Absender:
Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung
Government Office
1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street
Ba Dinh district
HA NOI
VIET NAM
, 2015
Dear Prime Minister,
please allow me to express my concern for the imprisonment of Father Nguyen Van Ly, a 69-year-old
Catholic priest.
Father Nguyen Van Ly has been a peaceful critic of the Vietnamese authorities since the late 1970s. He
had been sentenced in March 2007 to 8 years imprisonment for “conducting propaganda” against the state under
Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, with five years house arrest on release. This will be his fourth period
as a prisoner of conscience in two decades. Father Nguyen Van Ly has spent more than 20 years in prison for
peacefully advocating for greater respect for human rights in Viet Nam.
Father Nguyen Van Ly was granted a 12-month “temporary suspension” of his prison sentence so that
he could receive medical treatment in March 2010, after he suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with a brain
tumour. Unfortunaly he was was returned to Ba Sao prison 25th of July 2011 while on parole to treat serious
health problems.
Amnesty International considers Father Nguyen Van Ly a prisoner of conscience. I kindly ask the
Vietnamese authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. He was solely imprisoned for the
peaceful expression of his dissenting political beliefs. I am very concerned that although freedom of opinion and
expression are guaranteed in the Constitution of Viet Nam, the practice of these rights is strictly controlled by the
state in law, thus effectively criminalising those peacefully expressing their beliefs and opinions.
In good faith that you will do your best to ensure the safety and health and freedom of Father Nguyen
Van Ly,
Name und Unterschrift