Police harass
and intercept UBCV monks and lay-followers to prevent celebrations of Buddhism’s
Memorial Day in Hue
IBIB – 01/08/2014
PARIS, 8 January 2014 (IBIB)
– Buddhists in the central city of Hue inform the
International Buddhist
Information Bureau
(IBIB) that Police and security forces are intercepting, harassing and
intimidating monks, nuns and lay-followers of the Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam (UBCV) to prevent them from organizing a Memorial Day commemoration at
the
Long Quang Pagoda
in Hue on 10 January 2014. Since this morning (Vietnam time), over 100 Security
Police have surrounded Long Quang Pagoda, intercepting all those who attempt to
enter or leave. Since 6 pm (Vietnam Time), the internet at Long Quang Pagoda has
been cut.
Memorial Day is one of the most important events in the
Buddhist calendar in Vietnam. It is held to honour and commemorate the founding
masters of Vietnamese Buddhism and all those who have contributed to its
development over the past 2,000 years. It was to be held at Long Quang Pagoda
because this is the new Secretariat of the UBCVs Executive Institute
Viện Hóa Đạo,
and Venerable Thich Nhu Dat,
the Pagodas Superior monk, is Viện
Hóa Đạos new head. He replaces Thich Vien Dinh of
Giac Hoa Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City who was dismissed from his post in December
2013.
On Tuesday (7 January), Venerable
Thich Thanh Quang,
Deputy Head of Viện Hóa Đạo
was summoned for interrogations by Security Police in Danang and forbidden to
attend the commemorations in Hue. When he protested, they stepped up Police
surveillance around his Pagoda (the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang, also the head
office of the Buddhist Youth Movement, has been under tight Police surveillance
for the past three years).
Venerable
Thich Chon Tam,
Secretary General of the UBCV Institute of the Sangha, travelled from the
southern province of An Giang to assist with Memorial Day preparations. Since
yesterday morning, local Security Police have subjected him to “working
sessions” (interrogations) and threaten to send him back to An Giang.
Venerable
Thich Nguyen Ly, UBCV Treasurer and Charity
Commissioner was intercepted by Police as he set off from Ho Chi Minh City with
a delegation of UBCV monks and followers from the Tu Hieu Meditation Centre
yesterday. They were forced to turn back, and the centre is now surrounded by
Security forces.
Monks and nuns from 18 UBCV Provincial Committees all over
southern and central Vietnam have been similarly intercepted and placed under
surveillance in their pagodas.
Members of the
Buddhist Youth Movement
(BYM) are also the target of severe Police harassments.
Nguyen Tat Truc,
BYM Deputy leader and head of the BYM section in Hue was arrested and detained
for questioning on 6 and 7 January. Police accused him of participating in an
“illegal organization”
(the UBCV) and of “violating the
law” by signing letters on behalf of the BYM.
Security Police ordered him to resign from the UBCVs Executive Institute and
prohibited him from going outside Thuy Phuong district. He is explicitly
forbidden to attend Memorial Day at Long Quang Pagoda, and has been placed under
close Police surveillance. Nguyen Tat Trucs house arrest has seriously impacted
his familys economic situation, since he is no longer able to take his wife to
work in Hue, where they rely on her earnings in the period before Tet (Lunar New
year) to ensure their income.
Hoang Nhu Dao,
Deputy head of the BYM in Hue was interrogated by Police at his home on Tuesday
morning and questioned again at the Police station in the afternoon. He has also
been accused of “illegal activities”
and Police are now posted outside his home, frightening his young children.
Many members of the Buddhist Youth Movement were also
intercepted and prevented from attending the traditional Memorial ceremony for
founders of the BYM in Vietnam on 7 January at the Phuoc Thanh Pagoda in Hue.
Whereas this annual event usually draws hundreds of participants, only 70 BYM
leaders managed to circumvent Police controls. Key members of the BYM currently
subjected to harassments, surveillance and Police “working sessions” include:
Hoang Nhu Dao
(in Phuong Dien district); Ms.
Hoang Thi Hong Phuong,
Van Dinh Tat
and Nguyen Sac
(in Quang Dien district); Ngo
Duc Tien and
Van Tien Nhi
(in Phu vang District); Truong
Dien Hieu (Huong Tra district);
Nguyen Tat Truc
and Nguyen Dinh Mong
(Huong Thuy district). The BYM reports that it has been unable to contact many
other members, and fears for their security.
Lê Công Câu,
national BYM leader and Secretary General of the UBCVs Executive Institute
Viện Hóa Đạo,
who was arrested on 1 January2014 remains under house arrest without charge at
his home in Hue without any formal justification or charge, and is obliged to
attend frequent Police interrogations.
The
International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB)
strongly condemns this new crack-down on the UBCV and its educational youth
movement, the BYM. Although Police claim it is an
“illegal organization”,
the UBCV has never been formally banned by the communist authorities. Its
members are therefore legitimately entitled to pursue peaceful religious
activities as guaranteed by the Vietnamese Constitution. IBIB calls on the
international community to press Vietnam to uphold its binding obligations as a
state party to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and
in particular, to raise these cases with Vietnam during its upcoming
Universal Periodic Review
at the United Nations Human
Rights Council on 5 February 2014.