Vietnamese authorities released two relatives belonging to an unofficial branch of the Hoa Hao Buddhist community after serving six-year prison terms for disturbing public order during a confrontation with authorities at their home.
According to Radio Free Asia agency, Bui Van Trung, 62, and his son, Bui Van Tham, 36, were sentenced in February 2018 in the country’s An Giang province.
Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao religion, which has some 2 million followers nationwide, but imposes strict controls on dissident Hoa Hao groups, including the sect in An Giang province, who do not follow the branch. state sanctioned.
Rights groups say An Giang authorities routinely harass followers of unapproved groups, banning public readings of the Hoa Hao founder’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas in An Giang and other provinces.
Trung, also known as Ut Trung and heads the Ut Trung Home Church, had been held at An Phuoc Prison in Binh Duong Province, southern Vietnam, but was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho City. Chi Minh earlier this month to receive treatment for colon cancer. Than served his sentence in Xuyen Moc prison in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, also in the south.
The couple returned to their home in An Giang’s Phuoc Hoa village on Monday.
Trung appeared “very weak” when he left Cho Ray Hospital, as he was still recovering from an emergency operation to remove a tumor in his large intestine, a Ut Trung Home Church supporter and former inmate told the aforementioned agency. conscience who identified himself as Nam. Vietnamese.
Trung’s daughter, Bui Thi Bich Tuyen, was also convicted in 2018 and given a three-year sentence; she has since been released. His wife, Le Thi Hen, received a two-year suspended sentence at the time because she was suffering from an illness.
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