Hanoi (AsiaNews) - In a letter to the authorities, the archbishopric of
Hanoi urged the authorities to carry out an investigation into the "brutal
aggression" against Fr Nguyễn Văn Bình (pictured).
In the same letter, it called for an inquiry into the attack against a house slated
to become an orphanage and demanded respect for human dignity and an end to
such "savage practices". The letter was
issued in response to an incident that occurred last Saturday in Hanoi's Chương
Mỹ District.
Fr Van Binh is parish priest in Yên Kiên. He had bought 500 m2
of land in Go Cao parish, in Chương Mỹ (Hanoi). Here he built a house that he planned
to turn into an orphanage in cooperation with Agape Family, a Catholic
association.
In the early morning last Saturday, a group of thugs attacked and
destroyed the house. Alerted at 9 am of what was happening, the priest in
charge of the building rushed to the site where he was savagely assaulted. He
was eventually taken to hospital after his attackers left him unconscious.
In its statement the next day, the archbishopric said that at the time of
his hospitalisation, the priest was bleeding from one ear, had an injured
eardrum, suffered headaches and pain to the stomach as well as bruises to the
face.
Thanks to the intervention of the archbishopric and the pastoral
council, the clergyman was taken to a specialised medical facility where he
underwent a series of tests.
Currently, he is recovering in the archbishop's building and his
conditions appear to have improved.
According to some accounts obtained by AsiaNews, dozens of police officers were present at the scene of
the assault as it was underway. None of the agents tried to intervene to stop
the thugs who destroyed the building and assaulted Fr Văn Bình.
The archdiocese's press statement voiced its indignation at the
violation of the law, describing the brutal attack as a violation of human
dignity that has filled priests and believers with outrage as well as sown
disquiet among Catholic communities.
