VZCZCXRO1376
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #1270/01 3110445
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070445Z NOV 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1725
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1209
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0011
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1816

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001270 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: HCMC POLITICAL ACTIVIST INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED TO MENTAL 
HOSPITAL 
 
REF: HCMC 925; B) HCMC 1009; C) 05 HCMC 994 
 
HO CHI MIN 00001270  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) On November 3, HCMC-based dissident leader Tran Khue 
reported to us that his colleague Bui Kim Thanh was taken by 
police for a psychiatric evaluation in HCMC.  She was 
subsequently involuntarily committed to the national mental 
hospital in neighboring Dong Nai province.  (Note:    Thanh is 
affiliated with Khue's Democratic Party of Vietnam and is 
responsible for providing legal support and organizing 
individuals with land disputes in the south against the 
government.  End Note.) 
 
¶2. (SBU) Over the course of the following few days we spoke with 
the physician who examined Thanh initially in the HCMC, Thanh's 
husband, associates of Thanh in the land dispute movement, and 
another local mental health expert: 
 
-- Our contact in the medical system told us that HCMC police 
ordered the psychiatric evaluation of Thanh.  The police 
subsequently decided to transfer her to the national mental 
hospital.  Thanh is confined to the ward for the criminally 
insane.  Our contact noted that routine cases of mental illness 
involve only the families; direct police involvement reflects 
that this is a sensitive case for the authorities.  He said that 
Thanh was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.  She was 
ordered to remain under treatment for up to six months. 
Treatment includes the administration of anti-psychotic drugs. 
 
 
-- Two of Thanh's associates in the land dispute movement told 
us that they visited her in the hospital on November 4.  Thanh 
told them that she had been drugged and was sexually harassed by 
male patients in the ward.    Thanh reportedly appeared tired 
and disoriented when they met.  She apparently is refusing to 
eat, perhaps as a form of protest. 
 
-- Thanh's husband works for a state-owned company in HCMC. He 
noted that his wife's propensity to "sue everyone" had caused 
him hardship in the past.  (Per ref A, on August 15 the police 
accompanied Thanh's husband when he confronted Thanh at Tran 
Khue's house and sought to pressure her to end her involvement 
with the DPV.)  In a meeting with us on November 6, Thanh's 
husband told us that his wife has a history of mental illness, 
and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia three times in the 
past, beginning in 1998.  While he wanted to have her 
hospitalized before, she refused to go.  Thanh's husband 
confirmed that police took the lead in the current case, first 
charging Thanh for "illegal activities" related to her land 
dispute organizing, and then committing her to the mental 
hospital. 
 
-- Bui Kim Thanh is also known to our Refugee and Resettlement 
Section from her involvement in the late 1990s as the purported 
step-mother to an Amerasian.  There is no indication of mental 
illness in her the file. The Amerasian was eventually issued a 
visa, but Thanh was denied for lack of credibility.  Records 
show that about three months after she was removed from the case 
she created a scene at the information booth window at the 
Consulate and was escorted away by the RSO.  A local Consulate 
employee also recalls that Thanh was oncea physics teacher in a 
local high school, but lost her job after she began speaking 
against the Communist Party in class. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Comment:  We met Bui Kim Thanh once in July in a 
meeting with Tran Khue.  We also have been in periodic email 
contact with her over the past few months as well.  Her writing 
is somewhat disjointed and rambling, but addressed the need for 
reform and attacked the Communist Party in strong terms.  In our 
meeting she was garrulous and enthusiastic but coherent and 
appeared driven by her desire to reform the system and help 
individuals in need. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although it appears possible that Bui Kim Thanh suffers 
from some form of mental illness, the circumstances surrounding 
her involuntary committal are troubling.  From what we have seen 
thus far, Thanh did not appear to be a threat to herself, her 
family, or others in the community.  In this sense, her case is 
reminiscent of the case of Baptist Pastor Thanh Van Truong (ref 
C), who was involuntarily committed for nearly a year in the 
same mental institution by police after he wrote harsh political 
diatribes against the Communist Party.  Pastor Truong also was 
diagnosed with schizophrenia. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Thanh was deeply involved in the nascent land dispute 
protest movement centered in HCMC (ref B), which GVN authorities 
have made patently clear they want to end.  Available evidence 
indicates that the she was involuntarily committed due to her 
association with Tran Khue and land protestors.  We also note 
that the police have sought to label other dissidents -- 
 
HO CHI MIN 00001270  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
including Tran Khue -- as mentally ill.  We raised Thanh's case 
with the Deputy Director of the HCMC External Relations Office 
on November 6, who claimed to know nothing of the case.  He 
noted that the matter was an "internal affair of Vietnam" and 
technically Vietnam was not obligated to respond.  However, as 
this was a sensitive time in our bilateral relationship he would 
investigate and inform us of his findings.  We will continue to 
follow this case closely.  End Comment. 
WINNICK