US Protests
Manhandling of Diplomat in Vietnam
VOA News
06 January 2011
U.S.
officials in Vietnam say they have lodged a formal protest after an American
diplomat was manhandled by security forces while trying to visit a prominent
dissident.
U.S. embassy officials said Thursday the mistreatment was "a clear violation" of
the Geneva conventions, which provide for the protection of diplomats in foreign
countries.
U.S. officials would not provide details of the incident, which occurred
Wednesday in Hue. But news reports said the embassy's human rights officer,
Christian Marchant, was in the central Vietnam city to visit with Nguyen Van Ly,
a Roman Catholic priest who is on temporary release from prison for medical
care.
The reports say security officers stopped Marchant outside the priest's
residence and wrestled him to the ground before driving him away in a police
car.
A State Department spokesman in Washington told VOA that a formal protest has
also been delivered to the Vietnamese ambassador in the United States, Le Cong
Phung.
Ly was sentenced in 2007 to eight years in prison on charges of making
propaganda against the state. He was given a 12-month release last year to
receive treatment for a brain tumor.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam improved strongly in
2010, but human rights issues remain a major source of friction.
The U.S. ambassador in Hanoi, Michael Michalak, said last month that free
expression is under attack in Vietnam, with new restrictions on bloggers and
Internet cafes and the hacking of critical websites. He said 24 people were
arrested and 14 others were convicted last year "for the peaceful expression of
their views."