Prisoner Nguyen Van Ly, formerly a priest at the Hue Diocese, has had a year of his prison term suspended for medical reasons (from March 15, 2010 to March 15, 2011).

The Ha Nam Provincial People’s Court issued the decision on March 12, 2010, following a conclusion from the Forensic Medicine Centre of the Ha Nam Health Service that his illness has unexpectedly worsened.

The local authorities are ready to create conditions for Ly, who was sentenced to eight years by the Thua Thien-Hue Provincial People’s Court for disseminating information against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to receive medical treatment, said the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Vinh Ninh Ward, Thua Thien Hue province.

Ly, who was born in 1946 in the central province of Quang Tri , is serving his sentence at the Nam Ha prison. He has become paralysed on the right side of his body due to three strokes since May 2009 due to a brain tumour. He is now in a stable condition thanks to good treatment.

The suspension of his sentence conforms to the law and the State’s amnesty policy, the chairman added.

Ly is now staying at the Archdiocese of Hue./.