The Communist administration conferred the legal
title to the Christian Evangelical Churches of Vietnam in the North in 1958 and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam
in the South in April 2001. This legal recognition is in eyes of most Evangelicals the shackle
obligation that immerses the Churches in
the State control. Growing cornern about the nature of the newly-instituted constitution
was such that, on December
28, 2001, the Central Committee had to convene its members for
further discussion. Disagreements surged. The committee decided to suspend its
activities without explanation, To flatten out difficulty, the Bureau of
Religious Affairs convened a general convention to find solution. However, the
authorities appeared to be at a loss, having failed to solve this “Christian
problem." It would be a shame if
they could not find a solution. After Caodaism, Hoa Hao Buddhism, and the Unified Buddhist Church,
the Christian Evangelical Church
was the last but not least religious organization to be normalized. If they
failed, State plans of pacification in the religious domain would be again put
at risk. Growing demands for religious freedom had been on the rise since the
early years of the 1980's when the State attempted to found a "domestic
Catholic Church."
Worse still, the authorities had not even grasped the
reality. Cooperation with the authorities had come loose. They did not even
figure out which and how many delegates would willingly participate in the
convention. With regard to the Church, it was believed that no matter how a
problem happened to occur, pastors and the Evangelical communities and local
church congregations would ever cooperate with vigilance and in unity. To mete
out possible opposition, the authorities projeted plans and methods of actions
to prevent this from happening. Already, America Freedom House, in 2000, had published
an English version of 50 pages of eight secret documents of the Vietnamese
government instructing cadres and officials how to execute plans, strategies,
and methods to deal with Evangelical Christianity.
Acting in line with legal recognition granted on it,
the Church, in fact, formally requested the State authorization to facilitate
such Church services as to open seminary
for the formation of pastors. On January
3, 2002, the Christian Evangelical Churches of South Vietnam
received a letter of approval to open a class of seminarians. There was no
surprise. Before 1975, there had been about 120,000 members and more than a
hundred students receiving religious education at the seminary of Nha Trang,
some dozens of students, at the School
of Theology in Saigon, and hundreds of
students of the ethnic minorities, at the theological schools in Ban
Me Thuot and Da Lat. Even though, the
number of graduates was insufficient as compared to the needs of the Church at
that time. For twenty-seven years following the change of political regime, all
seminaries had been closed, and the Church had not been accorded authorization
to conduct programs of formation of seminarians. Many ministers of the Church
ordained before 1975 had already passed away. As a result, the Church faced a
severe shortage of pastors and
ministers. The administration came up with no solution but repression.
The
Persecution
The Growth of Domestic Churches
The State showed indifference. It never ceased to
stop the growth of the Church. There were then 200 domestic groups of some
thirty Evangelical Christian organizations. All of them were considered "illegal." Because of this, they were targeted with
violence, oppression, and repression. Their leaders and members were often
accused of performing “illegal religious activities,” condemned to a fine,
detained or arrested under a coup of an administrative measure. Instances of
persecution happened any time. Many of these organizations of domestic Churches
(Pentecost, Baptist, Mennonite, and other denominations) had functioned as
religious institutions before the Communist takeover of power in South Vietnam in April 1975.
Anti-Christian Campaigns -- Conversion to Animism
Anti-Christian campaigns are methodical. Raids with
stric measures aimed at the H'mong and Montagnards in northwestern provinces in
the North specifically included obligatory seminaries to study anti-Christian
propaganda and often followed by a performance of rites. The participants were
subdued to obligation of drinking of a repugnant mixture of animal blood and
rice wine. This attested they publicly professed their reconversion to
traditional belief--animism. Similar campaigns followed, affecting a
search-through operation, to inspect house after house to find bibles and other
religious publications. Operations ever increased as the propagation of the
faith progressed among tribal minorities in the mountainous regions. Many
H'mong were initiated to the reading of Bible and other books of the Christian
doctrine. The H’mong language was alphabetized, facilitating the performance of
faith. The faster the congregation grew, the fiercer the repression woud
become, and the more acute sufferance the congregation would face.
In the first days under repression, the believers
began to use the new scripts to write requests to the highest authorities
denouncing the odious treatment that the local authorities inflicted on them. A
number of complaints reached the Occident. Most of them were sent to competent
authorities but came to no response. In some cases, their complaints cost the
authors high price. That is the case of the family of Mua Bua Senh, cited by
the Freedom House in October 2002. In May 2001 and June 2002, that family sent
seven letters to the authorities to denounce the ill-treatment inflicted on a
relative of the family. The victim refused to renounce his faith. As a
consequence, he died of the wounds he
had suffered on August 7,
2002, having been brought from one hospital to another.
