The information in Nghe An newspaper about the incident that happened in Nghi Kieu is true and objective.

(Baonghean) - On October 9, 2015, Nghe An Newspaper received complaint letter No. 01082015/DTKN dated October 8, 2015 from Xuan Kieu Parish, co-signed by Mr. An Ton Le Cong Luong - Priest of Xuan Kieu Parish and Mr. JB Nguyen Hai Ly - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Xuan Kieu Parish.

The petition is quite long but the main content is that: Nghe An online newspaper (baonghean.vn) published the articles: "Nghi Loc: More than 500 parishioners vandalized and illegally occupied the kindergarten campus" (posted at 19:09, October 6, 2015), "More information about the illegal encroachment of Nghi Kieu Kindergarten campus" (posted at 8:05, October 7, 2015), "Taking advantage of preaching and distorting the incident that occurred at Nghi Kieu Kindergarten" (posted at 15:07, October 7, 2015) which are untrue, slanderous and insulting to citizens, causing anger among Nghi Kieu people and public opinion, causing division in the precious great solidarity bloc that Nghi Kieu Catholic people have worked hard to cultivate, causing misunderstandings for many people.

Complaint of Xuan Kieu Parish

The complaint also raised a number of arguments to prove the truth of the incident. Nghe An Newspaper summarized as follows:

1. In 1987, Kieu 1 Cooperative (at that time, Mr. Tran Van Mai was the chairman) built a dike across the old road from the front of the church facing south, adjacent to the current inter-commune road, causing obstacles for Yen Lac parishioners in their religious activities as well as their daily lives. On July 17, 2015, Yen Lac parishioners sent a petition to Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee with the wish to reopen the old road mentioned above. The petition was sent on July 17, 2015, but it was not until September 30, 2015 that Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee invited Mr. Nguyen Van Luu - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish to the Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee office to work. This slow and illegal handling by Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee made Xuan Kieu parishioners angry. The last straw. On October 5, 2015, they proactively reopened the old road instead of the government.

2. The old road from the front of Yen Lac Parish Church to the South adjacent to the current inter-commune road is existing. Reason: The 299 exposure can be made wrong, faked or edited depending on the purpose, but the truth about the living witnesses cannot be wrong... Therefore, we do not intentionally destroy State property, occupy land, build illegally, or disrupt the planning of the kindergarten as you have informed, but only reopen the old road that has existed for a long time.

3. The Parish Priest of Xuan Kieu and the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish (Nghi Kieu Commune) did not: Mobilize about 500 parishioners of Xuan Kieu Parish to arbitrarily cut down trees and destroy the surrounding wall of Nghi Kieu Commune Kindergarten to open a road through the kindergarten campus to Yen Lac Parish Church for the following reasons:

- Before the 3 Saturday and Sunday Masses on October 3 and 4, 2015, the Parish Priest called on the parishioners of Xuan Kieu to help Yen Lac Parish dig the foundation to build a house to wear clothes, complete the roof of the room, level the ground and clean the grounds of the Church to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the parish choir, not to build a road. The road was built by the people in frustration, no one mobilized or directed it.

- On October 5, 2015, the parish priest was on a business trip and was not present at the parish or the scene.

- Reopening the old road is the legitimate wish of the parishioners of Yen Lac in particular and the people of hamlets 9 and 10 in general. The parish priest and the representative of the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish are only the ones who authenticate the people's wish through a petition sent to the People's Committee of Nghi Kieu commune.

First of all, Nghe An Newspaper would like to thank Xuan Kieu Parish and Mr. An Ton Le Cong Luong - Priest of Xuan Kieu Parish; JB Nguyen Hai Ly - Chairman of Xuan Kieu Parish Pastoral Council for their attention and timely information to the newspaper. Nghe An Newspaper affirms:The information posted on Nghe An electronic newspaper (baonghean.vn) surrounding the incident that occurred in Nghi Kieu (on October 6 and 7, 2015) is true, authentic, objective, based on investigation, research, and information collection from many sides and perspectives, with sufficient evidence; does not slander and insult citizens, cause anger among Nghi Kieu people and public opinion, cause division in the precious great solidarity bloc that Nghi Kieu people of all religions have worked hard to build, and cause misunderstanding for many people as the complaint alleges.

