US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY493

UNCLAS  HO CHI MINH CITY 000493 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: THE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF VIETNAMESE PASTOR THAN VAN 
TRUONG 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Over the past two weeks ConGen HCMC has been 
investigating the case of Baptist Pastor Than Van Truong, who 
allegedly was involuntarily committed to an mental institution in 
Dong Nai province for the peaceful expression of his religious and 
political beliefs.  Truong reportedly had a history of run-ins 
with Dong Nai provincial police over his involvement in the local 
house church movement.  A series of letters in which Truong sought 
to evangelize senior Party and GVN leaders apparently catalyzed 
provincial authorities to commit him to the mental institution.  A 
doctor who treated Truong told us that the Pastor was not violent, 
manic or depressed.  While not explicit, our sense was that he 
implied that Truong perhaps should not be in a mental institution. 
The HCMC External Relations Office has promised to work quickly 
with Dong Nai authorities to provide clarification on this case. 
We are reserving judgment until we have a more comprehensive 
picture of the case: this is the first time we have dealt with 
allegations that Vietnamese authorities -- at any level -- are 
using incarceration in a mental institution as a way to punish 
religious or political activists.  End Summary. 
 
The Case of Pastor Truong 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) On April 27 we met with Pastor Pham Toan Ai (strictly 
protect) to discuss the case of Baptist Pastor Than Van Truong, 
who reportedly was involuntarily committed to the Bien Hoa mental 
institution in Dong Nai province.  Human Rights activists inside 
and outside Vietnam have alleged that Truong was committed as 
punishment for the peaceful expression of his religious and 
political beliefs.  Pastor Ai, a colleague of Pastor Truong, heads 
a Baptist house church organization with 83 chapters and 8,000 
members across Southern and Central Vietnam.  On April 29, we 
spoke with Nguyen Thi Kim, the wife of Pastor Truong, whose 
reports confirmed and supplemented the history we received from 
Pastor Ai. 
 
3. (SBU) Before becoming religious, Truong was a Party member and 
Army officer from the Northern Vietnam province of Bac Giang. 
Truong settled in Dong Nai province (near HCMC) where he worked 
for the Veteran's Association.  In 2000, Truong reportedly became 
a Baptist minister and began evangelizing and organizing house 
churches in Dong Nai province.  Local police began to harass the 
two churches that Pastor Truong served, seizing bibles and prayer 
materials and stopping services. Police also reportedly spread a 
rumor that Pastor Truong was teaching an "American religion" and 
would be arrested. 
 
4. (SBU) In 2000, Truong started sending a series of letters to 
the Party General Secretary, the President and other senior GVN 
leaders in Hanoi as well as to provincial leaders urging them to 
abandon Marxism-Leninism and follow the precepts of the bible.  In 
2003 these letters landed Truong in hot water with local police, 
as copies were distributed in the province. 
 
5. (SBU) On May 27, 2003, Truong was arrested and charged with 
"propagandizing against the government."  He was kept in pre-trial 
detention for eight months, but was not charged.  On June 20, 
2004, Truong was released from prison and placed under 
administrative detention -- house arrest.  The case against him 
remained open.  Later in June, Truong violated his administrative 
detention order and was arrested and reimprisoned as he sought to 
return to Bac Giang, ostensibly to visit family.  In July, the 
Pastor's wife was informed that he had been taken to a mental 
hospital for diagnosis.  On September 30, 2004, the Ministry of 
Public Security in Dong Nai and the provincial prosecutor's office 
administratively ordered that Truong be admitted to the criminal 
ward of the Bien Hoa mental hospital.  Pastor Truong reportedly 
told his wife that the police had tricked him into signing an 
Order for Mandatory Medical Treatment, which committed him to the 
mental institution. (Note:  On April 28, we contacted a leading 
HCMC defense attorney to discuss the case.  According to our 
contact, the Vietnamese criminal code does not define specifically 
the procedures required to commit a person involuntarily to a 
mental hospital.  However, authorities do have to document that 
the person has abnormal behavior, based on an evaluation conducted 
by competent provincial or central-level medical authorities. 
Procedurally, it makes no difference if the accused is in prison 
or under administrative detention.  End Note.) 
 
