Communist authorities who condemned his involvement in writing Christian articles and the distribution of Bibles among top officials, human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said Thursday, June 16. The UK-based CSW, which has close contacts with persecuted believers in Vietnam, said Rev. Than Van Truong of the Baptist General Conference house church organization has been in the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital in Dong Nai Province, after a public prosecutor
described him in September as “mentally ill and delusional”.
CSW said it had learned that the pastor was initially "injected with drugs" and stressed the church leader "was at first reduced to a lethargic state, but after a time medication was reduced and he improved."
In March he reportedly began writing petitions about his case asking for intervention. His case became known after visitors to Mennonite prisoner-of-conscience Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien, also committed to the mental hospital, helped bring his situation to light.
US TRIP
It was unclear how the latest development would effect Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phan Van Khai scheduled official visit to the United States this month. Washington has made clear it sees improvement of religious rights in the Communist nation among key conditions to improve diplomatic ties and to overcome the wounds of the Vietnam war.
CSW said it has learned however that ahead of the upcoming visit "Rev. Truong’s case was initially presented to the European Union, to Canada and the United States, after which some countries engaged in quiet diplomacy on his behalf."
The organization said the situation surrounding the pastor "sounds much like a 1950’s Soviet-era script." He was first arrested in 2003 for "crimes against the state" after writing some religious articles and sending "some Bibles as gifts to Vietnam’s top officials," CSW added in a statement to BosNewsLife News Center.
AGAIN ARRESTED
After his release, he was reportedly re-arrested in September for trying to leave his residence in the south to visit his ageing and ailing mother in the far north of Vietnam. Officials had refused to reply to his several requests for permission to visit his mother, which is still required in this Communist country, CSW noted.
After pressure from a lawyer and an American diplomat controversial medicines were reduced and on May 27 hospital authorities summoned Pastor Truong to a “medical examination” the following week, the human rights groups said, citing sources in the region.
"The examination took the form of an interview with some eight people" including doctors. They questioned the Rev. Truong mostly about his religious beliefs and his credentials as a pastor, which his interviewers refused to accept. The director of the hospital…said Pastor Truong was in the mental hospital because he had “committed a crime [and] broken the law,” CSW said.
MEDICAL EXAMINATION
However the organization stressed that a doctor and public prosecutor have admitted to Mrs. Truong that her husband had no mental problems and that a new medical examination which would have led to his release was declined by hospital authorities as his case involved “religion and politics”.
Pastor Truong last saw his usual doctor on June 10, and fears something may happen to him, CSW said. "After three weeks of not being administered drugs, he was approached that night by another medic and given pills. When he declined to take them, the medic warned him that he would be injected in the morning if he did not comply. Understandably, Pastor Truong and his wife now fear for his safety."
Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of CSW, said that "this story should embarrass the Vietnamese Prime Minister, who is about to go to the US to convince America that all is well in Vietnam. At the same time, a delegation from Dong Nai Province, the location of the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, is visiting America on a trade mission."
She stressed it was time "the West confronts the reality of Vietnam’s flagrant disregard for the religious freedom of her people,” despite recent promises by the government to improve the situation of some house churches. CSW can be reached at website: http://www.csw.org.uk (With Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Vietnam)
