UPDATE ON MENNONITES: PASTOR NGUYEN HONG QUANG AND LE THI

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000189

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SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF VM HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MENNONITES: PASTOR NGUYEN HONG QUANG AND LE THI
HONG LIEN

REF: REF: A) HCMC 142; B) HCMC 106


1. (SBU) On February 22, visiting S/P Staffer William Inboden and
ConGenOffs met with Ms. Le Thi Phu Dung (strictly protect),wife
of imprisoned Mennonite house church pastor Nguyen Hong Quang.
Dung said she has visited her husband in HCMC's Chi Hoa prison
"two or three times" and is able to deliver supplies to him
regularly. Her most recent visit was in early February. Although
not as fit as he was before his arrest, Dung said her husband was
in good mental and physical condition. Dung confirmed that HCMC
police had offered to reduce Quang's three-year sentence if he
dropped his pending appeal, but Quang said he was not guilty and
therefore would not withdraw the appeal (Ref A).


2. (SBU) Dung also confirmed that Mr. Le Quang Du (protect),the
father of imprisoned Mennonite Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien, who suffered
a mental breakdown while in prison, had written a letter to the
GVN on her daughter's case. Dung provided a copy of the January
31 letter to post, which was addressed to the Party General
Secretary, the Prime Minister, Ministers of Public Security and

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Justice, and the Supreme Court as well as HCMC officials. The
letter accuses local prison and police officials of repeatedly
torturing Lien, and demands that those responsible for her torture
be disciplined. The letter also demands that her sentence be
vacated because she was non compus mentis during her trial and
that she be released immediately to receive medical treatment.


3. (SBU) Dung said that Lien's father went to visit Lien on the
morning of February 22 and was told that she had been transferred
from HCMC's Chi Hoa prison to another facility in neighboring Binh
Phuoc province on February 17. Other prisoners in Chi Hoa prison
reportedly told Lien's father that she continued to show signs of
mental illness and was kept in the prison infirmary until her
transfer.


4. (SBU) Comment: In our meeting with Lien's father in late
January (ref B) he detailed several possible incidents of police
abuse, although he stopped short of accusing the police of
torturing her. His January 31 letter to the GVN also claims that
he had appealed Lien's sentence immediately after her trial in mid-
November but that the HCMC court ruled that he was not a party to
the case; in our meeting, Lien's father told us that he had not
contacted senior prison authorities, the courts or consulted a
lawyer to review his daughter's case.


5. (SBU) Comment continued: Following our January meeting with
Lien's father, we consulted with a senior defense attorney in HCMC
who recommended that Lien's family submit a request to HCMC prison
and court authorities to suspend Lien's sentence and transfer her
to an appropriate medical facility for care. It remains to be
seen whether the family's broader, stronger and higher-level
approach will yield positive results. We will continue to monitor
Lien's case, advocate with local officials for her release on
humanitarian grounds and report any official response to her
father's letter. End Comment.

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