Repression in the Northwestern Provinces
Lao
Kay
The unexpectedly rapid growth of Evangelical Christianity
among the H'mong people in Lao Kay became a "serious problem" to the
local authorities. Instructions to the officials and cadres included such
recommendations as "to stop Christianity," "strong
administrative measures" and "control religious leaders." Repression
against H'mong Christians was such a tragedy that, beginning in 1997, it pushed
these believers to evade their ancestral lands in the North. Some 15,000 H'mong
left their homes in the Northwest provinces to go and seek refuge 300 km away
in the Central Highlands. A large number of these H’mong abandoned their
properties. Others could only sell them at lowest prices. But, anxiety never
missed afterwards. During 1997-1998, Hoang Chung, an official of Muong Khuong
District relentlessly sought to eradicate the faith from the district. During Christmas 1999, the Christians
in the province of Lao Kay were even unaware
of tragedy was to befall them, The local authorities forbade most Christian
communities of H’mong to celebrate religious ceremonies. Facing threats, many
adepts in the region had to go into the forest to hide; others in the more
quiet provinces even had to migrate to the highlands in the South. The composition of the executive board
elected by the General Assembly of the Evangelical
Christian Churches had given evidences
of this will of independence from the delegates from these H’mong communities.
Viet
Tri
In Viet Tri, during a peaceful assemby of worship of
the domestic Church in the afternoon of Sunday, October 10, 1999, a dispute erupted
when the house-owner, Nguyen Thi Thuy,
asked the police by what rule they walked her around her house. The agents of
police refused to leave the house on demand but made her a fool, instead.
Nguyen Thi Thuy then shut the door . The police was up, calling in armed reinforcements. They broke into the house Nguyen Thi Thuy was
pushed onto the ground and shoved into a police vehicle. Fourteen folloers
were arrested on charge of opposition against the officials of
the law. They were released the same day. Nguyen Thi Thuy was detained until December 27, 1999, the date on which she was brought to stand
trial before the People’ Court. She was condemned to 12 months in prison for
“having obstructed a civil servant on duty." Awhile, the police forbade
family visits, specifying that the inmate was more dangerous than a murderer.
Nguyen Thi Thuy was forced to avow that “she was imprisoned not because of
religious worship practice but for having violated the civil law."
Dien Bien
Imprisonment
The following is part of a list of H’mong Christians
whose detention was confirmed in January 2000. They were detained in various prisons in the northwestern provinces:
Song Phat Dia, deatained in the Dien Bien Phu
prison;
Vu Giao Thao, Vang Gia Chua, Sung Vu Tung, and Sung
Seo Chinh., detained at C-10 in Lao Dung Xa, Dien Phu :
Phan A Dong.In Sinh Phay Pao, Vu Sung Giay, and Vang
Sua Giang, detained in the; prison of Ha Giang.
There were reportedly other prisoners detained in
the various prisons in the province of Lao Kay. Their families were informed that they would
be released if they renounced their faith.
Repression against the H'mong Christians continued
without respite. The "internal policy" with police raid prevailed. In
mid-January 2002, reports from three independent sources saying that during December 28-29, 2002, religious
services in the districts of Dien Bien Dong and Muong Lai, in the province of Lai Chau were interrupted by the police
that pulverized a kind of injurious gas. The victims of the raid were quickly
guarded in hostage by four security police agents who persuaded them to sign a
report in which they confessed they had committed acts of aggression against
the security force. Meanwhile, a woman poisoned by the gas gave birth her baby
untimely. Curiously enough, this report, which was signed by the aggressors against
security officials and which was delivered to the Ministry of Public Security
in Hanoi not by
the police but by the victims themselves.
The
Muong Nhe Incident
On May
7, 2011 when the anniversary
of Vietnam’s
victory over the French Expeditionary Corps at Dien Bien
Phu in 1954 was due to take place, at Muong Nhe District, Dien Bien
Province, thousands of
ethnic minority H’mong staged a mass protest calling for land reform and
religious freedom. Military forces were sent in to crack down on the
protesters. The professional security forces PA 43 were sent to the place. The
authorities even deployed special military units and armed helicopters to crash
the protesters. Twenty-eight protesters were killed and hundreds of them were
missing. Local authorities detained several others and opened an investigation.
A People’s Council official declared that the H’mong were calling for a
self-administrative state and that the hostile forces living abroad were the
masterminds. Le Thanh Dao, a senior province official maintained that the H’mong
had done evil things since early May, gathering, and camping in unsanitary
conditions to pave the way for the incident. They circulated news about a
“supernatural being ” would come to save
and lead them to the “promised land.” The demonstrators were also accused of
taking of the anniversary victory of Dien Bien Phu to sabotage security. Some
people were arrested on charge of campaigning for the establishment of a
self-administrative zone for the H'mong peope. The protest was the worst instance
of unrest since the demonstrations in the Central Highlands in 2001 and 2004. Phi Trong Lap, a local official admitted that
demonstrations of this kind were not unusual. They were related to land issues.
Authorities were accused of unlawfully dispossessing land from the people but were not
disciplined.
Competent authorities were asked to conduct a full
investigation into the unrest. Human
Rights Watch requested diplomats and international observers be given access
to Muong Nhe. Foreign Ministry spoke person Nguyen Phuong Nga declared that
"some extremists" had tricked from other areas to gather in Muong Nhe
to cause trouble, establishing "a H'mong Kingdom" and that some
overactive elements were detained for investigation, and they would be dealt
with in accordance with the law.
