Hanoi, Vietnam, Oct 28, 2010 / 22:28 pm
After being arrested in a clash with police in a church-state property dispute, six Catholic villagers in Vietnam were convicted in a quick trial on Wednesday. One U.S. congressman criticized the proceeding as a “sham court,” noting the defendants’ lack of a lawyer.
The six villagers were among the 59 people arrested after clashes between 500 Catholics and government agents at the parish cemetery of Con Dau on May 4. Catholics had conducted a funeral procession for an 82-year-old woman and tried to bury her in the cemetery, which had been seized by the local government to build a tourist resort.
Chief Judge Tan Thi Thu Dung imposed a sentence of 12 months on one of the defendants, nine months on another, and gave a suspended nine-month sentence to the remaining four. The judge said they had incited riots, falsely accused the government and instigated others to attack state officials on duty.
The accused said they were innocent and were only engaged in self-defense against police attacks, VietCatholic News reports.