VZCZCXRO3847
PP RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0333 0940640
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 040640Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2339
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 1683
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 2528

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000333 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: ANOTHER HCMC ACTIVIST ARRESTED; BUI KIM THANH UPDATE 
 
REF: A. ORONA/SILBERSTEIN 3/30 EMAIL; B) HCMC 248 AND 
 
     ¶B. PREVIOUS; C) 06 HANOI 2077 AND PREVIOUS; D) HCMC 232 AND 
     ¶C. PREVIOUS; E) 06 HCMC 218 
 
¶1. (SBU) On April 3 we met with the sister of lawyer Tran 
Thi Thuy Trang to confirm ref A reports that Ms. Trang was 
arrested in HCMC on March 7.  Trang is an associate of Le 
Quoc Quan, a National Endowment for Democracy fellow, who 
was arrested on March 8 in northern Vietnam shortly after 
his return from the United States.  Quan was charged with 
"participation in activities to overthrow the People's 
Government," under Article 79 of the Vietnamese penal code. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The sister told us that Trang has been in charge 
of the HCMC office of the law firm "Quan and Associates" 
for over a year.  Located near HCMC's Tan Binh Industrial 
Park, the firm specialized in commercial law and in 
providing services to firms in the industrial zone. 
However, following the outbreak of labor unrest in HCMC and 
neighboring provinces in early 2006 (ref E), Trang became 
increasingly involved in defending workers involved in 
labor disputes.  The sister did not know how Trang, who 
graduated from law school in HCMC in 1999, began her 
association with the Hanoi-based Le Quoc Quan. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Trang's sister told us that the family was unaware 
of Trang undertaking any anti-GVN activities or efforts to 
promote independent labor.  Nonetheless, when police came 
to their house to arrest Trang on March 7, the one arrest 
warrant they were allowed to see stated that Trang "stored 
anti-Communist Party and anti-GVN materials."  Police 
refused to divulge what the other charges were.  Police 
thus far also have refused to allow the family visitation 
rights or to allow the defense lawyer they hired access to 
Trang. 
 
Bui Kim Thanh 
------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Separately, we spoke by phone on April 2 with a 
relative of Bui Kim Thanh, the land rights activist 
involuntarily committed to a mental institution since 
November 2006 (ref D).  The relative told us that she was 
able to visit and speak with Thanh in the mental 
institution in late March.  At that time, Thanh reportedly 
said that she believed that she would be forced to remain 
in the mental institution for at least another few months. 
However, Thanh's husband said that she would have to spend 
a year in the mental institution and would only be eligible 
for release at the end of October 2007.   The relative 
added that one of Bui Kim Thanh's brothers confronted 
Thanh's sons about their refusal to intervene more 
forcefully on their mother's behalf.  The sons reportedly 
replied that ?she is in there because she refuses to admit 
that she is ill.  If she admits it, we could get her out in 
no time.? 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The detention of Tran Thi Thuy Trang brings to 24 
the number of dissidents and activists in the HCMC Consular 
District that have been imprisoned or detained since late 
¶2006.  Trang's involvement, however peripheral, in 
organizing workers and protecting their rights outside 
Party-controlled structures would have been more than 
enough to trigger her arrest.  Pressure by the authorities 
on Bui Kim Thanh to acknowledge that she is mentally ill is 
a standard tactic in the MPS repertoire to discredit 
activists.  Her case increasingly parallels that of Baptist 
pastor Than Van Truong, who was forced to acknowledge that 
he was mentally ill before being released from the same 
mental institution in 2005.  Truong was involuntarily 
committed to the mental institution by police for a year. 
 
WINNICK