CAO DAI ACTIVIST JAILED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000435

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF SOCI VM
SUBJECT: CAO DAI ACTIVIST JAILED

REF: 05 HCMC 994


1. (SBU) Summary: On April 14, a Cao Dai activist, Tran Huu
Phuoc, was sentenced by a Tay Ninh court to two years'
imprisonment for "slandering" government officials and members
of the GVN-recognized Cao Dai Executive Council.
Government-controlled press in Tay Ninh Province subsequently
accused Phuoc of being mentally ill. Based on our review of
Phuoc's writings and our discussions with other Cao Dai
activists, there is reason to suspect that the charges against
him were prompted, at least in part, by his outspoken criticism
of the GVN and GVN-recognized Cao Dai church. We will follow up
with Phuoc's family and HCMC and Tay Ninh officials to obtain
additional details on the case of Tran Huu Phuoc. End Summary.



2. (SBU) In April, a member of the Cao Dai community alerted
ConGen that Tay Ninh provincial authorities had arrested a Cao
Dai activist named Tran Huu Phuoc. On April 14, Phuoc was tried
and sentenced to two years in prison for "slandering GVN and Cao
Dai officials." According to an April 17 press report in the
official Tay Ninh newspaper, Government officials held the
one-day trial not in a courthouse, but in a district-level
cultural house. Officials apparently encouraged the public to
attend to make an example of Phuoc. The press report stated
that at the trial, Phuoc confessed and apologized to his
"victims".


3. (SBU) The newspaper portrayed Phuoc as a "professional
slanderer" who had written numerous letters to the GVN and
international leaders, including UN SYG Kofi Annan, attacking
the competency and motivations of local officials and accusing
them of targeting him and his family. The article claimed he
had created a "rift between Cao Dai followers and the police"
when he falsely accused a district police leader of harassing a
Cao Dai church. The press report alleged he had circulated
letters labeling the Executive Council's HCMC representative
Kieu Ngoc Minh as a terrorist. According to the newspaper, Cao
Dai officials requested authorities to prosecute Phuoc.


4. (SBU) Provincial media also characterized Phuoc as mentally
unstable and recommended that he be treated for mental illness.
The press reported that, at police request, Central Medical
Examination Center II in Dong Nai had diagnosed Phuoc as a
"paranoid schizophrenic". However, the hospital found that
Phuoc was competent to be tried as a criminal. (Note: Per
reftel, Central Medical Examination Center II is the same mental
institution in which Baptist Pastor Than Van Truong was
committed involuntarily for close to a year. End Note.) The 53
year-old Phuoc had worked as a barber in Hoa Thanh district, Tay
Ninh Province, until his arrest.

ConGen's Earlier Intermittent Contact With Phuoc
-------------- ---


5. (SBU) In June 2005, Phuoc sent post copies of letters he had
written to Prime Minister Khai, the King of Cambodia, UN SYG
Annan and others, stating his opposition to GVN and Cao Dai
Executive Council plans to repatriate the remains of the Cao Dai
Conservator Pham Cong Tac from Cambodia to Vietnam. Phuoc
maintains that the Conservator demanded that his remains stay in
Cambodia "until democracy was restored in Vietnam." (Note: The
Cao Dai Conservator died and was buried in Cambodia in 1959,
following his self-exile from Vietnam to protest the failure of
the 1954 Geneva accords. According to one historical source,
the Conservator willed that his body not be returned to Vietnam
until "the country becomes reunited, peaceful and neutral." End
Note.) Phuoc's letters also called for dissolution of the Cao
Dai Executive Council because it had altered Cao Dai traditions.
He denounced provincial authorities for appropriating Cao Dai
church lands in Tay Ninh and urged the GVN to respect democracy,
human rights and religious freedom as a precondition for entry
into the WTO.


6. (SBU) In October 2005, Phuoc sent a second letter to ConGen,
postmarked from his village in Tay Ninh Province, alleging that
in mid-September Tay Ninh police had confiscated Cao Dai
religious materials from his home. Phuong also sent us a copy
of the police decision dated September 12, 2005 to investigate
him for slander. In his letter, Phuoc stated that he had been
sent to the Bien Hoa mental hospital in Dong Nai for psychiatric
evaluation. We did not hear from Phuoc or about him again until
his colleague reported to us on his trial.

Mentally Ill Slanderer or Human Rights Victim?
-------------- -


7. (SBU) Following the trial, post contacted Ha Ngoc Voi, a
retired clergyman of the pre-1975 Cao Dai Church of Vietnam.
Voi dismissed claims that Phuoc suffered from mental illness.
HCMC-based dissident and retired Cao Dai historian Le Quang Tan
concurred with Voi's comments, stating the sentence handed to
Phuoc was GVN retribution for his outspoken views.

HO CHI MIN 00000435 002 OF 002




8. (SBU) Post subsequently spoke with Cao Dai Executive Council
Chairman Thuong Tam Thanh who claimed ignorance of Phuoc's trial
and conviction, and declined to discuss the issue further. Post
also spoke with official HCMC Cao Dai representative Kieu Ngoc
Minh. Minh confirmed that Phuoc had made accusations against
him. Minh stated that Phuoc was among the Cao Dai's "radical
element" who openly criticize the church and Executive Council
policy, including its plan to repatriate the Conservator's
remains. Minh avoided giving his personal opinion and only
repeated the clinic's diagnosis, but said that he had hoped that
Phuoc would receive a lenient sentence during his trial.


9. (SBU) Comment: Phuoc received the maximum possible sentence
although, under the law, Phuoc could have received a verbal
reprimand. Phuoc's public trial and two years' imprisonment
smack, at least in part, of government retribution for his
inflammatory epistolary. So too does Tay Ninh's public labeling
-- or libeling -- of Phuoc as mentally ill. Undercutting the
credibility of the outspoken has been a GVN tactic to discredit
or silence political and religious dissidents, as was the case
of Protestant pastor Than Van Truong and political dissident
Tran Khue. As next steps to develop additional information on
his case, we will explore Phuoc's predicament further with his
family and with other members of the Cao Dai community, and will
raise the case with the HCMC External Relations Office and Tay
Ninh officials. End Comment.
WINNICK