INVESTIGATING PASTOR NGUYEN CONG CHINH'S ALLEGATIONS OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000651 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/AWH AND DRL/IRF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM SUBJECT: INVESTIGATING PASTOR NGUYEN CONG CHINH'S ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE REF: HANOI 279 HO CHI MIN 00000651 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, a Mennonite Pastor from Kon Tum province who now lives in Gia Lai province, is the founder of the Vietnamese People's Evangelical Fellowship (VPEF),an umbrella organization claiming to represent more than 60 Protestant denominations and all 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. VPEF, though religious in name, also has politically-oriented objectives. Pastor Chinh has repeatedly reported police harassment, but post has often found these reports to be inaccurate or misleading, leading us to consider Pastor Chinh a sometimes unreliable interlocutor. Therefore, we are skeptical about Pastor Chinh's latest report that he was beaten by the police on July 12. Pastor Chinh can be prone to exaggerated claims of abuse, especially insofar as he equates resistance to his political activities with religious persecution. One Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) pastor outright contradicts Chinh's version of the July 12 events. Pastor Chinh's unorthodox methods have led some mainstream religious figures to shun or criticize him, and VPEF's political overtones have raised concerns within the Government of Vietnam (GVN). End summary. RECENT ALLEGATIONS OF POLICE ABUSE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Pastor Chinh contacted post on July 13 to report that Gia Lai provincial police beat him and his adopted son after he refused to continue attending police interrogations or "working sessions" on July 8. Upon reporting to the local hospital, Pastor Chinh said that he was x-rayed, but returned home without treatment for fear of the numerous police who had followed him to the hospital. Pastor Y-Bon-Nie from the VPEF made the same allegations and provided pictures of a bleeding Pastor Chinh. The email report was also sent to the United Montagnard Christian Church (Greensboro, NC),the Billy Graham Evangelical Foundation, the online organization Queme, USCIRF, the White House, and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Thus far, only www .doi-thoai.com and Radio Free Asia have posted the story to the internet, and only in Vietnamese. ¶3. (SBU) Post is following-up on these allegations with both the Office of External Relations in Ho Chi Minh City and our contacts in the Central Highlands. A usually reliable Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) pastor denies Pastor Chinh's allegation, reporting instead that Pastor Chinh was involved in a scrap with several young ethnic minority men after insulting them. He suggested that the police only became involved to stop the brawl. However, this contact is known to have a particularly strained relationship with Pastor Chinh and has been prone to overstating his case against him. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Pastor Chinh is a Mennonite Pastor in Kon Tum Province and the President of the Vietnamese People's Evangelical Fellowship (VPEF). Pastor Chinh announced the establishment of the VPEF on 30 July 2006 in Gia Lai province. He claims the organization is an umbrella group for more than 60 Protestant denominations encompassing all 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. According to Pastor Chinh, the VPEF carries out "charitable works" such as transferring money from overseas organizations and individuals to family members of ethnic minority prisoners. ¶5. (SBU) In March 2008 post political officer met with a delegation from VPEF, including Pastor Chinh, Pastor Dinh Thanh Truong (General Secretary),and Pastor Bui Van Tan (Secretary). Pastor Chinh claimed that the group has more than 1,000 pastoral members representing 34 ethnic groups, and boasted of membership numbers in the hundreds of thousands or millions (Note: other Post contacts in the Central Highlands have assessed that there cannot realistically be more than 400 Protestant pastors in Vietnam. End note.) Pastors Truong and Tan were less bombastic than Pastor Chinh, focusing instead on VPEF's practical achievements in terms of education and child support. POLITICAL ACTIVITIES -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Pastor Chinh is signatory to Bloc 8406's Manifesto on Democracy and Human Rights, as well as a member of Monk Thich Thien Minh's (member of unsanctioned United Buddhist Church of Vietnam) "Former Political and Religious Prisoner's Association." Pastor Chinh also accompanied his close associate, controversial Mennonite Pastor and political dissident Nguyen Hong Quang, on a visit to human rights lawyers and high-profile political dissidents Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan in prison in March 2008 (reftel). However, Pastor Chinh later claimed that Pastor Quang 'denounced him' to the police. HO CHI MIN 00000651 002.2 OF 003 ¶7. (SBU) Pastor Chinh reports that he plans to build a "real civil society" through the establishment of a VPEF Central Committee and 17 commissions covering a myriad of issues. The structure he advocates almost exactly parallels that of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF),a Communist Party-affiliated mass organization charged with carrying out and rallying support for the Communist Party's social and civic priorities. Any such rival organization is sure to be understood by GVN authorities to be an inflammatory and blatantly political act. QUESTIONS OF CREDIBILITY AND ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Pastor