of “Tan Ty,” the priest edited and diffused numerous appeals to compatriots in
the country and abroad, among them were the Appeals No.5 and No.6 dated January
25, 2001, the Appeal No.7, January 28,
2001, denouncing wrongdoings of the Communist administration and calling on
them for support. Denunciations included uncivil treatment against him right in
the place where he was quartered. The Appeal No. 5, specifically asked
international organizations not to favor admission to membership of the
Vietnamese Communists to world organizations and conventions. They even viotate the provisions in
rights covenants and treaties of which they pledge to abide. The Appeal No. 6,
which was addressed to professors, teaching staffs, college and high-school
students of Vietnam, asked the country’s
intelligentsia to abandon the study and instruction of socialism, communism,
and the history of the Communist Party, and other subject-matters relating to
communism. The priest justifies the motive, underlying the ill-omen character
of communism whose ideological tenets only corrupt the conscience of the students. The seventh
appeal was directly addressed to the Vietnamese communists and Vietnamese
compatriots in the country and abroad. To the communists, the priest heightened
political pluralism and condemned monopoly of power. The Communists win a war but fail to
consolidate peace. They destroy national reconciliation. Their one-time
adversaries should be treated with decency and have the opportunity to share
responsibilities. In conclusion, the dissident priest urges on all Vietnamese in
and outside the country to claim their rights in the rebuilding of the country.
Against winds and tides and regardless of his
isolation from the world, Fr. Nguyen Van Ly continued his campaign for
religious freedom in his country In his eigth appeal conceived from November
2000 was diffused in the afternoon of February 22, 2001 by the Vietnamese Radio
in the United States, the priest concentrated his attack on the Vietnamese Communist
Party and urges on its members to dissolve this party for the interests of the
people. He equally invited the National Assembly to suppress Article 4 of the 1992
Constitution that arbitrarily places the coumtry under the illegitimate patronage
of the Communist Party and urged on it to organize democratic and fair popular general
elections.
Instances of
Harassment
On February 5, 2001, Fr. Nguyen Van Ly was
officially appointed as pastor at An Truyen Parish by the ecclesiastic order of
the archbishop of Hue Nguyen Nhu The. The titular priest was warmly greeted in
an assembly hosted by two senior pastors in the region, a dozen of priests, and
a delegation from Nguyet Bieu Parish and heartily welcomed by the parishioners.
Sources said that his displacement from
Nguyet Bieu, in fact, resulted from the civil authorities’ pressure on the Hue
archdiocese, removing “a reactionary pastor” from his post. The archbishop had no authority; he simply
enacted the decision. The priest obediently submitted himself to his superior’s order, although he was firmly intent
on confronting the hazardous fight for faith and rights when at Nguyet Bieu
Parish. Nevertheless, the appointment to this desolate parish of the diocese gave him a far
more favorable condition. He considered himself “a priest in exile,”and he
would practically perform even more earnestly his pastoral duties, helping the followers to pray
God to redeem them from sins while living theirfaith with decency as free religious
citizens, a situation he thought would be more conforming to his sacerdoral
mission. He reminded the parishioners that the mission confided in him as pastor
is not only to conduct a sarcerdotal life and to pave way not only for a life
of saintiness but also to promote a life of human dignity. To the civil
authorities, to restrict him to inaction at An Truyen resulted from a hidden
scheme; it wais only a step backward, a right move to wait for a right time.
Repressive
Measures
On February 27, 2001, a decision was sent to Fr.
Nguyen Van Ly to inform him of the adminitrative assignment No.401/QDUB
subjecting him to residence surveillance for a period of 24 months. The order
was signed by the People’s Council of
the province Thua Thien - Hue. The measure is based on the Arrete 31/CP of 1977
that allows the administrative authorities to assign a person to residence
surveillance without premilinary sentence of the court of justice to enact the
case. According to witnesses, after having read the decision that specified
that, since that day on, the priest had no right whatsoever to leave the village
of Truyen Nam, which is the parish of An Truyen. The decision noted that Fr.
Nguyen Van Ly had the right to make an appeal within ten days. However, the priest answered that he would
not do that. On the contrary, he declared that he only served his pastoral duty,
and he would serve it obediently. Immediately, the loudspeakers of the commune
began to diffuse accusations against the pastor of An Truyen. Unfounded
accusations were continually reinstated
any time everyday.
The priest could only speak up in his writings. In his Minutes No.1 of March 20, 2001, reproduced by scanner and diffused on the
internet, he frankly denounced the authorities’ rights violations. He cited, as a case in point, the responsible of the
commune of Phu An, who, each day, since February 27, 2001, at 5 in the morning
and at 17 in the afternoon, diffused though loud speakers 5 texts of propaganda
denigrating his achievements and accusing him of unfounded charges along with numerous articles already diffused by radio and television broadcasts. The
cadres, obedient to their superior drew up a verbal report to the least of
their knowledge of the law on his offense, thereby forcing the priest to make
repeated reports revealing the authorities’ abuse of power against him and his
parishioners.
He confronted police strict control and malicious propaganda
maneuvers with relilience. He flied banters of protest. Local authorities
retaliated with violence. On March 14, a troop of 500 people, including policemen
and plain-clothes agents overwhelmed the small parish of An Truyen without
notice to construct a concrete strech of irrigation running through the ground of the Church and the rice-field of the
parish. At the sight of blatant oppression, Fr. Nguyen Van Ly decided to launch
a campaign of non-violence opposition against
the authorities' breach of the law.
Police laid a heavy hand, conducting a search-and-arrest operation
throughout the parish, and it was succsessful. Sixteen priests of the diocese of
Hue, while in retreat of the Careme, wrote and signed a letter protesting
against the dealings of the police and expressed their support for the
persecuted priest and parishioners. At An Truyen, police multiplied acts of
violence that took place at night, sowing terror in the minds of the pastor and parishioners.
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