HANOI, Oct 7 (AFP) - European parliamentarians called Thursday for the immediate and unconditional release of leaders of an outlawed Buddhist church in Vietnam and condemned the lack of democracy in the communist nation.
In an open letter to the presidency of the European Union ahead of an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi, the 1.09 MEPs said the human rights situation in Vietnam must he "at the centre of discussions".
The two-day summit, which gathers heads of state and government from the 25 EU members, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as China, Japan and South Korea, officially opens Friday.
"This date marks the sombre anniversary of a most brutal and pervasive crackdown launched by the Vietnamese authorities against the banned UBCV (Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam)," the MEPs said.
On October 8 last year security police intercepted a vehicle carrying the church's 87-year-old patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, his deputy Thich Quang Do, 76, and other monks as they left a monastery in central Binh Dinh province.
After a tense 10-hour standoff during which around 1,000 Buddhists formed a protective human wall around the vehicle, they were allowed to proceed, but the following day they were again stopped by police.
The pair — Vietnam's most prominent religious dissidents -- were subsequently placed under house arrest without trial and accused of being in possession of state secrets and trying to reorganise the church with the help of outside forces.
The MEPs, however, said they believed "their sole crime is that of steadfastly defending religious freedom and human rights".
"We urge the European Union and EU member states to call for their urgent release at the forthcoming Fifth Summit of ASEM leaders in Hanoi," they said.
Six other senior monks were condemned to two years' administrative detention, while hundreds of UBCV pagodas were placed under surveillance and followers were harassed, according to the church's Paris-based information arm.
The UBCV was officially banned in 1981 because it refused to come under the ruling Communist Party's control.
Last month the US State Department designated Vietnam as one of the world's worst offenders on religious freedom, prompting a furious reaction from Hanoi.
The MEPs also called for the release of "all other Vietnamese citizens detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of opinion, religion, expression and association".
International human rights groups have long charged the communist regime with smothering all dissent and jailing democracy or human rights activists.
ben/br