Chinh regularly reports persecution and/or harassment by the police to Consulate General HCMC. While some of these reports appear to be based at least somewhat in truth, others do not. The following is an illustrative list of reports from Pastor Chinh over the past four years, and corresponding follow-up actions by post: -- (SBU) Pastor Chinh's wife reported in May 2008 that the pastor had been detained after 60 policemen searched their house, taking away all written material and Pastor Chinh's computer equipment. She also alleged that the police had physically constrained her and slapped her face. Although one Post source among several we contacted (aside from those informed directly by Pastor Chinh) was able to confirm this report, that source suggested an early June date for the raid. Post's contact reported that the police had searched Pastor Chinh's house and confiscated many documents relating to the VPEF and the GVN. In addition, Post's contact alleged that many of the confiscated VPEF documents (Pastor Chinh's dossier, certificates for member pastors, and organizational documents claiming massive membership numbers) were forgeries. Meanwhile, the GVN denied the assault on the Chinhs ever even occurred, stating that only a small number of policemen had come to ask Chinh to report to the police station in order to register his group. -- (SBU) On 25 June 2008, Pastor Chinh contacted Post claiming that he has been required by the police to attend "working sessions" every day from 0800-1700 for the past 50 days, and has been completely isolated from his church members. Several Post contacts confirmed that Pastor Chinh has been called for questioning each of the past 60 days; however, they lacked further details. -- (SBU) In 2006, Chinh reported that a Mennonite Pastor A Shua was beheaded by the police. However, ConGen discovered that A Shua was not Protestant but rather Catholic, and he died of cancer rather than anything connected with the police. -- (SBU) In Nov 2004, Post received a letter from Pastor Chinh alleging that seven recruits in Kon Tum had been tortured and forced to renounce their faith. Post contacts confirmed the questioning of seven individuals associated with Chinh, though they were allowed to return home each night, and contacts were not aware of any police campaign to force renunciations. -- (SBU) In Oct 2004, Chinh claimed that police in Pleiku detained four Mennonite pastors and forced their renunciation after four days of intense pressure. A contact in Pleiku reported that the pastors were not Mennonites but members of the officially-recognized SECV, and no police brutality was reported. -- (SBU) In Oct 2004, based on a Human Rights Watch report alleging the destruction of Pastor Chinh's unofficial Mennonite house church/residence, Post confirmed that the church/residence had in fact been torn down on September 24, 2004. CONTRADICTORY VIEWS ON CHINH'S ACTIVITIES -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Several Post contacts in the house church community expressed skepticism about Pastor Chinh's claims of harassment, suggesting to Post that he often exaggerates his difficulties. A reliable contact in the GVN-recognized SECV reported that most Protestant leaders had long ago severed contact with Chinh because of his "poor moral behavior" and political activism. One of Post's contacts also harbored serious doubts about Chinh's credibility, alleging that Chinh is neither a real pastor nor has ever received any theological training and had similar doubts about the qualifications of other VPEF members. He went on to describe the VPEF as a few dozen "rejects" who grouped together after being rejected by other denominations on moral grounds. Other Post contacts expressed their displeasure at Pastor Chinh's modus operandi. His blatant inter-denominational recruiting is galling to other Protestant groups. In addition, his overt politicization of the VPEF creates difficulties with the authorities for apolitical HO CHI MIN 00000651 003.2 OF 003 denominations. COMMENT: -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Given the unreliable nature of Pastor Chinh's reports, we are forced to conclude that Pastor Chinh is likely more interested in attracting attention to himself than in improving conditions for religious adherents in Vietnam. Pastor Chinh is an inflammatory figure in the Central Highlands house church community and the combination of his sometimes outrageous claims and his political activities makes him a particularly maddening figure to more mainstream religious activists. Those pastors who lead registered churches and work within the present government framework find Pastor Chinh's antics particularly disruptive to continuing progress towards religious freedom. While many of Post's most reliable contacts in the house church community have denounced Chinh as unreliable and self-absorbed, their frustrations with his political activities may have spilled over into ad hominem attacks on Pastor Chinh himself. That said, Post's own experience shows that Pastor Chinh's reports are often unreliable and must be thoroughly investigated. ¶11. (SBU) Pastor Chinh's political grandstanding is undoubtedly objectionable to the GVN. The VPEF parallel committees to the VFF will be perceived as a direct challenge to GVN authority and are likely to incur the same sort of repression experienced by political activists. In addition, a contact suggested that the GVN finds Chinh's inflated membership numbers threatening, given GVN's long-standing preference to understate the size and influence of the Protestant community. ¶12. This cable was drafted by HCMC summer intern John Vrolyk and was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. FAIRFAX