Vietnam Security Forces Continue Harassment against Family of Imprisoned Religious Activist, Targeting His Woman and Children

Mrs. Tran Thi Hong at a meeting with U.S. diplomat in Saigon on Mar 7 to report ongoing police harassment against her family

By Vu Quoc Ngu, March 08, 2016

Security forces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Gia Lai have continued harassment and intimidation against the family of Protestant Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, targeting his wife and children while he is in prison, said the Vietnam Women for Human Rights, an independent human rights advocacy group.

On March 7, while Mrs. Tran Thi Hong went to meet with Mr. Garrett Harkins, political officer of the U.S. General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City to report the ongoing harassment against her husband in jail, a dozen of police officers went to her private residence in Gia Lai to conduct administrative check. Their acts threatened her children of between five and 13 years old, who stayed in their house without their parents.

Police have also stationed near her house and still blocked the road leading to the house on March 8.
Mrs. Hong said security forces have maintained close surveillance over her house and threatened the family in the past ten years. They had severely beaten Pastor Chinh and her wife many times before imprisoning him with an 11-year sentence.

Since putting him in jail, police have kept watch over the family, blocking foreign diplomats from visiting the pastor’s wife and children after Mr. Katherine Lawson of the U.S. Department of State visited them in Pleiku in 2014. In order to meet them, Mrs. Hong has to go to foreign diplomatic missions in Saigon, about 500 kilometers from her town.

Pastor Chinh is among religious activists suffering most from Vietnam’s authorities in Gia Lai and Kon Tum who demolished their church in Con R’Bàng village, Vinh Quang commune in Kon Tum.

Mrs. Hong, an active member of the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, needs special attention of international human rights organizations and public.