6. (SBU) Both Pastor Ai and Truong's wife maintained that Truong 
is not mentally ill.  Neither knew the diagnosis under which 
Truong was admitted to the hospital.  Ai said that he had visited 
Truong in the hospital, where Truong complained that the staff was 
medicating him against his will.  Ai said he spoke with Truong's 
attending physician, who reportedly said that Truong was not 
mentally ill. 
 
Discussions with the Truong's Doctor 
------------------------------------ 
 
7. (SBU) On May 9, we spoke with one of Pastor Truong's attending 
physicians (strictly protect) over the phone for an hour.  (The 
doctor had backed out of an earlier commitment to meet with us in 
HCMC on May 7.)  The doctor said that he had been working with 
Pastor Truong for eight months.   He said that the Pastor was 
involuntarily committed to the hospital after a forensic medicine 
examination council determined that he was showing signs of a 
mental disorder.   The doctor was informed orally by his 
supervisors that the Pastor was a paranoid schizophrenic suffering 
from paranoid delusions, but was not allowed to see the Pastor's 
medical file.   Truong was being treated with an antipsychotic -- 
Haloperidol -- at a dosage of two to four tablets per day, 2 
milligrams per tablet.  He said that a comprehensive review of the 
patient's status has not been conducted; by law such a review only 
has to be conducted after a year. 
 
8. (SBU) The doctor told us that the basis for hospitalization was 
that Pastor Truong showed signs of "delusions of grandeur," in 
particular by believing that he could evangelize Communist Party 
leaders.  Such religious and quasi-political behavior is 
considered abnormal in Vietnam as a locally accredited pastor 
would never write to the GVN.  Responding to our questions, the 
doctor told us that Pastor Truong has not exhibited any mania or 
depression.  He is not violent, either to himself or to others. 
The letters that the pastor wrote to central leaders strongly 
lambasted Marxism-Leninism, but were not threatening.  During our 
phone conversation the doctor demurred from responding 
categorically to our question as to whether or not he believed the 
pastor should be in the mental institution.  In a subsequent text 
message conversation with us on May 10, we asked him again if he 
thought that it was justified that Truong was in a mental 
hospital.  The doctor refused to answer directly, but appeared to 
imply that perhaps Truong should not be in a mental institution. 
 
Official Follow-up 
------------------ 
 
9. (SBU) On March 9 PolOff met with the HCMC External Relations 
Office to discuss the Truong case.  We emphasized that the 
allegations are particularly troubling and smack of Soviet Gulag- 
style treatment of political and religious dissent.  We had never 
heard of such a case in Vietnam before and hoped that the reports 
were not true.  We emphasized that this case must be clarified 
quickly and thoroughly, lest the incident undercut or negate the 
goodwill that Vietnam is building in its overall handling of 
religious freedom issues.  If the allegations stand up to 
scrutiny, even if only an isolated incident of atrocious judgment 
by local officials, the persons involved must shoulder 
responsibility for their actions.  Our ERO counterparts told us 
that they understood the seriousness of the matter and promised to 
work with Dong Nai provincial authorities to give us a complete 
factual briefing soon.  As of March 12, the ERO told us that they 
are working with Dong Nai officials, but have not yet received a 
full report on the case. 
 
10. (SBU) Comment: Unless we hear a satisfactory reply from the 
ERO this week, we plan to travel to Dong Nai shortly to meet with 
relevant provincial and hospital officials.  We also will try to 
meet Pastor Truong.  Until we have a more complete picture we are 
reserving judgment: this is the first time we have dealt with 
allegations that mental institutions are being used to punish 
religious or political activists. 
 
WINNICK 
 
 
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