5 Charged in Death of Man Who Burned Himself as Protest

Five men who videotaped a friend setting himself afire and burning to death in a political protest were arrested Thursday on a charge of second-degree manslaughter.

The men are accused of assisting Binh Gia Pham, 43, a Boston postal clerk, in killing himself on April 6, state police said.

Pham, described as a Buddhist elder, had sent a suicide note to the federal government, threatening to burn himself alive to protest the Vietnamese Communist government’s persecution of Buddhists in his homeland. He also asked that his companions not be prosecuted.

Supporters of the five, all from the Boston area, argued that they should not be prosecuted because the death was a religious sacrifice. But prosecutor Patricia A. Swords said state law makes no exceptions for religious sacrifices.