South Vietnamese soldier found God communist prisons

From AsiaNews

During his years in prison he encountered Christianity and decided to convert, receiving baptism, and later was able to transform the chains that kept him imprisoned, consisting of 90 rings, into a rosary recited up to five times a day. Faith alone enabled him to face and overcome nearly 40 years spent in prison in Vietnam, while his body was marked by deafness and almost total blindness caused by suffering. However, his spirit is still able to give thanks for the gift of faith received. And even forgive his captors : “The love of God and the Virgin Mary has changed me. I no longer hate my ‘brothers and sisters’ (of the communist regime )”.

The 68-year old J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu spent nearly 39 years in prison in Hanoi. He is one of the longest serving political prisoners in the Asian nation. Released on presidential pardon for poor state of health. In prison he encountered faith in Jesus. Rosary and Way of the Cross, sources of strength to overcome pain and forgive his captors. Photo from AsiaNews.

This is the story of 68-year old J.B Nguyễn Hữu Cầu (born in 1945), poet, musician, composer and captain of the army of the Republic of South Vietnam before the reunification in 1975.  He is one of the longest serving political prisoners in the Asian nation, since the seizing of power by the communists in the North. Arrested at the end of the war, he spent six years in a re-education through labor camp and in 1982 was  imprisoned, because of his work as a poet and composer critical at times of the communist regime.

In 1983 he was sentenced to death in a case against him for denouncing widespread corruption among senior army officials in Hanoi and for the crimes committed by soldiers against the people. Following this he was also charged with sabotage and of having damaged “the regime’s image”. He has always declared his innocence and authorities later commuted his death sentences to life in prison.

For years he lived in complete isolation, on the margins of a labor camp immersed within a forest. The years in prison have deeply marked him, leaving him almost incapable of hearing, blind in his left eye and with serious problems of vision in the right. On March 22 , 2014, after almost 39 years, he was freed, following an amnesty granted by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, an act of charity rather than a political move, given his health conditions, as confirmed by his son.

Read the full article from AsiaNews.