Just as Le Thi Hong Lien is to be released from the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, the plight of another Vietnamese prisoner of conscience who is in the same mental hospital has come to light. Rev. Than Van Truong of the Baptist General Conference of Vietnam, an unregistered church group, has been imprisoned since May 27, 2003, accused of "counterrevolutionary propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam." On September 9, 2004, he was forcibly transferred for treatment for "hysteria and delirium" to the forensic medicine ward, in Center II of the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital.
He recently sent an appeal to the UN Human Rights Commission saying that he fears for his life following his protests that he is not mentally ill and his petition to be returned to prison to fight the false charges against him. After his protest and petition, Rev. Truong claims that his medication was changed to that which would be debilitating and potentially life threatening.
Please remember Rev. Than Van Truong in your prayers as he languishes in the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital. Pray that he will remain safe from attempts to silence him.
VOM's Prisoner Alert website offers an innovative way to write a letter of encouragement to Rev. Truong. Go to www.prisoneralert.com for more information. For more information on Vietnam and the persecution of Christians there, click here.
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