Court to Hear Appeals from Imprisoned Vietnam Church Leaders

 

 

 The Christian Post

Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 Posted: 4:09:37PM EST

  

 

The People's Supreme Court in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City will hear the appeals of two Mennonite Church leaders who were among the six sentenced on Nov. 12, 2004, for charges of "resisting persons doing official duty."

 

According to Compass News, the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach of the Mennonite Church will appeal against the November ruling that resulted in their three-year and two-year sentences respectively - the longest prison terms among the "Mennonite Six." The hearing is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 2.

 

The sentencing of six believers has drawn protest from human rights groups and the Christian community. Nguyen, the secretary general of the Mennonite Church and an active member of the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, was arrested in early June when "he was tricked out of his house by police posing as government land authorities," according to sources. Though the Mennonite Church is considered illegal by the Vietnamese government, judicial authorities said that he was not arrested for religious reasons, but because he was "inciting people to obstruct officials from carryout out their duties."

 

According to the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), Nguyen had held a sit-in in December 2003 at a Police station in Ho Chi Minh City along with other church leaders to protest the detention of 19 Christians for distributing religious pamphlets at the SEA Games in Ho Chi Minh City. He also called attention to the illegal detention and abuse of the three evangelists that were being held without formal charges more than three months after their arrest. On June 25, he released a substantial report addressed to Mennonite bodies and other churches both in the country and internationally. The report charged that public security officers of Ho Chi Minh City District 2 violated at least four sections of the criminal code on "temporary imprisonment."

 

At November's four-hour trial at the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Nguyen was sentenced to three years imprisonment and his co-workers - Pham Ngoc Thach, Nguyen Van Phuong, Le Thi Hong Lien, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, and Hieu Nghia - were given sentences ranging from 9 months to 2 years.

 

While Nguyen Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia were both released in early December, Compass News reports that the higher court denied an appeal from evangelist Nguyen Van Phuong, who is scheduled for release on March 2, and an appeal was also denied for 21-year-old schoolteacher Le Thi Hong Lien whose one-year sentence ends June 30. Le is reportedly unfit to stand trial after the torture and abuse that she has suffered had led to her "complete mental and physical breakdown."

 

Kenneth Chan
kenneth@christianpost.com