Vietnamese Catholics pray for release of Vinh Christian activists
(May 22, 2013) In Hanoi, Vietnam, Catholics, human rights activists, members of civil
society and international organizations continue their mobilization for the release
of 14 Christian activists - 13 Catholic and a Protestant - sentenced to various prison
terms, for a maximum of 13 years. After numerous delays, the next hearing of eight
defendants is scheduled for Thursday (May 23). In this month of May, dedicated to
the Virgin Mary and the Asian nation's Festival of Flowers, the Catholic community
is uniting around the young people, imprisoned on charges of "subversion" against
the state, and are appealing to the government in Hanoi to free them as they are
completely innocent of the charges against them. Activists and international organizations
have spared no criticism of the government for the illegal arrest and subsequent sentencing.
European countries, Asian and international pro-human rights committees have also
taken up the defence of the 14 Christian activists. So far over 30 thousand signatures
have been collected, demanding the communist authorities intercede for their release. The
story of young Christians in prison - and pending appeal - is tied to the arbitrary
imprisonment of activists and nationalists, guilty only of having peacefully protested
against Beijing's "imperialist" aggression in the South China Sea.