Imprisoned Mennonites Appeal to People’s Supreme Court

(Compass) — The People’s Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City will hear the appeals of the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach of the Mennonite Church on February 2. Quang and Thach received three-year and two-year sentences respectively — the longest sentences among six Mennonite workers sentenced on November 12, 2004 — for charges of “resisting persons doing official duty.” Meanwhile, co-defendants Nguyen Thanh Nhan and Nguyen Hieu Nghia, released in early December, have written accounts outlining the severe abuse they suffered during their imprisonment. “These accounts … are heart-rending reports of non-stop beatings, deprivation and humiliation because of their Christian faith,” a source told Compass. The torture and abuse that Miss Le Thi Hong Lien, 21, suffered has led to her complete mental and physical breakdown, sources say.