Regarding the arguments in the complaint letter of Xuan Kieu Parish, Nghe An Newspaper would like to respond as follows:

The first, the complaint stated that: In 1987, Kieu 1 Cooperative (at that time chaired by Mr. Tran Van Mai) built a dike across the old road from the front of the church to the South, adjacent to the current inter-commune road, causing obstacles for Yen Lac parishioners in their religious activities as well as daily life...

On this matter, BNghe An affirms: The content is not true and not convincing.The reason is that up to now, the parishioners of Yen Lac Parish have been traveling and doing their daily activities normally on the 7m wide road from hamlet 9 to hamlet 10 connecting to the communal church which has been concreted. The religious activities as well as the production activities of the people of Yen Lac Parish and Xuan Kieu Parish have been facilitated by the local government and no one has made any comments, recommendations, or reminders about the existence of the “old road” as stated in the petition that appeared on September 4, 2015 of Yen Lac Parish (in the petition dated July 17, 2015).

Regarding the issue that: “The slow and illegal handling by the Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee has made the parishioners of Xuan Kieu angry. The last straw broke the camel's back. On October 5, 2015, they proactively reopened the old road instead of the government.”

The concrete road leading to Yen Lac parish church has been used normally by parishioners up to now.

Regarding this issue, Nghe An Newspaper has sufficient grounds to affirm:This is just an excuse for the illegal acts of some parishioners of Xuan Kieu Parish.Through the investigation and collection of relevant documents and materials, Nghe An Newspaper found that Nghi Kieu Commune authorities, in a receptive spirit, proactively resolved the petitions of Yen Lac parishioners to open a road from the gate of Yen Lac church straight to the inter-hamlet road, cutting across the campus of Nghi Kieu Commune Kindergarten. This shows that the petition of Yen Lac parish was dated July 17, 2015, but in fact, Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee only received the petition on September 4, 2015 (the person who sent the petition confirmed this at the meeting on October 6 between the Party Committee, Nghi Kieu Commune authorities; Nghi Loc District Police with representatives of the Pastoral Council of Xuan Kieu Parish and Yen Lac Parish at the commune People's Committee headquarters). After receiving the petition, on September 9, 2015, Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee issued Decision No. 186 on the establishment of a team to verify the content of the petition, headed by Mr. Ho Van Ninh - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee. On September 10, 2015, the verification team worked with Mr. Nguyen Van Luu - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish with the participation of Mr. Nguyen Hai Ly - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Xuan Kieu Parish, Mr. Le Van Bau - Executive Committee of Xuan Kieu Parish. During the meeting, the two sides discussed some contents related to the parish's proposal to open the "old road" to the church and agreed to conduct a field inspection.

After checking and verifying, the working group issued Report No. 08/BC-KL.DT dated September 18, 2015, affirming: Checking Map Sheet 299, there is no road leading to the church through the former Kieu 1 Cooperative campus (now a kindergarten) as stated in the petition of the parish. The road leading to Yen Lac church is still guaranteed for parishioners to attend church and people to travel, live and work. Therefore, the petition of Yen Lac parish to reopen the old road going straight through the kindergarten campus is not in accordance with the planning. On September 30, Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee continued to invite Mr. Nguyen Van Luu - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac parish to work to clarify the verification results as stated in the complaint of Xuan Kieu parish.

Map Sheet 299

According to the provisions of Articles 203 and 204 of the 2013 Land Law and Article 28 of the Law on Complaints, with the function of state management of land at the local level, when there is a petition or complaint from an individual or organization using land, the local government must conduct an investigation, verification, and handling. The time limit for resolving a complaint for the first time is no more than 30 days, and may be extended but not more than 45 days. Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee received the petition from Yen Lac Parish on September 4, 2015, and on September 30, invited a representative of Yen Lac Parish to come and announce the results of the petition verification, which was 4 days earlier than the prescribed time. Yen Lac Parish and Xuan Kieu Parish cannot baselessly argue that "the government is slow to resolve the matter" leading to people being "frustrated" and "the last straw" to justify the law-breaking behavior of Xuan Kieu parishioners on October 5.

