US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY212

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000212 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MENNONITE HOUSE CHURCH IN HCMC 
 
REF:  HCMC 106 and previous 
 
1. (SBU) In the evening of February 27, local HCMC police detained 
the wife of imprisoned Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and 18 
worshipers.  According to our house church contacts, at the end of 
the Sunday service, police informed the group that they were 
assembling illegally and made a report of the incident.  They 
apparently asked Mrs. Quang to sign the document.  She refused. 
At that point, the police brought the churchgoers to the local 
police station.  They were released 6 hours later. 
 
2. (SBU) We followed up with Mrs. Quang on March 4.  She confirmed 
our contacts' account.  She added that she told the police that 
the Prime Minister's February 4 Order on Protestantism legalized 
operation of the house church.  According to Mrs. Quang, police 
rejected that argument, saying that the Ordinance on Religion 
forbids the operation of unregistered house churches.  It was at 
that point that Mrs. Quang said that she told police that she did 
not violate the law, refused to sign the police report, and was 
arrested.  Mrs. Quang said that, following the February 27 
incident, she expected to be summoned to the local police station 
for further questioning, but police have yet to contact her. 
 
Mennonite Prisoner Released 
--------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Mrs. Quang also told us Nguyen Van Phuong, one of the 
five Mennonites imprisoned along with her husband on November 12, 
2004, was released from prison on March 3, upon the expiry of his 
one-year sentence.  Mrs. Quang said that when she met Phuong he 
appeared thinner, but otherwise did not appear to have any 
physical or mental issues.  She said that Phuong returned to his 
home in the neighboring province of Dong Nai, where he will 
undergo a thorough medical evaluation. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment:  The February 27 incident is another in a series 
of confrontations between Pastor Quang's church and HCMC 
authorities stretching back for at least two years.  In contrast, 
we received no reports of police harassment of other house 
churches in the HCMC area that Sunday.  This overall positive 
trend is consistent with reports from house church leaders in the 
HCMC area that police pressure on house churches is down 
significantly nationwide.  Our contacts add that they know of no 
other occasion when police reportedly cited the Ordinance on 
Religion to stop an unregistered house church from operating.  End 
Comment. 
 
WINNICK