US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY189

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000189 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MENNONITES: PASTOR NGUYEN HONG QUANG AND LE THI 
HONG LIEN 
 
REF:  REF: A) HCMC 142; B) HCMC 106 
 
1. (SBU) On February 22, visiting S/P Staffer William Inboden and 
ConGenOffs met with Ms. Le Thi Phu Dung (strictly protect), wife 
of imprisoned Mennonite house church pastor Nguyen Hong Quang. 
Dung said she has visited her husband in HCMC's Chi Hoa prison 
"two or three times" and is able to deliver supplies to him 
regularly.  Her most recent visit was in early February.  Although 
not as fit as he was before his arrest, Dung said her husband was 
in good mental and physical condition.  Dung confirmed that HCMC 
police had offered to reduce Quang's three-year sentence if he 
dropped his pending appeal, but Quang said he was not guilty and 
therefore would not withdraw the appeal (Ref A). 
 
2. (SBU) Dung also confirmed that Mr. Le Quang Du (protect), the 
father of imprisoned Mennonite Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien, who suffered 
a mental breakdown while in prison, had written a letter to the 
GVN on her daughter's case.  Dung provided a copy of the January 
31 letter to post, which was addressed to the Party General 
Secretary, the Prime Minister, Ministers of Public Security and 
 
SIPDIS 
Justice, and the Supreme Court as well as HCMC officials.  The 
letter accuses local prison and police officials of repeatedly 
torturing Lien, and demands that those responsible for her torture 
be disciplined.  The letter also demands that her sentence be 
vacated because she was non compus mentis during her trial and 
that she be released immediately to receive medical treatment. 
 
3. (SBU) Dung said that Lien's father went to visit Lien on the 
morning of February 22 and was told that she had been transferred 
from HCMC's Chi Hoa prison to another facility in neighboring Binh 
Phuoc province on February 17.  Other prisoners in Chi Hoa prison 
reportedly told Lien's father that she continued to show signs of 
mental illness and was kept in the prison infirmary until her 
transfer. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment:  In our meeting with Lien's father in late 
January (ref B) he detailed several possible incidents of police 
abuse, although he stopped short of accusing the police of 
torturing her.  His January 31 letter to the GVN also claims that 
he had appealed Lien's sentence immediately after her trial in mid- 
November but that the HCMC court ruled that he was not a party to 
the case; in our meeting, Lien's father told us that he had not 
contacted senior prison authorities, the courts or consulted a 
lawyer to review his daughter's case. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment continued:  Following our January meeting with 
Lien's father, we consulted with a senior defense attorney in HCMC 
who recommended that Lien's family submit a request to HCMC prison 
and court authorities to suspend Lien's sentence and transfer her 
to an appropriate medical facility for care.  It remains to be 
seen whether the family's broader, stronger and higher-level 
approach will yield positive results.  We will continue to monitor 
Lien's case, advocate with local officials for her release on 
humanitarian grounds and report any official response to her 
father's letter.  End Comment. 
 
WINNICK