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Trial date set for Nguyen Hong Quang; persecution continues for Mennonite house church Christians

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, general secretary of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam and prominent rights activist, is scheduled to be tried on November 12.

Quang was arrested on June 8 on the charge of "inciting others to resist officers of the law doing their duty." Unprecedented character attacks on Quang by Vietnam's official media occurred shortly thereafter.

His arrest came three months after the arrest of four Mennonite church workers following an incident at the Mennonite church, office and home of Quang in Ho Chi Minh City. The four have been held without formal charges. A sixth arrest of a woman evangelist connected to the incident occurred in early July.

On November 2, authorities told family members on a scheduled visit to the prisoners that the other five Mennonite leaders are also to be tried at the same time as Quang.

Larry Miller, executive secretary of the Mennonite World Conference, plans to travel to Vietnam later this month to convey to the Mennonite churches there the support of the worldwide MWC community and to seek conversation with Vietnamese authorities about the situation of the Mennonite churches and of the imprisoned Mennonite leaders.

Miller's visit is a new initiative in a series of interventions on behalf of the church and the prisoners. In June and July, Miller and other officials from the international Mennonite community contacted Vietnamese government officials in Switzerland, Canada, the US, and Vietnam to request the release of the jailed Mennonites.

Irregularities and inconsistencies continue to surround the case of Quang and the other church leaders. Contrary to Vietnamese law and practice, authorities have refused to give Quang's wife a copy of the indictment which was turned over to the court by police investigators at least a week before she was informed of the planned trial date.

Section 182 of Vietnam's criminal code requires that an accused person be given time to engage a lawyer and prepare a defense. On Saturday, Oct 30, Vietnamese authorities told Mrs. Quang to have an attorney at the court on Monday morning, Nov. 1. It was impossible for her to contact a lawyer until Monday, but by November 4 some lawyers had been engaged. The lawyers have been allowed by the court to see the charges but so far authorities have prevented them from copying them to prepare their defense.

Mrs. Quang was denied the bi-weekly visit scheduled for October 15 and went daily after that to try to see her husband. She was told on October 22 that she would not be allowed to see him unless she agreed to try to convince him to admit to his "crime." She refused.

When the families of the other five leaders asked authorities on November 2 why they had not been notified earlier that a trial date had been set, they were told that the prisoners had not asked that their families be notified.

The five said that they were not given copies of the investigative reports. Each heard the report read once to them, and they were then ordered to sign it.

The fact that Vietnam is not abiding by its own laws suggests that authorities are attempting to hinder defense lawyers' preparation for the November 12th trial of the six Mennonite church workers.

Some observers wonder if the sudden decision to hold the trials on November 12 has something to do with the fact that the new Ordinance on Religion, much maligned by religious groups, is scheduled to come into effect on November 15.

On October 27, Mrs. Quang and about a dozen students who are living at the Quang home, which is also the Mennonite church, were summoned to the Binh Khanh Ward to "receive an announcement regarding residency." The order said that police had inspected the property on July 27 and found that various people "were living there without official permission" and that "unlawful activities" continued to take place there. He said that the owners had failed to respond to the "goodwill" of the police. The "unlawful activities" refer to Christian worship.

The Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF), an association of approximately 50 house church organizations, reportedly is preparing a united statement of support and action for Pastor Quang. When they did this last January for house church Pastor Bui Van Ba, they succeeded in getting an indefinite postponement of his trial. This time the stakes are higher. Quang's case has attracted international attention.

In late August the VEF called on their churches to fast and pray for three days at the beginning of each month (Sept. 5-7, Oct. 3-5 and Nov. 7-9) that the government will withdraw the Ordinance on Religion that they believe will further restrict their activities.

Meanwhile, constant heavy pressure has been placed on ethnic minority Mennonites in the Central Highlands. On September 24, the Mennonite church building, office and home of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh were destroyed.

Seven Jarai minority Christians baptized by Pastor Chinh on September 19 were summoned by the police chief a week later and were "tied, tortured and beaten" for three days in an attempt to get them to recant their faith. They were told to have nothing further to do with the Mennonite church leaders.

On October 23, four Mennonite pastors and leaders of the Monu church in Chu A Commune of Pleiku City, Gia Lai province, were summoned for interrogation by police and security officials. During four days of detention, they were pressured by threats and abuse to sign a form letter giving up Christianity and promising not to have anything further to do with the Mennonite church. Two of them succumbed to the pressure and signed but have since reaffirmed their commitment to their faith.

Mennonite Church leaders in Vietnam invite their Anabaptist brothers and sisters around the world to join them in praying that Pastor Quang and the others will be released without a trial.