WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2003�Vietnamese authorities have released a leader ofa banned Buddhist group after holding him for two days but sentencedanother, higher-ranking leader of the same group to two years� housearrest, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
Ven. Thich Vien Dinh told relatives he could be rearrested "at any time"following his release late Saturday to his Giac Hoa Pagoda in Binh Thanh,Ho Chi Minh City, according to his California-based brothers.
"The police didn't tell him whether or not he is free," Truman Nhu, one ofVien Dinh�s three brothers in the United States, told RFA�s Vietnameseservice. "He sounded very weak and is worried about his safety."
"'I can be re-arrested anytime, and [there is] nothing that I can do,'"Nhu quoted him as saying.
A Buddhist monk and the head of the Giac Hoa Temple, Vien Dinh hadrecently been elevated to a senior administrative post in the bannedUnited Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBVC).
Separately, sources from Vietnam said a court in Ho Chi Minh City had onSaturday sentenced a more senior UBCV leader, Thich Tue Sy, to two years�house arrest.
Tue Sy holds the number three position in the UBCV. Security policereturned him late Saturday to his Gia Lam Temple, also in Ho Chi MinhCity.
Both were among a group of dissident monks traveling from Binh Dinh to HoChi Minh City on Oct. 8. After Binh Dinh, the group was permitted to go onand spend the night in Khanh Hoa Province.
On Oct. 9, the group left Khanh Hoa Province for Ho Chi Minh City and wasstopped again for four hours, this time by Khanh Hoa's local police force.Police then escorted members of the group home, taking Vien Dinh to GiacHoa Temple for only 15 minutes to pack.
Security police are keeping the others confined to their pagodas. Theyinclude UBCV patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and his deputy Thich Quang Do,whom the government has now accused of compromising state secrets.
The 76-year-old Do, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was sent to his monasteryin Ho Chi Minh City, while Quang, 86, returned to Binh Dinh province, 650kms (400 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese foreign ministrysaid.
Hanoi outlawed the UBCV in 1981 because it refused to become part of thestate-sanctioned Buddhist church.