Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh in his trial in 2012
By Defend the Defenders, July 29, 2017
Vietnam’s authorities have released prisoner of conscience Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh four years earlier before his imprisonment ends, allowing his family to reside to the U.S.
His family, including his wife Tran Thi Hong and four children, were already in the U.S. after a trip with help of the U.S.-based Boat People SOS (BPSOS) and the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, in which Hong is a member.
Pastor Chinh is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist. In October 2004, several hundred paramilitary police and local officials destroyed his private house in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, which also served as a Mennonite chapel, on charges that he had violated building regulations. In the following years, pastor Chinh and his wife faced continuing harassment and even beatings by police.
He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “Undermining the unity policy” under Article 87 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code. In March 2012, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison as the Vietnamese government alleged that pastor Chinh had given interviews to foreign media and posted articles on the Internet designed to cause divisiveness both within the country, and between Vietnam and other countries.
While serving his imprisonment in the past seven years, Chinh and his family had been subject of torture and inhumane treatment of Vietnam’s authorities.
Food delivered for him was substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink was likely contaminated with harmful substances. He was often imprisoned in a solitary cell, and sometimes beaten by other inmates sent by the prison’s authorities.
He was transferred to prisons far from his family which was not informed about the transfers.
While taking care of their four children, his wife had also been harassed by authorities in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai. Last year, after Hong met with U.S. officials on religious freedom, she was summoned many times to a local police station where she was interrogated and beaten by police officers.
Several months ago, police falsely told pastor Chinh that his wife had been unfaithful with another man, showing faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man” in a bid to separate their family and force him to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom.
The police’s harassment against Chinh and his family has encouraged human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
Pastor Chinh is among a number of political prisoners living in exile. Others include France-trained legal expert Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu, prominent independent journalists Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) and Ta Phong Tan, and Dang Xuan Dieu after serving long-term imprisonment in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s communist government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social and environmental activists. Along with arrests and heavy sentences, activists in Vietnam have also faced intimidation, persecution and harassment and are subjects of physical attacks conducted by plainclothes agents.
For older news on Mr. Chinh and his family, please visit: /category/nguyen-cong-chinh-nguyen-thanh-long/
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July 29, 2017
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh Released Four Years Earlier, Flying together with His Family to U.S.
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh in his trial in 2012
By Defend the Defenders, July 29, 2017
Vietnam’s authorities have released prisoner of conscience Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh four years earlier before his imprisonment ends, allowing his family to reside to the U.S.
His family, including his wife Tran Thi Hong and four children, were already in the U.S. after a trip with help of the U.S.-based Boat People SOS (BPSOS) and the unsanctioned Vietnam Women for Human Rights, in which Hong is a member.
Pastor Chinh is an outspoken pastor and democracy activist. In October 2004, several hundred paramilitary police and local officials destroyed his private house in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, which also served as a Mennonite chapel, on charges that he had violated building regulations. In the following years, pastor Chinh and his wife faced continuing harassment and even beatings by police.
He was arrested in 2011 and charged with “Undermining the unity policy” under Article 87 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code. In March 2012, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison as the Vietnamese government alleged that pastor Chinh had given interviews to foreign media and posted articles on the Internet designed to cause divisiveness both within the country, and between Vietnam and other countries.
While serving his imprisonment in the past seven years, Chinh and his family had been subject of torture and inhumane treatment of Vietnam’s authorities.
Food delivered for him was substandard and sometime mixed with tiny metal particles while his drink was likely contaminated with harmful substances. He was often imprisoned in a solitary cell, and sometimes beaten by other inmates sent by the prison’s authorities.
He was transferred to prisons far from his family which was not informed about the transfers.
While taking care of their four children, his wife had also been harassed by authorities in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai. Last year, after Hong met with U.S. officials on religious freedom, she was summoned many times to a local police station where she was interrogated and beaten by police officers.
Several months ago, police falsely told pastor Chinh that his wife had been unfaithful with another man, showing faked pictures to him to convince him that “she is committing adultery with a man” in a bid to separate their family and force him to accept his crimes as a condition for his freedom.
The police’s harassment against Chinh and his family has encouraged human rights activists, religious leaders and lawmakers from across the world to lobby the Vietnamese government for the pastor’s release.
Pastor Chinh is among a number of political prisoners living in exile. Others include France-trained legal expert Dr. Cu Huy Ha Vu, prominent independent journalists Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay) and Ta Phong Tan, and Dang Xuan Dieu after serving long-term imprisonment in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s communist government has intensified crackdown against local political dissidents, human rights campaigners, social and environmental activists. Along with arrests and heavy sentences, activists in Vietnam have also faced intimidation, persecution and harassment and are subjects of physical attacks conducted by plainclothes agents.
For older news on Mr. Chinh and his family, please visit: /category/nguyen-cong-chinh-nguyen-thanh-long/