VZCZCXRO2470
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #2245 2440849
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010849Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3260
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1732
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM

UNCLAS HANOI 002245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PREL PGOV VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UPDATE 
 
REF: A) DRL/IRF ADAMSON-JENSEN E-MAIL 8/30; B) HANOI 1520; C) HCMC 
987 
 
¶1. (SBU) This cable summarizes religious freedom developments in 
Vietnam during the week ending September 1.  This summary was 
coordinated with ConGen Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). 
 
Hanoi Developments 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Religious prisoner Ma Van Bay's impending National Day 
amnesty and release was reported by international press.  Post has 
not been able to confirm if he is actually out of prison yet. 
(Note: If post is unable to confirm Bay's release in the next week, 
the Ambassador -- who will be traveling to Bay's home province of Ha 
Giang on September 12 -- will request confirmation of Bay's from 
with provincial officials). 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 30, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam North 
(ECVN) provided us with a list of 150 "mature" congregations out of 
the list of 534 house churches that have completed their 
applications in the North.  These 150 were selected by the ECVN on 
the basis of geographic distribution, giving priority to those with 
longer outstanding applications and to those located in areas with 
more progressive local officials, in the theory that these 150 
churches should be easy for the CRA to register quickly.  We 
provided the list to the MFA and CRA on August 30. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Despite repeated requests and the intervention of the MFA, 
Thanh Hoa provincial authorities refused to allow Poloff to visit 
the "Full Gospel" house church in Thieu Vien Commune and to 
investigate reports that two Commune officials who participated in 
the beating incident in June (Ref B) were reprimanded and fined. 
The province claimed that "flooding" made it impossible to visit the 
commune.  We have reiterated our request to visit Thanh Hoa Province 
with the target date of September 7. 
 
¶5. (U) Preparations for Chris Seiple's Institute of Global 
Engagement (IGE) "Religion and Rule of Law in Southeast Asia" 
Conference in Hanoi (September 7-11) continued and are nearing 
completion.  The Ambassador will host a reception for the sixty-nine 
IGE and GVN participants on September 8. 
 
Ho Chi Minh City Developments 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) HCMC CRA has completed training of district-level CRA 
officials on how to process registrations from local house churches. 
 They have set out a road map to process qualified house churches. 
In this process, they have run into a problem in that some house 
churches do not have legal rights to the house that they are using 
as a church.  The house may be rented, for example, but without any 
formal legal contract or approval from the owner that it could be 
used as a church.  Under national CRA guidelines, these properties 
do not qualify for registration.  HCMC authorities are trying to 
find a way to sort out this issue to facilitate registration.  Five 
HCMC districts have begun to invite house churches to register. 
Pastor No and Pastor Quang were also invited.  Roadmap calls for all 
registrations to be finished by early October, with perhaps some 
registrations being announced by mid-September. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Per Ref C, on August 30, the Southern Evangelical Church of 
Vietnam broke ground for a new bible college in HCMC's District 
Two. 
 
ALOISI