VIETNAM MENNONITE TORTURE CLAIMS UNCONVINCING

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000086

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL, DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV VM HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: VIETNAM MENNONITE TORTURE CLAIMS UNCONVINCING

REF: A) 04 HCMC 1574 and previous; B) 04 Hanoi 2886


1. (SBU) Summary: U.S. and Canada-based religious groups
published reports claiming that two Vietnamese Mennonite Church
members were tortured throughout their nine-month prison term.
These reports claimed that the two are under medial treatment for
severe physical trauma, including potentially life-threatening
damage. However, after our interviews of the two men, a review of
available medical records and a discussion with the doctor that
examined them immediately after their December 2 release, we
conclude that the allegations of sustained and brutal torture are
not credible. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Press releases circulated on the internet by the U.S. and
Canada-based Mennonite World Conference and California-based
Compass Direct from mid-January allege that two Vietnamese
Mennonites, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, 22, and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, 24,
suffered "non-stop beatings, deprivation and humiliation because
of their Christian faith." The two brothers, along with their
spiritual leader Nguyen Hong Quang, were among six Mennonites
sentenced on November 12, 2004 for "resisting persons doing
official duty," stemming from an altercation with police in March
2004 (reftels). Nhan and Nghia were released on December 2,
having completed their nine-month sentence (which included time
served in pre-trial detention).


3. (U) Inter alia, the press releases claim that: "the brothers
recall loud screams of pain under torture reverberating through
the cell-block and fading to nothing as, one by one, the brothers
(and the other Mennonite prisoners) were beaten into
unconsciousness. The brothers have had medical exams and are
under treatment. Doctors were alarmed at what they found. Both had
untreated broken noses. Nhan still has constant bouts of vomiting
and Nghia a crippled leg. Both are unable to work."


4. (SBU) On January 20, PolOff and Deputy Consular Section Chief
interviewed the two brothers in separate 90-minute meetings.
Neither man showed signs of physical or mental trauma. Their
gaits and posture were good and handshakes strong. They were
friendly, mentally alert and agile. They were not emotional and
smiled from time to time. They arrived and departed from the
Consulate driving a motorbike, which they were able to use without
any apparent problem.

Imaginary Scars?
--------------


5. (SBU) Nhan -- the younger brother -- told us that his cellmates
stabbed him three times in the stomach and ten times in the back
and neck with a homemade knife in one particularly vicious assault
during his first month in prison. (He said the weapon was a hard
plastic toothbrush whose base was whittled down to a point.) His
brother Nghia claimed that prison guards whipped him with a bundle
of electric cords on his back until he bled. Both claimed that
police beat them throughout their nine-month imprisonment with
their batons. Nhan also claimed that, six weeks before their
trial, approximately mid-September, the police broke his nose
during a beating. His elder brother claimed that his nose was
broken during an assault by inmates.


6. (SBU) Poloff showed both men an old scar from a puncture wound
and asked the two if they had any scars or markings on their
bodies consistent with the attacks they said they suffered. They
voluntarily consented to remove their shirts, but had no scars.
They explained, "they naturally don't scar." They added that they
used "warm rice compresses" and a special medicine provided by an
anonymous benefactor in jail to heal without scarring. Overall,
during our interviews, both men repeatedly modified their claims
about when and who assaulted them as well as the intensity of
those beatings, shifting the blame for specific alleged incidents
between the police and prisoners.


7. (SBU) The brothers told us that they were placed in cells, each
holding up to 20 persons, adjacent to each other. Nghia said
that, other than "one or two times," he never heard his sibling
cry out. He maintained that he never cried out during his alleged
beatings as such protests would only lead to further retribution
from the gangs that ran the cells. (Note: both brothers were
detained for at least two months at Chi Hoa Prison in HCMC. They
alleged they were regularly beaten while in Chi Hoa. However,
U.S. citizens also imprisoned at Chi Hoa during the same time did
not report witnessing or hearing any beatings in the relatively
small prison.)

No supporting medical evidence
--------------


8. (SBU) During our interview, both men told us that they had seen

the same doctor in Ho Chi Minh City two or three times since their
release in early December. They said that the doctor took x-rays
and put them on a regimen of medicine for back pain and vertigo.
However, they said they could not recall the name of the doctor,
the name of the clinic or even the district in which the clinic
was located. They said that after their last visit they had
decided to discontinue Western treatment in favor of herbal
remedies because Western medicine would take too long to cure
them. Asked of their future plans, Nghia said that he would
continue his studies and help his family on their rice farm in the
Mekong Delta region. Neither brother claimed that their injuries
would hinder their future employment.


9. (SBU) At our insistence, Nghia provided us late on January 21
with a medical record book from Nhat Minh clinic, which claims to
be affiliated with "Med Net Care Canada." According to this
document, Nghia visited the clinic on December 4 and December 12.
On January 24, we spoke by telephone with Do Than Thuc, the
attending doctor listed in the record. Initially, the doctor told
us that he did not remember the two men, saying the he saw
"hundreds of patients." After we mentioned the allegations of
torture, he recalled having examined two brothers who had told him
that they had been involved in unspecified beatings. According to
the doctor, one brother complained of back pain. The other
complained of vertigo and skin problems. The doctor told us that
he conducted thorough examinations of the two men, including
thorough head exams. The doctor said that he found no physical
injuries or evidence of beatings or torture in either man. He
confirmed that Nghia had a case of scabies, which he treated.


10. (SBU) Nghia's medical record adds that x-rays of the spine and
head were taken and that they did not indicate any head or spinal
injuries. The record states that Nghia complained of ill-defined
stomach problems and vertigo, which he claimed was related to head
trauma. The doctor did not support these claims, however.

Were the brothers coached?
--------------


11. (SBU) Nguyen Thanh Nhan said that neither he nor his brother
had detailed their allegations to any foreign nationals before
meeting with us. However, the wife of Pastor Quang told us in a
separate phone conversation January 21 that a Canadian activist
who had an established relationship with Pastor Quang had visited
with the two men after their release, although she did not know
for how long or what was discussed. A contact within the Vietnam
House Church movement told us that a pastor in the movement had
spoken with the two brothers immediately after their release and
that neither had made any claims of abuse at that time. Our
contact added that he had met the two brothers on January 20.
While he was not convinced, he thought that some of the brothers'
claims of abuse -- particularly by prison gangs -- might have
occurred. He did not endorse the brother's claims of police
brutality, based in part upon on his own experience as a prisoner.


12. (SBU) Comment: To be charitable, it is possible, perhaps even
likely, that the brothers experienced some physical abuse --
particularly from other inmates. However, their allegations of
sustained and brutal torture do not stand up to even modest
scrutiny. It is notable that our contacts within the house church
movement -- many of them colleagues of Pastor Quang -- shied away
from endorsing the claims of the Mennonites. Pastor Quang and his
followers appear willing to distort the truth to draw foreign
attention to religious issues in Vietnam. Unfortunately, such
claims undermine the credibility of other, far more serious house
church organizations seeking to operate freely in Vietnam.

WINNICK


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