Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05VIENNA3963
2005-12-28 13:56:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

FOLLOW-UP ON SUN MYUNG MOON CASE IN AUSTRIA

Tags:  KIRF PHUM AU 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS VIENNA 003963 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPRNET DISTRBUTION

STATE FOR DRL/IRF (MATES AND HEWETT) AND EUR/AGS (VIKMANIS
KELLER)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PHUM AU
SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP ON SUN MYUNG MOON CASE IN AUSTRIA

REF: A. STATE 227506


B. ROBISON-MATES E-MAIL 12/16/05

C. ROBISON-EUR/AGS E-MAILS 10/13/05

This message is SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. Please treat
accordingly.

UNCLAS VIENNA 003963

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPRNET DISTRBUTION

STATE FOR DRL/IRF (MATES AND HEWETT) AND EUR/AGS (VIKMANIS
KELLER)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PHUM AU
SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP ON SUN MYUNG MOON CASE IN AUSTRIA

REF: A. STATE 227506


B. ROBISON-MATES E-MAIL 12/16/05

C. ROBISON-EUR/AGS E-MAILS 10/13/05

This message is SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. Please treat
accordingly.


1. (SBU) Per ref (a),on December 28, EconPolCouns and
EconPolOff met with Eva Neumann, head of the Passport and
Visa Issues Unit in the Ministry of Interior (MOI),to
discuss the Ministry's October 2005 denial of a request by
Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, to enter Austria.
Moon and Han sought to enter Austria on October 28 to attend
an event under the sponsorship of the Interreligious and
International Federation for World Peace, a Unification
Church affiliate. We stressed that religious belief should
not be a basis for denying an individual's entry to a country.


2. (SBU) Neumann said Austria denied visas to Moon and Han
because Germany had already listed them in the European
Union's Schengen Information System, or so-called "Schengen
List." (Note: Neumann said the identity of the country
which applies a Schengen ban is not a matter of public
record, and she asked us not to make public reference to the
fact that it was Germany which applied the ban on Moon and
Han. End note.) Neumann said the fact of the existing
Schengen ban was determinative -- there was no provision for
reviewing or otherwise second-guessing the reasons for the
original ban.


3. (SBU) Neumann said Moon and Han made written application
for a waiver of the Schengen ban. She said Austria grants
official waivers for only two reasons: humanitarian grounds
or the Austrian national interest. In this case, Neumann
said, Moon did not qualify for an exemption on either ground.
Neumann said that Moon's advanced age, which Moon's
supporters have cited as grounds for a humanitarian waiver,
did not qualify because the proposed visit to Austria had
nothing to do with Moon's age. Neumann said religious
beliefs did not enter into the Austrian decision.


4. (SBU) Neumann said the MOI has received many letters of
complaint from individuals and NGOs regarding this case.
However, she said it was "easy" to respond, because the
reason for the Austrian decision (an existing Schengen
listing) is clear. Post also continues to receive periodic
calls from the Austrian chapter of the "Forum for Religious
Freedom" asking for assistance in lifting the Schengen ban on
Moon.
KILNER