VZCZCXRO2138
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0052/01 0430911
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 120911Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6319
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 4201
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY PRIORITY 6562

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000052 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  2/12/2020 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL VM
SUBJECT: NGUYEN TIEN TRUNG'S PARENTS ASK USG TO REQUEST AMNESTY 
 
REF: HCMC 33 AND PREVIOUS 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000052  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth J. Fairfax, Consul General, U.S. 
Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1. Summary: (C) During their February 8 meeting with visiting 
EAP DAS Marciel, the parents of jailed democracy activist Nguyen 
Tien Trung asked the USG to press the GVN to grant their son 
amnesty.  Trung's parents said they are allowed monthly visits, 
can give Trung a small stipend, and that Trung appeared well 
during their last visit before the January 20 trial. Trung's 
parents believe his arrest was related to GVN efforts to stifle 
dissent prior to the 2011 Congress as well as his links to the 
West. Both Trung's father (a retired military officer and CPV 
member for over thirty years), and his mother (a CPV member for 
over twenty years) were clearly quite disillusioned with the 
party they had supported most of their lives.  End summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. (C) Mr. Nguyen Tu Tu and Mrs. Le Thi Minh Tam met with DAS 
Marciel and CG on February 8 to discuss the latest news 
regarding their son Nguyen Tien Trung, the democracy activist 
and blogger who was convicted of sedition on January 20 along 
with Le Cong Dinh, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and Le Thang Long.  Trung 
was arrested on July 7, 2009, one day after being dishonorably 
discharged from compulsory military service.  DAS Marciel began 
the meeting by expressing his sympathy regarding Trung's 
conviction and assuring his parents that the USG remains deeply 
concerned about his welfare and was advocating for his release 
and that of all political prisoners in Vietnam at the highest 
levels of government. 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) said they last met with Trung on January 8 (before the 
January 20 trial), and he appeared to be in generally good 
health and spirits.  They have been able to send him a monthly 
stipend of approximately $30 USD (600,000 VND) and planned to 
see him again on February 10 (Note:  Trung's girlfriend in the 
U.S. informed PolOff via e--mail that Trung's parents visited 
him on February 10th as planned. End note).  When asked about 
the possibility of an appeals trial, Mr. Tu said the court would 
not answer their inquiry directly, but relayed that "papers had 
been filed" with the Supreme People's Procuracy.  Since Trung 
plead guilty, the thrust of his lawyer's appeal case will be 
aimed at reducing his sentence rather than overturning the 
verdict.  Regarding Trung's decision to plead guilty, Tu said 
Trung had no reason to feel guilty, because he had always 
accepted the role of the Communist Party in the government and 
had no intention of trying to overthrow the government.  When he 
established Viet Youth for Democracy and joined the Democratic 
Party of Vietnam (DPV), Tu said, Trung wanted expand the space 
for political expression in Vietnam. 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) Tu speculated that Trung's arrest was part of an effort 
by the GVN to stifle criticism of the Party prior to the 2011 
Party Congress.  Tu also believes that Trung's contacts with the 
West, in particular, his connection to U.S.-based DPV leader 
Nguyen Sy Binh and his meetings with former President Bush, 
Canadian PM Harper and the chairman of the EU, made him a target 
of GVN reprisal.  Tu also asserted that because Trung had 
introduced Le Cong Dinh to Tran Huynh Duy Thuc and Le Thanh 
Long, he was the "link" prosecutors needed to help build the 
case against the four into a conspiratorial plot to overthrow 
the GVN.  Tu, like other reliable contacts with whom we have 
spoken, stated that the four defendants were not closely 
acquainted.  Tu believes Trung was only guilty of introducing 
people with similar ideas to each other. 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) During the January 20 trial (reftel), Tu said family 
members of the accused could hear the testimony via CCTV, but 
affirmed the audio feed was "not very clear" at times, as was 
the case for foreign diplomats and press watching the 
proceedings via CCTV in a separate room.  Tu said he and his 
wife remained very concerned about their son, especially after 
hearing about the harsh prison conditions Thuc and Long 
described at the trial.  They worried about pressure and tactics 
police may have used to force Trung into "confessing his 
crimes," since his testimony ran contrary to Trung's personal 
convictions, including his view -- which his parents clearly 
share -- that he had done nothing wrong. 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) Mr. Tu and his wife thanked USG and Mission Vietnam 
officials for their support and advocacy on Trung's case and 
urged the USG "through any means or intervention" to try and 
convince the GVN to "let my son come home."  Tu said some of his 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000052  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
well-placed government contacts believe the GVN may announce an 
amnesty in conjunction with Hanoi's 1000 year anniversary, and 
asked that we submit Trung's name for consideration.  DAS 
Marciel assured Trung's parents that the U.S. would continue to 
advocate for Trung's release here in Vietnam as well as in 
Washington. 
 
 
 
¶7. (C) Comment: A/S Posner raised Trung's case along with others 
during our November 2009 Human Rights Dialogue.  The Ambassador 
also sent a letter to Foreign Minster Pham Gia Khiem last week 
encouraging the GVN to grant Trung and others amnesty at Tet. 
One Foreign Ministry official has since told us the GVN has 
decided against doing a Tet amnesty this year.  The last time 
the GVN did not have a national Tet amnesty was in 2008.  End 
comment.) 
 
 
 
¶8. (C) While most of the conversation focused on their son, 
Trung's parents are bearing their own hardships. Trung's father, 
Tu, is a retired military officer and had been a member of the 
CPV for over thirty years. His wife was a CPV member of twenty 
years standing.  Not only were both ejected from the CPV, they 
complained that the CPV did not even follow its own internal 
procedures in the process.  There was no formal decision; there 
was no review by the official party disciplinary board. 
Instead, the couple was simply informed by local CPV officials 
that they had been expelled from the party because they had 
failed to raise their son properly.  The CPV (which always 
controls the personnel section at all state-affiliated 
companies), contacted his employer and attempted to have him 
summarily fired.  While he was able to resist that move, he was 
removed from his position of responsibility and placed into a 
menial job with the clear intention of forcing (or shaming) him 
into resigning. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: The decision to, in effect, punish Trung's 
parents for their son's alleged crimes is consistent with recent 
pronouncements from the MPS.  An article published in the 
official MPS Newspaper recently warned parents that the biggest 
risk facing children studying abroad is not "the free, indulgent 
lifestyles" or even "social evils such as gambling, drug abuse, 
alcohol, etc." Instead, the greatest danger facing Vietnamese 
youths studying abroad are "political traps laid by anti-Vietnam 
hostile forces to entice and degenerate young intellectuals." 
The article went on to explain that many youths lured into such 
nefarious traps were the children of families with stellar 
revolutionary credentials but that the students' actions betray 
both the nation and their families.  End Comment. 
 
 
 
¶10. (U) DAS Marciel did not have an opportunity to clear this 
cable. This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. 
FAIRFAX