VIETNAMESE COURT HANDS DOWN HARSH SENTENCES TO CHURCH WORKERSThe People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City handed out harsh sentences to six Vietnamese Mennonite church workers in a four-hour trial that ended at noon Friday, Nov. 12. Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and five colleagues were charged with “resisting officers of the law while doing their duty” in connection with a March 2 incident involving two undercover government operatives. The court sentenced Quang, general secretary of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, to three years in prison. Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach received a two-year sentence while evangelists Nguyen Thanh Phuong and Nguyen Thanh Nhan, church worker Le Thi Hong Lien and elder Nguyen Hieu Nghia received sentences ranging from nine to 12 months. Quang and his associates confronted the undercover officers on March 2 outside the gate of the Mennonite church which houses the denomination’s offices and serves as the Quang residence. The Mennonites say the two agents had harassed and physically abused church workers who visited the building. The undercover officers tried to flee on a motorcycle but fell. Within 30 minutes, dozens of officers from district police Special Unit 113 and other security forces were dispatched to the scene. Armed with guns and cattle prods, they seized Nghia and took him to the local police station. A Vietnamese lawyer who asked to remain anonymous insisted that ”on the basis of the legal issues and the realties of the case, we affirm that Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and his fellow workers are not criminals guilty of the charges brought against them.”From the news flow at Intercessors Network
