THE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF VIETNAMESE PASTOR THAN VAN

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000493

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF VM RELFREE HUMANR
SUBJECT: THE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF VIETNAMESE PASTOR THAN VAN
TRUONG



1. (SBU) Summary: Over the past two weeks ConGen HCMC has been
investigating the case of Baptist Pastor Than Van Truong, who
allegedly was involuntarily committed to an mental institution in
Dong Nai province for the peaceful expression of his religious and
political beliefs. Truong reportedly had a history of run-ins
with Dong Nai provincial police over his involvement in the local
house church movement. A series of letters in which Truong sought
to evangelize senior Party and GVN leaders apparently catalyzed
provincial authorities to commit him to the mental institution. A
doctor who treated Truong told us that the Pastor was not violent,
manic or depressed. While not explicit, our sense was that he
implied that Truong perhaps should not be in a mental institution.
The HCMC External Relations Office has promised to work quickly
with Dong Nai authorities to provide clarification on this case.
We are reserving judgment until we have a more comprehensive
picture of the case: this is the first time we have dealt with
allegations that Vietnamese authorities -- at any level -- are
using incarceration in a mental institution as a way to punish
religious or political activists. End Summary.

The Case of Pastor Truong
--------------


2. (SBU) On April 27 we met with Pastor Pham Toan Ai (strictly
protect) to discuss the case of Baptist Pastor Than Van Truong,
who reportedly was involuntarily committed to the Bien Hoa mental
institution in Dong Nai province. Human Rights activists inside
and outside Vietnam have alleged that Truong was committed as
punishment for the peaceful expression of his religious and
political beliefs. Pastor Ai, a colleague of Pastor Truong, heads
a Baptist house church organization with 83 chapters and 8,000
members across Southern and Central Vietnam. On April 29, we
spoke with Nguyen Thi Kim, the wife of Pastor Truong, whose
reports confirmed and supplemented the history we received from
Pastor Ai.


3. (SBU) Before becoming religious, Truong was a Party member and
Army officer from the Northern Vietnam province of Bac Giang.
Truong settled in Dong Nai province (near HCMC) where he worked
for the Veteran's Association. In 2000, Truong reportedly became
a Baptist minister and began evangelizing and organizing house
churches in Dong Nai province. Local police began to harass the
two churches that Pastor Truong served, seizing bibles and prayer
materials and stopping services. Police also reportedly spread a
rumor that Pastor Truong was teaching an "American religion" and
would be arrested.


4. (SBU) In 2000, Truong started sending a series of letters to
the Party General Secretary, the President and other senior GVN
leaders in Hanoi as well as to provincial leaders urging them to
abandon Marxism-Leninism and follow the precepts of the bible. In
2003 these letters landed Truong in hot water with local police,
as copies were distributed in the province.


5. (SBU) On May 27, 2003, Truong was arrested and charged with
"propagandizing against the government." He was kept in pre-trial
detention for eight months, but was not charged. On June 20,
2004, Truong was released from prison and placed under
administrative detention -- house arrest. The case against him
remained open. Later in June, Truong violated his administrative
detention order and was arrested and reimprisoned as he sought to
return to Bac Giang, ostensibly to visit family. In July, the
Pastor's wife was informed that he had been taken to a mental
hospital for diagnosis. On September 30, 2004, the Ministry of
Public Security in Dong Nai and the provincial prosecutor's office
administratively ordered that Truong be admitted to the criminal
ward of the Bien Hoa mental hospital. Pastor Truong reportedly
told his wife that the police had tricked him into signing an
Order for Mandatory Medical Treatment, which committed him to the
mental institution. (Note: On April 28, we contacted a leading
HCMC defense attorney to discuss the case. According to our
contact, the Vietnamese criminal code does not define specifically
the procedures required to commit a person involuntarily to a
mental hospital. However, authorities do have to document that
the person has abnormal behavior, based on an evaluation conducted
by competent provincial or central-level medical authorities.
Procedurally, it makes no difference if the accused is in prison
or under administrative detention. End Note.)


6. (SBU) Both Pastor Ai and Truong's wife maintained that Truong
is not mentally ill. Neither knew the diagnosis under which
Truong was admitted to the hospital. Ai said that he had visited
Truong in the hospital, where Truong complained that the staff was
medicating him against his will. Ai said he spoke with Truong's
attending physician, who reportedly said that Truong was not
mentally ill.

Discussions with the Truong's Doctor
--------------


7. (SBU) On May 9, we spoke with one of Pastor Truong's attending
physicians (strictly protect) over the phone for an hour. (The
doctor had backed out of an earlier commitment to meet with us in
HCMC on May 7.) The doctor said that he had been working with
Pastor Truong for eight months. He said that the Pastor was
involuntarily committed to the hospital after a forensic medicine
examination council determined that he was showing signs of a
mental disorder. The doctor was informed orally by his
supervisors that the Pastor was a paranoid schizophrenic suffering
from paranoid delusions, but was not allowed to see the Pastor's
medical file. Truong was being treated with an antipsychotic --
Haloperidol -- at a dosage of two to four tablets per day, 2
milligrams per tablet. He said that a comprehensive review of the
patient's status has not been conducted; by law such a review only
has to be conducted after a year.


8. (SBU) The doctor told us that the basis for hospitalization was
that Pastor Truong showed signs of "delusions of grandeur," in
particular by believing that he could evangelize Communist Party
leaders. Such religious and quasi-political behavior is
considered abnormal in Vietnam as a locally accredited pastor
would never write to the GVN. Responding to our questions, the
doctor told us that Pastor Truong has not exhibited any mania or
depression. He is not violent, either to himself or to others.
The letters that the pastor wrote to central leaders strongly
lambasted Marxism-Leninism, but were not threatening. During our
phone conversation the doctor demurred from responding
categorically to our question as to whether or not he believed the
pastor should be in the mental institution. In a subsequent text
message conversation with us on May 10, we asked him again if he
thought that it was justified that Truong was in a mental
hospital. The doctor refused to answer directly, but appeared to
imply that perhaps Truong should not be in a mental institution.

Official Follow-up
--------------


9. (SBU) On March 9 PolOff met with the HCMC External Relations
Office to discuss the Truong case. We emphasized that the
allegations are particularly troubling and smack of Soviet Gulag-
style treatment of political and religious dissent. We had never
heard of such a case in Vietnam before and hoped that the reports
were not true. We emphasized that this case must be clarified
quickly and thoroughly, lest the incident undercut or negate the
goodwill that Vietnam is building in its overall handling of
religious freedom issues. If the allegations stand up to
scrutiny, even if only an isolated incident of atrocious judgment
by local officials, the persons involved must shoulder
responsibility for their actions. Our ERO counterparts told us
that they understood the seriousness of the matter and promised to
work with Dong Nai provincial authorities to give us a complete
factual briefing soon. As of March 12, the ERO told us that they
are working with Dong Nai officials, but have not yet received a
full report on the case.


10. (SBU) Comment: Unless we hear a satisfactory reply from the
ERO this week, we plan to travel to Dong Nai shortly to meet with
relevant provincial and hospital officials. We also will try to
meet Pastor Truong. Until we have a more complete picture we are
reserving judgment: this is the first time we have dealt with
allegations that mental institutions are being used to punish
religious or political activists.

WINNICK


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