Monday,The complaint states that: “The old road” from the front of Yen Lac Parish Church to the South, adjacent to the current inter-commune road, is existing. Reason: The 299 exposure list can be falsified, faked or edited depending on the purpose, but the truth about the living witnesses cannot be mistaken... Therefore, we did not intentionally destroy State property, occupy land, illegally build, or disrupt the planning of the kindergarten as you have informed, but only reopened the old road that has existed for a long time.

Regarding this issue, Nghe An Newspaper affirms:The content of the petition is untrue and the act of destroying the fence and arbitrarily opening a road through the kindergarten's land constitutes the crime of intentionally destroying state property, appropriating land, illegally constructing, and disrupting the kindergarten's planning.. This shows that, although affirming that "the old road exists", apart from the petition sent to the People's Committee of Nghi Kieu commune (signed by priest An Ton Le Cong Luong - parish priest of Xuan Kieu and Mr. Nguyen Van Luu, Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish), Yen Lac Parish could not provide any convincing, legal basis for the origin of the road or the ownership of the land area that illegally encroached on the Nghi Kieu Kindergarten campus on October 5. Also because there was no legal basis, after the incident on October 5, in order to legalize the origin of the illegally encroached road, some dignitaries of Yen Lac Parish and Xuan Kieu Parish tried to mobilize and ask for signatures from some people to confirm the existence of the above road.

Not only that, the content of the petitions and complaints sent to the authorities of Xuan Kieu Parish has shown inconsistency. While in the petition sent to Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee on September 4, 2015, Yen Lac Parish requested to "reopen the old road leading straight to the parish church according to the 299 map", in the complaint sent to Nghe An Newspaper on October 9, 2015, Xuan Kieu Parish stated that "The 299 map can be made wrong, faked or edited depending on the purpose...". The truth is that after comparing with the map 299 still kept at Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee, it clearly shows that there is no "old road", so Xuan Kieu Parish suddenly turned around and said that "map 299 - the initial basis given to prove the existence of an old road can be faked, falsified, or edited. It is necessary to reaffirm once again that map 299 is the most authentic and clear legal basis for the fact that there has never been an "old road" as the story mentioned by Yen Lac Parish and Xuan Kieu Parish. The signatures of the witnesses (which Xuan Kieu Parish has worked hard to mobilize and collect) cannot be considered a reliable basis. Because in fact, in the process of researching and collecting information about the land origin of Kieu 1 Cooperative (now cluster 1, Nghi Kieu Kindergarten), Nghe An Newspaper met with many cadres and people of Nghi Kieu Commune - witnesses who lived through the periods, they all affirmed one thing: There has never been an "old road". The old road cuts through the kindergarten straight into the church as proposed by Yen Lac Parish.

Map sheet 299 shows that there is no road crossing Nghi Kieu Kindergarten (Cluster 1) (formerly belonging to Kieu 1 Cooperative) leading to Yen Lac Parish Church.

The investigation and evidence collection process shows that: In 2002, cluster 1, Nghi Kieu Kindergarten received all the facilities and land area of ​​Nghi Kieu Cooperative. In 2007, Nghi Kieu commune declared the entire land area according to Directive 31 of the Prime Minister. In 2013, Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee prepared a dossier to grant a Land Use Rights Certificate to Nghi Kieu Kindergarten with a total area of ​​9,343m2. After that, it continued to be adjusted due to the exclusion of the traffic corridor according to the commune's new rural planning. Thus, the planning of cluster 1, Nghi Kieu Kindergarten is in the new rural planning of Nghi Kieu commune, which was publicly announced by Nghi Kieu Commune People's Committee to every hamlet (including road planning) in 2013, so there is no reason why Yen Lac Parish would not know.

Based on documents on land use origin and existing cadastral records, Nghi Kieu Kindergarten has been legally allocated land by the State. Therefore, the act of parishioners destroying the fence, cutting down trees, and arbitrarily opening a road through the Nghi Kieu Kindergarten campus without the consent of the authorities is a violation of the law. The nature of the act is very serious, going against the order of state management on land management and use, harming social order and safety. That act not only violates Article 12 of the 2013 Land Law on prohibited acts (encroachment, occupation of land; violation of planning, land use plans) but also has signs of constituting the crime of "Violating regulations on land use" as prescribed in Article 173 of the Penal Code. In addition, the acts of destroying the kindergarten's property (breaking down the fence, cutting down trees) and gathering at the People's Committee of Nghi Kieu commune show signs of the crime of "Property destruction" (Article 245) and the crime of "Disturbing public order" (Article 143) of the Penal Code.

