US embassy cable - 03HANOI1687

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001687 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PINS, SOCI, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR, ETMIN 
SUBJECT:  PROTESTANTS CLAIM MORE HARASSMENT 
 
REF:  A.  HANOI 0551  B.   Hanoi 0349 
-     C.  HCMC 941 
 
1.  (U)  Summary.  Unconfirmed reports continue to indicate 
efforts by local authorities to pressure ethnic minority 
Protestants in some locations to renounce their faith. 
These reports claim at least one recent murder and more 
detentions.  Some ethnic minority Protestants have 
reportedly also had to pay fines for illegal gatherings. 
While the religious life of most believers in Vietnam, 
including Protestants, appears to be unaffected by any new 
efforts, authorities at least in the two sensitive Highland 
areas appear to have focused attention on what appear to 
them purely illegal actions outside the recognized 
Protestant structure.  Interestingly, these efforts to not 
appear to be very successful.   Septel will report on some 
refutations of such claims by Party officials in Hanoi and 
provincial officials in Lai Chau and Son La provinces.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Foreign correspondents recently provided Embassy 
with copies of letters and other accounts from Vietnamese 
Protestants detailing recent cases of harassment, 
detentions, and even murder among some ethnic minority 
Protestants.  The journalists originally received these 
documents from Vietnamese Protestant sources, who could 
often not provide a firm indication whether they had any 
personal knowledge of the events detailed in these accounts 
or exactly how directly they had obtained the information. 
Neither the Embassy nor the journalists themselves can 
confirm the accuracy of these accounts, which are in 
Vietnamese. 
 
Murders? 
-------- 
 
3.  (U)  "Chong," the ten year old son of Protestant leader 
Trang Phia of Hoi Cha hamlet, Muong Nhe village, Muong Nhe 
District, Lai Chau province, disappeared three days after 
Trang Phia and other church leaders had been told to leave 
the hamlet and go into the forest (no date given). 
Authorities initially refused requests by Trang Phia's wife 
to search for her son, but later took her to a site (which 
she had already searched) and produced Chong's body. 
According to this account, he had been murdered -- church 
members believe by a 35-year old Hmong at the behest of 
local authorities seeking to punish the father -- at another 
site and his body later moved by authorities.  Appeals by 
church members to Hanoi authorities to investigate the case 
have not produced any results.  Local authorities continue 
to pressure church members to leave the hamlet, although 
unsuccessfully. 
 
4.  (U)  Another account related the already familiar case 
of Mua Bua Sinh (aka Mua Bua Senh) of Tin Toc hamlet, Phin 
Giang, Dien Bien Dong district, Lai Chau province.  Mua Bua 
Sinh died on August 7, 2002; his family believes he had been 
beaten because of his Protestant faith. 
 
Detentions 
---------- 
 
5. (U)  Following the death of Mua Bua Sinh, his brother Mua 
Say So went to Hanoi to try to convince central authorities 
to investigate.  According to this account, he was detained 
in May 2003, although it is not clear whether in Hanoi or 
Lai Chau. 
 
6.  (U)  Mua A Chau and Thao A Tong, of Sin Ho district, Lai 
Chau, were reportedly detained on March 5 in Binh Lu, Lai 
Chau.  Mua A Chau was accused of having "resisted a person 
performing an official act" in October 2002 when he had been 
detained for three days, after authorities found in his 
possession a number of appeals about religious freedom.  The 
two were held in a detention center in Sin Ho district. 
Tong was released after 15 days, but was supposed to report 
to police on a daily basis.  Chau apparently remains in 
detention (the date of the report was not given but was 
clearly sometime after May 31) and other prisoners "allowed" 
into his cell to beat him occasionally. 
 
7.  (U)  Sung Van Dung, a Hmong Christian from Hoi Dac 
hamlet, Pa Ham village, Muong Lay district, Lai Chau, was 
detained on March 8 after officials found Christian 
materials in his sack.  He reportedly remains under 
detention in Muong Lay. 
 
Renunciations 
------------- 
 
8.  (U)  On March 3, about 100 police and soldiers came to 
Xa Cat Village, Sin Ho District, Lai Chau province, to force 
Hmong Protestants to sign a statement renouncing their 
faith, claiming all evangelists were "false hands of the 
U.S."  The report does not indicate whether the Protestants 
complied. 
 
9.  (U)  On March 2, police came to Che La village, Xin Man 
district, Ha Giang province to force families to sign a 
"commitment" not to listen to, believe, or spread illegal 
religions; not to organize illegal gatherings; and not to 
abandon ancestor shrines.  According to the report, anyone 
who did not sign was arrested, but the report does not 
indicate how many, if any, complied.  Whoever signed was 
supposed to be given some financial and other assistance by 
authorities, the report claimed, without indicating how many 
benefited from this offer. 
10.  (U)  A Yen, an ethnic Coi-dong from from Dak Ring 
village, Cam Long district, Kontum province, was beaten by 
police who were trying to force him to renounce his faith on 
May 8. 
 
Fines 
----- 
 
11.  (U)  The materials also include copies of two receipts 
for fines (of 100,000 VND -- USD7 -- and 200,000 VND -- USD 
14) paid by individuals in Dak Lak province for having 
organized "illegal Protestant gatherings." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
12.  (SBU)  The religious life of most Vietnamese believers, 
including Protestants, appears to be free from any official 
pressure to recant; as long as they confine their religious 
activities to their own homes or within one of the 
recognized religious structures, they can practice their 
faith without noticeable interference.  (The leadership 
structure and even the composition of the clergy remain 
under the supervision of the State and Party, however.) 
Even many house churches usually also operate with virtual 
impunity at most times.  Authorities nonetheless view all 
other religious activities, especially evangelism, as 
illegal.  At least in the sensitive Central and Northwest 
Highland areas, officials have tried to convince ethnic 
minorities to abandon such "illegal" practices; it appears 
increasingly likely that they were not doing so at their own 
initiative but rather as part of a larger drive to ensure 
that all religious activities fit into one of the CPV/GVN's 
boxes.  With a few very regrettable exceptions, these 
efforts appear to have been non-violent, if still often 
coercive.  Interestingly, however, it does not yet appear 
that these efforts have been on the whole successful.  Most 
knowledgeable observers would confirm the continued spread 
of Protestantism among ethnic minorities in these areas 
despite pressures to conform and even occasional harassment, 
another sign of the dwindling power of the Party and State 
over individual lives.  Septel will provide comments from 
Party officials in Hanoi and refutation of these allegations 
by provincial authorities in Lai Chau and Son La provinces. 
BURGHARDT