On March
13, 2012, only one day after a U. N. agency dismissed a report by
the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that claimied the
authorities practiced no racial discrimination in the country. Contrarily, the
People’s Court of Dien Bien Phu condemned eight ethnic H’mong to prison
sentences of two years to 30 months followed by two years of administrative
detention. The group were accused of “having partaken a separatist movement”
following their involvement in a masses gathering of thousands of H’mong on May 7, 2011.
Again, on March 15, 2012, the People’s Court of Dien Bien Phu
sentenced 8 H’mong from two years to two
years and a half in prison followed by two years under administrative detention
on charge of causing national security disorder, in reference to Article 9 of
the Criminal Code. The punishment appeared an act of admonishment on a million
H’mong in the mountainous provinces in the highlands, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Son
La, Lai Chau, Yen Bay, Cao Bang, Lao Kay, Tuyen Quang, Thanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Dak
Nong, and so on.
Bac Kan
On July 30, 2014, the
Poeple's Court of Nghi Son District, Bac Kan, sentenced three H'mong, Duong Van
Thanh, Hoang Van Su, and Hoang Van Sinh, to prison terms of 24 months, 18, and
15 months, respectively on charges of 'taking advantage of rights to freedom
and democracy to break the State's law, in reference of
Article 288 of the Penal Code. H'mong followers from various localities in the
province were barred from coming near the Court building to claim innocence for
the convicts, who were simply the follwers of a new cult and who determinedly
renounced the old corrupt worship practices--the "worship of ghosts."
These believers also claimed the accused had done nothing wrong, and the
authorities could not even produce a proof of wrongding. As usual, they met
with repression. The authorities arrested and imprisoned ardent believers and
destroyed funeral homes built for sane burial services.
`
Quang
Ninh
Without a worship place, tChristians at Quang Ninh
assembled for prayers in the private residence of Tran Van Thuong, Regular
assembly took place every Saturday night. On July 3, 2006, when the assembly for prayers
proceeded as usual, Tran Van Thuong was convoked to the office of the People’s
Council of Cao Sinh Ward, Ha Long Township, He was informed that such an
assembly was illegal and that if he continued to do so, the authorities would
take measure. Tran nevertheless declared that the Christians would continue to
assemble no matter what measure the civil authority would take. The General
Congregation of Christians in the North to which they belong was officially
recognized by the State. The application for authorization to form a
congregation at Ha Long had been sent to the civil authorities. The difficulty
in question had not been solved due to State administrative complications from the
civil authorities, The matter came to no answer, and any assmnbly for prayers was
definitely forbidden.
Tuyen
Quang
Harassment
Doan Van Minh, an ethic H’mong Christian leader in Tuyen Quang
Province, was denied
medical treatment at the hospital for his religious cause. The denial by the
authorities was linked to his reformed religious practices of burial rites and
rituals. Traditionally, the son of the deceased had to offer a water buffalo to
ghosts and then is allowed to celebrate funeral rites and rituals, usually for
three to nine days. before the burial. Many families can’t afford to do this,
and follow Doan Van Minh to quit the traditional “ghost worship.” The
authorities showed keen sensitivity to the new practice. In 1989, when Doan and
his fellow Christians first talked about the reform, they were trailed and even
arrested by the police.
Ever since 2008, the authorities had forced H’mong
Christians to go back to traditional tribal burial practices. They destroyed funeral
houses in which the communers performed new funeral services. Local authorities
in the Northwestern province--Cao Bang, Bac
Kan, Thai Nguyen, and Tuyen
Quang-- launched “campaigns of pacification to force H’mong Christians to
demolish their burial homes. In 2012, eight H’mong Christians, who are Doan Van
Minh’s followers, were arrested. In June 2013, the police of Tuyen Quang came
to interrogate Doan Van Minh when he was in his sickbed for kidney treatment in
a hospital in Hanoi.
From September 2013 to January 2014, he was detained after returning from Hanoi. On February 2, he
was brought to a detention camp in Hanoi.
Due to poor health, he was then brought to the hospital and treated at Bach Mai
Hospital Hanoi. He had to pay hospital fees although the police had told him
once as he had been in a State hospital, he would not have to pay any fees.
Arrests and Imprisonment
On March 12, 2014, the People’s Court of Tuyen Quang
sentenced Hoang Van Sang, a H’mong Christian, to 18 months in prison on charge
of “abusing democracy rights to infringe on the State law,” in reference to
Article 258 of the Penal Code of
Vietnam. The charge was linked to the defendant’s efforts to raise fund in his
local community to build a “funeral home.” Hoang Van Sang was a follower of
Doan Vam Minh, the precursor for reforms for burial practices in the Christian
community in Tuyen Quang. Province. The accusation was also linked to the
H’mong ‘s refusal to receive State subsidies, the charge H’mong community
members at the trial refuted. In April 2014, the same Court sentenced two other
H’mong Christians, Ly Van Dinh and Duong Van Tu to 21 months and 15 months in
prison, respectively, on charges of “infringement on democracy rights”
referring to Article 258 of the Penal Code of Vietnam. Security around the
justice building was tight. Police checkpoints were posited along the road to
the tribunal to block H’mong community members from gathering to protest agaist
the verdict.