Some parishioners brazenly dug up trees in the Nghi Kieu Kindergarten (Cluster 1) to illegally open a road to Yen Lac Parish Church on the morning of October 5, 2015.

Tuesday, the complaint states that: The parish priest of Xuan Kieu and the Pastoral Council of Yen Lac Parish (Nghi Kieu Commune) did not: Mobilize about 500 parishioners of Xuan Kieu Parish to arbitrarily cut down trees and destroy the surrounding wall of Nghi Kieu Commune Kindergarten to open a road through the kindergarten's campus to Yen Lac Parish Church.

Regarding this issue, Nghe An Newspaper affirms:Articles related to Xuan Kieu Parish published in Nghe An electronic newspaper (from October 6-7, 2015) did not use phrases referring to or alluding to the fact that the Xuan Kieu Parish Priest and the Yen Lac Parish Pastoral Council “mobilized” and “directed” parishioners. Therefore, Nghe An Newspaper has no obligation to respond to this content.However, with the information that has been verified and investigated, Nghe An Newspaper believes that: As the leaders of Xuan Kieu Parish who take care of the spiritual life of the parishioners, Father Le Cong Luong and the members of the Parish Pastoral Council must be responsible for the incident where hundreds of parishioners violated the law, broke down fences, cut down trees, encroached on land and built on the grounds of Nghi Kieu Kindergarten on October 5, 2015. This was an organized and pre-prepared act, not out of frustration or impulsiveness.

The Nghi Kieu Kindergarten campus (Cluster 1) was divided into two parts after hundreds of parishioners of Xuan Kieu parish brazenly vandalized, encroached, and illegally opened a path into Yen Lac parish church.

Because if “Xuan Kieu parishioners only came to help Yen Lac parish dig the foundation to build a house to wear clothes, complete the roof of the room, level the ground and clean the church grounds to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the parish choir” as mentioned in the complaint, was it necessary to mobilize more than 500 people (including some who are not from Xuan Kieu parish) with full tools of hoes, shovels, hammers? If there was no preparation and organization in advance, would hundreds of parishioners have enough time in a short time (from 7:30 to 17:00 on October 5, 2015) to gather materials to build two 81m long, 1.5m high walls and build a new 8.4m wide road through the kindergarten grounds directly to Yen Lac parish church? Furthermore, if some parishioners from Xuan Kieu Parish were mobilized to help Yen Lac Parish dig the foundation to build a house to wear clothes, but all day long these parishioners gathered to destroy the wall, cut down trees and illegally encroach on land to build two walls in the kindergarten campus, then how could the organizers mobilize and gather the parishioners deny their responsibility when these parishioners committed illegal acts?

Not only that, the act of preaching and spreading baseless distortions about the policies of the Party and the State; defaming and slandering the authorities at all levels; propagating and inciting parishioners after the incident on October 5 of priest Le Cong Luong at the Yen Lac Parish Church on October 7, 2015 is a sign of the act of taking advantage of democratic freedoms, taking advantage of beliefs and places of worship, infringing upon the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and citizens, violating Article 258 of the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, causing negative impacts on security, order and public opinion.

Nghe An Newspaper once again affirms that the information posted on Nghe An electronic newspaper (Baonghean.vn) about the incident related to Xuan Kieu Parish on October 6 and 7, 2015 is authentic, objective, and true based on investigation, research, and information collection from many sides and dimensions, with sufficient evidence. Nghe An Newspaper is ready to dialogue with Yen Lac Parish and Xuan Kieu Parish to clarify the above incident to the public.

Above is the response of Nghe An Newspaper to the complaint of Xuan Kieu Parish signed by Mr. An Ton Le Cong Luong - Priest of Xuan Kieu Parish; Mr. JB Nguyen Hai Ly - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Xuan Kieu Parish. Nghe An Newspaper thanks Xuan Kieu Parish and Mr. An Ton Le Cong Luong - Priest of Xuan Kieu Parish; JB Nguyen Hai Ly - Chairman of the Pastoral Council of Xuan Kieu Parish for their attention, monitoring and timely information to the newspaper.

Nghe An Newspaper