Man Sets Himself Ablaze To Protest Jail Sentence

A Vietnamese man is dead after lighting himself on fire in Hanoi to protest a prison sentence, authorities said today.

Tran Dinh Trinh, chairman of Hop Dong Commune's People Committee, where the deceased lived, told dpa that Bui Huu Tuan, 68, died Thursday.

"His remains will be buried at his family tomb," he said.

Tuan, 68, former chief of the village of Dao Ngan, in Hanoi's Chuong My District, had recently been sentenced to five years for abusing power.
On the morning July 4, he went outside the Central Citizen Reception Committee in Hanoi, poured gasoline on his body and set himself alight in protest of the conviction. He had gone with Luong Cong Tinh, also from Dao Ngan, to lodge an appeal while out on bail.

He suffered burns on 77 per cent of his body, including deep burns into his muscles and skeleton which led to his death.