VZCZCXRO8281
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0674/01 1740720
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 230720Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1040
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0767
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1094

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PINR SOCI PREL PREF KIRF PGOV VM
SUBJECT: TRAN HUU PHUOC LIKELY NOT A HUMAN RIGHTS CASE 
 
REF: HCMC 435 B) 05 HCMC 994 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000674  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Cao Dai believer Tran Huu Phuoc was 
imprisoned in April for two years for slander.  He alleged that 
he was being persecuted for his religious and political beliefs. 
 We believe that his is not/not a human rights or religious 
freedom case.  Phuoc's legal troubles stem from his refusal to 
comply with routine civil obligations such as registering his 
household and his children's military draft status.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On June 9, we traveled to Tay Ninh province to 
investigate the human rights case of Tran Huu Phuoc (Ref A). 
Phuoc had claimed in a letter to ConGen that he was being 
persecuted for his political and religious beliefs.  In April, 
Phuoc was sentenced to two years in prison for slandering 
government and religious officials.  During the visit, we met 
with representatives of the provincial Committee for Religious 
Affairs (CRA) and the provincial External Relations Office.  We 
also met with the Chairman of the GVN-recognized Cao Dai 
Executive Council, and the wife of Tran Huu Phuoc. 
 
The Government View 
------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to the Tay Ninh officials, Phuoc slandered 11 
people, accusing them of corruption and of making threats 
against Phuoc's family.  The 11 included Tay Ninh district 
police, Cao Dai church leaders and People's Committee officials 
who had interacted with Phuoc.  The officials told us that 
problems with Phuoc began in 2001, when Phuoc's two children 
failed to register for military service. (Note: Vietnamese law 
mandates two years military service for males 18 years and 
older.  End Note.)  Phuoc ignored requests to submit civil 
documents and subsequent police summonses.  The officials said 
it was at this time Phuoc began writing letters of complaint to 
provincial authorities and others.   The contents of these 
letters initially focused on his claim that his children be 
exempt from military service, but gradually widened to include 
"slanderous remarks" against officials.  The officials 
acknowledged that Phuoc had written 40 to 50 letters to the 
Prime Minister and other national and international figures, 
including the UN SYG.  The letters criticized the Cao Dai 
church's relationship with the GVN and its handling of land 
disputes, but were "not considered" in prosecuting Phuoc. 
 
¶4. (SBU) By September 2005, frustration with Phuoc had risen to 
the point where the 11 aforementioned individuals had filed 
formal complaints against Phuoc.  During the subsequent 
investigation, police sent Phuoc to a psychiatric clinic in Dong 
Nai province to evaluate Phuoc's mental capacity and to rule out 
mental instability.  Phuoc was diagnosed as suffering from 
elements of "paranoid schizophrenia," but was found to be 
competent to stand trial.  According to officials, Phuoc's 
family then requested a second evaluation in March 2006.  The 
family's claim was that he had suffered a head injury in 1982 
and that he has been "unstable" ever since.  Officials remarked 
that the family provided no evidence of Phuoc's injury and the 
second evaluation confirmed the original diagnosis.    He was 
convicted of slander and sentenced to two years in prison. 
Officials claimed that a court-appointed attorney represented 
Phuoc.  Following the trial, Phuoc filed an appeal requesting 
his sentence be reduced from 24 to 18 months.  Tay Ninh 
officials stated that Phuoc's family has visitation rights but 
were unaware how often they visited.  Some officials noted that 
Phuoc's sole motivation for contacting the U.S. Consulate for 
assistance was to seek  resettlement in the U.S. and that "if we 
wanted him, Phuoc could go."  (Note:  In a letter to ConGen, 
Phuoc requested political asylum in the United States.  End 
Note.) 
 
The Official Cao Dai Perspective 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Cao Dai's Chief Clergyman and Executive Council 
Chairman Thuong Tam Thanh rejected Phuoc's claim that he was a 
Cao Dai clergyman.  The Chairman remarked that Phuoc slandered 
elderly Cao Dai officials and made blasphemous remarks about the 
Cao Dai faith.  The Cao Dai council had shown great leniency by 
not excommunicating him.  The Chairman did not know why Phuoc 
accused government and Cao Dai officials.  Phuoc had a 
reputation within the Cao Dai community as being "rude and 
abnormal". 
 
Interview With Tran Huu Phuoc's Wife 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Before leaving Tay Ninh, we made an impromptu visit to 
Phuoc's home where we met with Phuoc's wife, Dang Thi Le.  Mrs. 
Le acknowledged that Phuoc had verbally attacked provincial 
officials, but there were "elements of truth" to his charges. 
She said that her husband had never been a Cao Dai clergyman; he 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000674  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
was a barber up until his arrest in April. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Mrs. Le also confirmed the official account of the 
events that led to charges being filed against Phuoc in 
September 2005.  In 2001, police had requested her husband to 
fill out a personal identification card as the original in the 
precinct had been lost.  Her husband was annoyed by the police 
intrusion and dismissed them.  The police subsequently wrote 
Phuoc a formal citation, which he also ignored.  According to 
Mrs. Le, the police returned a few weeks later and informed 
Phuoc that his children had not registered for military service 
and cited the family for noncompliance with the law.  The police 
also warned Phuoc that failure to register may jeopardize his 
children's employment prospects.  It was at this point that her 
husband began writing to local authorities demanding that his 
children be exempted from military service because they were 
attending school in HCMC.  Phuoc also complained about police 
visits to his home. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Mrs. Le said Phuoc never showed her the letters he 
wrote.  She was unaware of their political and religious 
content.  According to Mrs. Le, the catalyst for her husband's 
inflammatory epistolary was his friends who had civil land 
disputes with other Cao Dai individuals and the Cao Dai church. 
Emboldened by his initial letters complaining of harassment, 
Phuoc's friends had him write complaints on their behalf. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Mrs. Le said that her family was not threatened or 
harassed by police.  She also confirmed that she insisted 
authorities re-evaluate her husband's mental condition.  She 
admitted to us that she had intended to bribe doctors at the 
mental hospital to label Phuoc as mentally incompetent to stand 
trial. 
 
¶10. (SBU) According to Mrs. Le, her husband did not have a 
court-appointed attorney.  She said that the family did not hire 
defense counsel because the family was poor and because she 
believed that he likely was guilty of slander, at least to some 
degree.  Since the trial, she has visited Phuoc once.  During 
the visit, she requested that he  withdraw his appeal, fearing 
that the appeals court would increase the sentence.  Mrs. Le 
added that Phuoc wishes to join his  sister in the United 
States, where she has resided since 1995 under the humanitarian 
resettlement program.  Phuoc already had his passport issued, 
although he had no immediate plan to go abroad prior to his own 
arrest. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Comment:  There clearly is at least some unease in Tay 
Ninh over the extent of GVN influence over the Cao Dai church. 
We also view with skepticism officials' claims that Phuoc's 
letter writing campaign played no role in him receiving the 
maximum possible sentence and a public show trial.  That said, 
the information we developed in Tay Ninh, especially our 
interview with Mrs. Le, indicates that the imprisonment of Tran 
Huu Phuc is not/not a human rights or religious freedom case. 
Local officials tried to work with Phuoc for nearly four years 
before taking his case to court.  It appears that Phuoc sought 
to engage religious freedom and human rights issues in a routine 
civil dispute  he initiated with local officials, perhaps hoping 
to facilitate his immigration to the United States.  End 
Comment. 
WINNICK