HANOI, VIETNAM (AP) - A Hanoi court rejected the appeals Friday of eight Roman Catholics convicted last year of disturbing public order and damaging property during a series of demonstrations to demand the return of former church land.
Judge Nguyen Quoc Hoi upheld the light sentences that a lower court issued last December, when seven of the defendants received suspended sentences ranging from 12 to 15 months, and another received a warning. They all got two years of probation.
Hoi said the court was lenient with the defendants because of their misunderstanding of the law and issues related to the land dispute at the Thai Ha church in Hanoi.
Several of the defendants were arrested after they knocked down a section of the wall surrounding the property and set up an altar and a statue of the Virgin Mary last August.
“The defendants’ actions were dangerous and undermined national unity,” Hoi said.
The defendants argued they were merely exercising their right to free speech and committed no crime.
“We are innocent,” defendant Le Thi Hoi told the court Friday. “Peaceful prayer cannot be dubbed ’disturbing the public order.’”
The case arose from a series of mostly peaceful vigils near a parcel of land once owned by Thai Ha Church in Hanoi _ worth millions of dollars. The communist government confiscated the plot several years after taking power from the French in 1954. It was then given to a state-owned garment factory.
After last year’s vigils ended, city officials turned the land into a public park.
Hanoi authorities say the land belongs to the city, claiming a former parish priest signed papers turning it over in 1962. Church members insist they have documents that prove the land was never turned over.
Nearly a thousand Catholics and scores of riot police gathered outside a Hanoi court as the proceedings began Friday morning, with church members carrying signs and chanting prayers for the eight defendants who were convicted and given light sentences in December.
Catholics outside the courthouse Friday morning carried signs saying, “Justice! Truth!” and “You are victims.” A priest speaking through a megaphone urged them to remain calm and warned them not to interfere with the police.
The Thai Ha vigils were a bold step in a country where church-state relations are often tense and the government frowns on public protests of any kind.
Last year, Catholics also held vigils at a second valuable parcel of land in central Hanoi, the site of the former Vatican embassy, which closed after the communist government took power.
In each case, the Catholics began their demonstrations after hearing rumors the government planned to sell the properties to developers.
With more than 6 million followers, Catholicism is the second largest religion after Buddhism among Vietnam’s 86 million people. Around the country, Masses at Catholic churches are heavily attended.
Vietnam has often come under international criticism for its record on religious and human rights. But in recent years, relations between Catholics and the government have begun to improve, emboldening church members to assert themselves more.
Vietnam and the Vatican have been discussing the possibility of re-establishing diplomatic relations.
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