TRIAL OF VIETNAMESE ACTIVIST PASTOR BELIEVED TO BE ON FAST TRACK

Reliable sources in Vietnam have informed Christian
Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that authorities are working hard to put
activist Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang on trial as soon as possible.

CSW said that a court decision to prosecute is expected in early
September 2004. This would then be followed by publication of charges
and the trial.

A press release from CSW says: “Based on previous human rights cases,
it is believed that the goal of the authorities will be to convict
Quang of ‘possessing and distributing materials harmful to the State,’
based on the evidence he has compiled on numerous human rights
infractions by State officials. This crime, if deemed to be in the
severest category, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

“Those close to the case say authorities have admitted that they are
surprised and upset at the unprecedented amount of negative
international attention the arrests of Quang and his fellow Mennonites
have attracted.”

CSW said that Quang was arrested on June 8, 2004 and originally charged
with "inciting others to interfere with officers doing their official
duty". Five other workers of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, of which the
Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang is General Secretary, are also incarcerated on
related charges, some having been held since March 2, 2004.

The release continues: “At the time of Quang's arrest, authorities
seized all of the documents and files belonging to the Mennonite
Church. They also removed many files that Quang and his colleagues had
compiled which expose official corruption, religious liberty violations
and other human rights abuses.

“On July 27 authorities summoned Mrs. Quang and a Mennonite evangelist
to a police station, and pressurised them to give the police
permission, as required under Vietnamese law, to open the boxes of
evidence confiscated from the Quang home and church office. When the
evangelist and Mrs. Quang deferred to the Rev. Quang to make the
decision, they were, surprisingly, allowed to see him briefly, but only
to ask him if they should allow the opening of the evidence. He
informed them that only the persons who signed that they witnessed the
sealing of the boxes of evidence could witness their opening. It is
expected that the difficulty in securing some of those witnesses will
not prevent authorities from examining the evidence.”

One of the motives behind the Vietnamese authorities' anxiety to
silence Quang is demonstrated by the recent developments arising out of
his advocacy regarding illegal land confiscation, CSW said.

CSW reported that in early August 2004, when Quang was already
detained, authorities delivered an invitation to the Quang home to
attend an August 13 meeting to announce the reversal of a 1999 District
2 Peoples' Committee (Ho Chi Minh City) decision to confiscate the land
of 346 alleged squatter families for "development". This included the
property of the Quang residence and Mennonite church office.

“The confiscation of 29,000 square metres of land in 1999 appears to
have been a land grab by officials and developers. Quang quickly
advised many of his neighbours on filing petitions of complaint against
Decision 2551 (30 September1999) of the District 2 People's Committee
and helped some of them to carry out the procedure,” CSW said.

On December 29, 2000, the Committee denied the petition of a Mr. Tran
Dinh Khuyen, one of the complainants whom Quang had helped to file a
petition. Quang, however, kept reminding the authorities about their
misappropriation of land and encouraged his neighbours to do the same.

Nearly three years after this, on September 13, 2003, the chairperson
of the District 2 People's Committee reversed the land confiscation
order of September 1999, admitting the Committee had exceeded its
authority. This decision, numbered 9835/QD-UB-QLDT, further ordered
Binh Khanh Ward of the District, where the land confiscation had been
announced, to inform the 346 affected families within 10 days.

CSW said: “However it was not until ten months later, after the arrest
of Quang, that a meeting to announce the good news to the affected
families was called on August 13, 2004. Few doubt that Quang's
advocacy, based on appeal to Vietnamese law, played a key part in
eventually overturning the decision to confiscate the land of the 346
poor families.

“One of the charges of the official propaganda campaign launched
against Quang following his arrest was that Quang's neighbours were
angry at his noisy, intrusive activities. The truth is, rather, the
reverse. Fearing support for Quang from his neighbours, authorities
conveniently waited until Quang was arrested before they announced the
reversal of the land confiscation decision that he had helped achieve.”

CSW's National Director Stuart Windsor comments: "That the Rev Quang
should be penalised under the law for seeking to uphold the law is such
a blatant violation of both domestic and international law that it
demands international action. To prosecute this case not only violates
the rights of Pastor Quang and religious communities in Vietnam, but
also undermines respect for the law itself, the very tool which should
be available to implement human rights in the country. We encourage all
those concerned to strongly urge the Vietnamese authorities to
administer justice in this case and immediately release the Rev Quang
and the other detained Mennonites."

Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service