Activists join funeral of elder Vietnamese dissident

By Grant McCool

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese political activists spanning the generations on Saturday bade farewell to onetime senior Communist Party member turned dissident Hoang Minh Chinh, who died in his late 80s earlier this month.

Hundreds of people, many wearing white headbands of mourning, attended the funeral in Hanoi of the leader of the outlawed Democratic Party of Vietnam and founder member of "Bloc 8406", a diverse group of mainly Internet activists named for the date it was established in April 2006.

Several younger political activists, including some who in recent years have been jailed for opposing one-party rule, were among relatives and older friends who paid respects to Chinh. He died on Feb. 7 after suffering from prostate cancer.

"He dedicated all his life to the struggle for democracy and liberty," activist Pham Hong Son, who was released in Aug. 2006, told Reuters at the funeral. "I am of the younger generation and I wish to follow his legacy."

Son was arrested in 2002 and then tried after posting a translation of a U.S. State Department article "What is Democracy?" onto the Internet. He still lives under police surveillance and some restrictions.

Plainclothes police watched and filmed mourners at Saturday's funeral.

The Southeast Asian country has opened its economy to the world and reduced poverty through high economic growth, but it does not tolerate proponents of a multi-party system.

About 40 activists have been arrested in the past year, according to international human rights groups and Western diplomats. Some have been put on trial and sentenced to between three years and eight years in prison for "spreading propaganda against the state", a criminal offence in Vietnam.