a034  0257  05 Nov 87
PM-Vietnam-Catholics,0701
Catholic Priest Gets Life Sentence For Anti-Communist Acts
By PETER ENG
Associated Press Writer
    BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Vietnamese court has sentenced an elderly
Roman Catholic priest to life imprisonment for organizing
anti-communist activities.
    The judgment, reported Wednesday, marked the latest incident in a
struggle between state and religious figures in communist Vietnam.
    The official Vietnam News Agency charged in a report monitored in
Bangkok that the Rev. Tran Dinh Thu spread propaganda and trained
dissidents at his church.
    It said Thu and a colleague, Chau Van Dat, were given life sentences
by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court after a recent four-day trial.
Thu was born in 1906.
    The report said they and 21 accomplices all pleaded guilty to
charges of ''propaganda against the socialist system, sabotage
against the policy of solidarity, disturbance of public security and
terrorism.''
    The 21 accomplices received jail terms ranging from four to 20
years, while 73 other suspects were pardoned because they confessed
and their crimes were not serious, the news agency said.
    It was not possible to verify the report.
    Vietnam has an estimated 3 million to 5 million Catholics. A large
number live in Ho Chi Minh City, which was the South Vietnam capital
of Saigon before the 1975 communist victory over U.S. troops.
    The Rev. Nguyen Van Binh, the city's archbishop, was quoted by a
Vatican radio early this year as saying about 100 Catholic priests
remain in ''re-education camps'' and authorities continue to restrict
church activities.
    In its 1987 annual report, Amnesty International appealed for the
release of several Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant religious
figures whom it said have been arrested in recent years ''for
dissenting from government efforts to control activities in the
religious, literary and cultural spheres.''
    Government officials say priests are jailed for civil or political
crimes and not on grounds of religion.
    Vietnamese media has reported that Communist Party General Secetary
Nguyen Van Linh, in a meeting with Catholic bishops in late May,
warned against anti-state activities ''in religious disguise.''
    At the same time, he said there have been errors in implementing the
state's policy on religion because of the ignorance of cadres and
popular prejudices.
    The news agency said Thu's case involved ''quite a large number of
people and (operated) on a rather wide area and with assistance from
foreign powers. The criminals have taken advantage of the Vietnamese
party and government's policy on religious freedom to oppose the
socialist regime.''
    The report said Thu was long involved in anti-communist activities
and was jailed in 1975-77 for propaganda and hiding weapons and
explosives. It said he resumed the activities after returning to Dong
Cong Church in Ho Chi Minh City.
    The news agency said that from 1977 to 1987, Thu's group translated,
printed and distributed many ''reactionary'' documents and trained
184 ''hard-core elements'' for its organization.
    ''Among the trainees, many were common criminals being tracked down,
some had been commandos sent by the Americans and their agents for
sabotage in North Vietnam,'' the agency said.
    ''Thu and his associates also (enrolled) the unenlightened among the
Catholics in short-term courses lasting from three to six days and
held right at the Dong Cong Church where the participants were
crammed with anti-communist ideas disguised as 'harmonious families'
and 'devout families.''' From 1977 to 1987, about 4,000 people were
enrolled in the short-term courses, it said.
    The news agency said police, acting on information from the people,
moved in on the church in May. In response, Thu's group ''mobilized
hundreds of Catholic believers armed with sticks, broken bricks and
stones to prevent the police from carrying out its tasks. At the same
time, they burned houses and documents and smashed furniture in a bid
to destroy evidence of their crimes.''
    On May 19, they stabbed and seriously wounded a policeman, the
report charged. Thu fled but was arrested on July 2, the agency said.
    It said that besides anti-communist literature, security forces
seized typewriters, film projecters, recording tapes, headphones,
rice, gold, a pistol, ammunition for an assault rifle and a signal
gun.
    
 
 
AP-NY-11-05-87 0538EST
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