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NEVER FORGET
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Blessings to all who sent their Prayers & then their Letters to the President of Communist Vietnam to FREE jailed Mennonite Pastor NGUYEN CONG CHINH of Pleiku, Vietnam. As well to our U.S. Ambassador in Hanoi for his intervention on this persecuted Pastor’s behalf and that of the many 1,000’s of persecuted TAM TOA Catholics striving to practice their religious freedom in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.
A Letter from U.S. Ambassador MICHAEL MICHALAK to California State Assemblyman VAN TRAN dated August 21, 2009 informs us that Mennonite Pastor NGUYEN CONG CHINH of Pleiku, Vietnam was freed from prison by Communist Vietnam Police on August 8, 2009.
August 21, 2009
From:
U.S. States Ambassador to Vietnam MICHAEL MICHALAK
Embassy of the United States of America
Hanoi, Vietnam
To:
Assemblyman VAN TRAN
68th District, California
1503 South Coast Drive, Suite 205
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Dear Assemblyman TRAN:
It was a pleasure to meet with you during my June visit to Southern California and again in Seattle, Washington. Thank you for your letter dated July 29, 2009, requesting that I intervene in the case of Pastor NGUYEN CONG CHINH. Pastor CHINH was releasesd by the police on August 8. My Staff in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City remain in regular contact with him, his family and other clergy affiliated with the Vietnam People’s Christian Evangelical Fellowship Church in Pleiku.
Regarding the violence against Catholic parishioners and two Catholic priests at the Tam Toa church ruins in Quang Binh province, I too was disturbed by these incidents and have discussed the situation there with senior government officials. My staff remains in regular contact with the Vinh Diocese, and we have repeatedly expressed our serious concerns at the highest levels of the Ministry of Public Security, the Committee for Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Six of the seven Catholic parishioners who were arrested after the original prayer vigil at the church ruins on July 20 have subsequently been released; one remins in detention, and we continue to closely follow events in Quang Binh.
I agree that the Government of Vietnam needs to keep it’s pledge to continue to improve conditions for religious organizations and individual people of faith. This is a priority or me and my staff at the Embassy in Hanoi and at our Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. I and my staff regularly raise individual cases of harassment of religious believers with the government, as well as the need to continue to enact systemic reform. Religious freedom is a basic human right, and we will continue to push for it to be more fully respected in Vietnam.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL MICHALAK
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NEVER FORGET
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Thanks for the ping!