Eight Vietnamese Catholics went on trial Monday charged with disturbing public order and destroying property in the communist country during rallies over a land dispute.The defendants were among thousands who joined prayer vigils and peaceful rallies over the past year in the capital Hanoi demanding the return of Catholic church land seized by the state half a century ago.
The eight defendants -- four men and four women -- are accused of causing public disorder and destroying property, charges that each carry up to seven years' jail, at the height of the demonstrations in August.
To back the state's case, prosecutors in court showed video footage of Catholic protesters tearing down part of a brick wall around a disputed parcel of land adjacent to the Thai Ha Redemptorist parish.
Most church lands and many other buildings and farms were taken over by the state after communists took power in North Vietnam in 1954. The disputed Tai Ha property was used by a state textile factory that has since been demolished.
The Tai Ha property and another disputed plot of land in the centre of Hanoi -- the site of the former Vatican embassy adjacent to the main St Joseph's Cathedral -- were turned into public parks in recent months.
Several of the defendants in Monday's hearing acknowleged taking part in some of the unauthorised mass meetings held since before Christmas 2007, but they told the court they were doing so to protect church property.
"I know for sure the land belongs to the church," said 54-year-old Ngo Thi Dung, one of two women who has been held in detention for several months.
The other female detainee, Nguyen Thi Nhi, 46, admitted displaying posters and using a musical gong in the rallies, saying she also tried "to protect the land of the church."
Also on trial but earlier released on bail were two more women -- Nguyen Thi Viet, 59, and Le Thi Hoi, 61 -- and four men -- Le Quang Kien, 63, Pham Chi Nang, 50, Ngyen Dac Hung, 31, and Thai Thanh Hai, 21.
Hoi denied causing public disorder, saying "when we pray, we are quiet."
Access to Monday's hearing was restricted by officials who cited the small size of the courtroom in the Dong Da local government building.
Four foreign diplomats and two journalists for foreign news organisations were allowed to follow the hearing via closed-circuit television.
Vietnam's tightly controlled media has largely ignored the trial.
Thousands of Catholics in parishes across Vietnam, including southern Ho Chi Minh City, have held prayers and vigils to support the defendants, said the online Catholic news service vietcatholic.net.
More than 500 Catholic faithful, including priests holding religious icons, held a vigil and sang hymns outside the government building where the trial was being held, watched over by riot police and plain-clothed officers.
"We came here to ask for justice," said one supporter in the crowd, 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Hoa. "The Catholic detainees are all innocent."
Another Catholic, holding up a picture of the Virgin Mary, said "the charges are groundless because these people only protected the land of the church. They did not commit any violence against the authorities."
Vietnam, a former French colony and a unified communist country since the war ended in 1975, has Southeast Asia's largest Catholic community after the Philippines -- at least six million out of a population of 86 million.
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(Source: AP)