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Seek Ambassadors' Help for Vietnamese Mennonites

STRASBOURG, France — Mennonite church leaders have contacted Vietnamese government officials in Switzerland, Canada, the U.S. and Vietnam since the arrest of Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, General Secretary of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam, and other church leaders.

On June 8, security police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested Pastor Quang. Reports indicated that he was charged with "instigating people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties." Three months earlier, on March 2, four associates were arrested when they attempted to report to local authorities the motorcycle license number of two undercover agents who had been watching and threatening them. No charges have been laid against them.

Where Pastor Quang and the other four leaders are being detained is not clear. Family members have not been permitted to visit any of these men. There have been reports of beatings.

On June 25, Larry Miller, executive secretary of Mennonite World Conference, along with Markus Rediger, MWC European Executive Committee member and past president of the Swiss Mennonite Conference, and Dan Nighswander, Mennonite Church Canada general secretary, were received at the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

In the absence of the Vietnamese ambassador, Mr. Truong Trieu Duong, the Deputy Permanent Representative, met with the MWC delegation along with an associate responsible for human rights questions.

The delegation presented a letter addressed to the ambassador calling for the release of the church leaders. It also recalled Mennonite medical, educational, agricultural development and income generation programs and assistance for displaced persons in Vietnam over the past 50 years.

The letter described the global Mennonite church and affirmed Vietnam's policy of freedom of religion as guaranteed in the constitution, not only for the Mennonite community but for all established religious faiths.

It also provided credible evidence that Christian ethnic minorities, particularly in the central highlands, are suffering under local authorities. The letter cited the destruction of a Mennonite home, signatures on false accusations, obtained by force, beatings and imprisonment without charges being laid.

"We request that the government continue to speak with the leaders of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam to resolve these and other pertinent issues so that they are able to practice their religious beliefs," stated the letter, signed by Miller and Nancy Heisey, MWC president.

Truong promised to report the delegation's concerns to the government of Vietnam and the government's response to his inquiries.

On June 14th, Mennonite Church Canada sent a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Richard Lecoq. The letter requested the ambassador's assistance in securing the release of Pastor Quang and other church leaders and the return of church property confiscated when Quang was arrested.

In addition to a general description of the global Mennonite church, the letter noted in particular that there are Mennonite churches in Vietnam and Vietnamese Mennonites in Canada. It said that Mennonites who are free to practise their faith have brought improvements to social and civil life and the economy of countries wherever they have found a home.

The letter also cited harassment experienced by Mennonites at worship in Vietnam, despite their constitutional right to freedom of religion: interruption of worship services, detention and interrogation of leaders, disruption of power supply to churches and forced entry causing injury to worshippers.

The document, signed by Dan Nighswander and Henry Krause, moderator of MC Canada, asked the ambassador to present their concerns to the Vietnamese government.

On June 10, Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung, president of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam, on behalf of its Executive Committee, sent a letter to local authorities of District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, where Pastor Quang and the other leaders were arrested.

He requested the immediate release of Pastor Quang and the return of personal files and national church records seized by police from Quang's home at the time of his arrest.

While the June 25 letter delivered in Geneva highlighted the June 8 arrest of Pastor Quang and contained more explicit requests for government action, a letter otherwise similar was hand-delivered in New York on April 20 to Mr. Le Luong Minh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The letter was signed by Miller and Heisey who hoped to arrange for a delegation to meet with the ambassador. Such a meeting is still pending.

The international church has responded to appeals by Mennonite officials in Vietnam with prayer for the arrested leaders and the Vietnamese church.