Christians Questioned
in Criminal Investigation of Church in Vietnam
Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam have questioned a pastoral couple and
11 congregation members in the criminal prosecution of a church facing wild
accusations of starting a COVID-19 outbreak, sources said.
Police in Go Vap District questioned the Rev. Vo Xuan Loan and her husband, the
Rev. Phuong Van Tan of Revival Ekklesia Mission church, at the police
investigation bureau on Oct. 14, after 11 REM members had been interrogated,
according to multiple sources.
Authorities also intended to “interview” two congregation children, ages 11 and
13, but strong objections to the questioning had at least delayed it, a source
said.
In what Christian leaders believe was an effort to defame evangelicals when
COVID-19 infections were traced to the church in May, REM leaders were widely
chastised and shamed in government-controlled media as authorities began
prosecuting the church under the Vietnam criminal code’s Article 240 against
“spreading a dangerous contagious disease to cause harm.”
Neither the government nor the REM leaders have commented at length on last
month’s interrogations, but on Oct. 20 attorney Dang Dinh Manh made arguments in
a brief to the investigation office petitioning for the dismissal of all
charges.
Two of the three subpoints of Article 240 indicate that intent to spread a
contagious disease must be shown for violation of the law, according to the
brief, obtained by Morning Star News. Suffering from COVID-19 themselves when
the government revealed plans to prosecute, church members contended there was
no logic in singling them out as they were victims of the outbreak along with
hundreds of thousands of others.
Article 240’s third subpoint makes it a crime to disobey quarantine rules and
disease reporting requirements. The church leaders and members maintain they
were scrupulously keeping the COVID-19 rules of the time.
Lawyer Manh, in a post on online media outlet Tieng Dan (Voice of the People),
cited an ancient legal axiom of “invisible lawlessness,” meaning where no crime
has been committed there can be no criminal charges. He maintained that REM
members did not break any of the government’s COVID-19 regulations of March 3,
2020, against breaking or evading quarantine rules and failing to report
infections.
Noting that high officials have publicly admitted that health authorities did
not know in late May about the high contagion of the COVID-19 Delta variant, the
attorney asked how church members could be expected to have taken extraordinary
measures. Manh also asked exactly who the government would indict, as it has
been impossible to ascertain who and how the first church member was infected.
The arguments of the attorney’s brief were also posted on Luat Khoa, a religious
human rights website, and other places.
The COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam’s devasting fourth wave was at first blamed on
the REM in the last days of May when some 60 people who tested positive for the
highly contagious Delta variant were connected to the house church. After the
government recorded no deaths on June 1, the seriousness of the fourth wave
became evident as daily deaths reached 804 on Sept. 1. Thankfully, by Nov. 1,
the daily deaths had fallen to 64.
After the REM outbreak, furor
grew in
mainstream and social media from misleading reports about a couple who attended
a May 26 meeting of the REM, an independent, charismatic house-church
organization headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, and then went to the Gia Dinh
General Hospital feeling unwell. At that time only seven people were present at
the church meeting, well below the 20-person limit the government had imposed
the last two weeks of May, according to Pastor Loan. By then the church had gone
mostly online.
A barrage of attacks in the state media followed, falsely tracing a significant
outbreak to the church’s pastor and family.
The outbreak was quickly surpassed by much larger ones that infected hundreds of
thousands. Centered in Ho Chi Minh City, the outbreaks attracted the full
attention of the government as they took more than 22,000 lives, among them at
least six pastors and 70 Protestants, by mid-October.
Christians had hoped the spikes in cases would create some perspective and take
the attention off the REM church, but the government’s plan to prosecute was not
forgotten.
In an unusual show of support for the REM church, on Oct. 21 the U.S. Consul of
Ho Chi Minh City, Geatan W. Damberg-Ott, paid a visit to the church and home of
pastors Loan and Tan. The consul inquired after their health and the well-being
of their church considering the events of late May, according to a Facebook post
by Pastor Loan.
She quoted the U. S. consul as saying in parting, “We are very honored to meet
you two pastors, to hear you and engage in conversation this morning. On behalf
of the U.S. Consulate, I wish you good health and sincerely hope that you and
your congregation will overcome every hardship in the days ahead.”
Vietnamese evangelicals were heartened by the international attention given to
the REM case, hoping it would spur Vietnam’s authorities to carefully consider
their decisions. But they also feared that it is difficult for an authoritarian
state to admit a legal miscalculation where law is used as a political tool.
Some Christians said they hope for a face-saving solution such as the church
being be fined for an administrative Covid-19 rule infraction rather a criminal
conviction.
Vietnam ranked 19th on Christian support organization Open Doors’
2021 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a
Christian.
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