Reports have been released that Rev. Than Van Truong of the Baptist General Conference house church organisation is being held in a mental hospital despite claims that he is clearly sane.

Rev. Truong was arrested for the first time without trial in May 2005, charged of "crimes against the state" after he wrote a number of religious articles and sent Bibles as gifts to Vietnam's top officials.

After his release, he was re-arrested while trying to leave his residence to visit his mother in the far north of Vietnam. In Vietnam permission to leave a personal residence is needed, and even though Rev. Truong requested permission several times, officials refused to reply.

In September 2004, the public prosecutor of Dong Nai Province stated Rev. Truong is "mentally ill and delusional" and had him committed to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital in Dong Nai Province. He was injected with drugs that led him to a lethargic state. However, after his medication was reduced his condition improved.

In March this year, he started to write petitions regarding his case asking for intervention. The case became well known after Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien was also committed to the mental hospital, and this helped bring his situation to light.

The Rev. Truong's case was presented to the European Union, Canada and the United States and countries have been engaged in diplomatic acts on his behalf. Also, a lawyer has vowed to help him in his fight for freedom, and this representative received an admission from authorities that the investigation against Rev. Truong found nothing and that the case was closed. After after intervention in the hospital the lawyer received an agreement that Rev. Truong would not be given any further unidentified medication. The lawyer requested for an independent medical examination that would clear him and lead to his release.

However, hospital authorities subjected him to their own medical examination after the American diplomat tried to visit him on 27th may 2005.

The examination had the form of an interview and Rev. Truong was mostly asked about his religious beliefs and credentials as a pastor. The interview was led by the director of hospital, Dr. Tho.

Several times during an earlier interview Dr. Tho had said that Rev. Truong was in the mental hospital because he had "committed a crime [and] broken the law" even though the public prosecutor confirmed that the findings of an investigation were negative and the case had been closed.

According to Rev. Truong, the interview sometimes turned into a bizarre argument between several Marxists and a lone Christian, with the conversation having nothing related to his mental health. They decided his firm Christian beliefs and his evangelistic attitude towards them qualified him as being delusional. Rev. Truong expressed that Dr. Tho acted more like a public security branch officer than a doctor.

During the series of events, one doctor from the hospital met Rev. Truong's wife on several occasions and told her that her husband in fact had no mental problems. A new medical examination was requested, but hospital authorities refused to do so, since his case involved "religion and politics."

As the case has attracted the attention of the public and the authorities, Rev. Truong has been visited by various doctors and officers regularly, but still no progress in his case has been made, since it seems the authorities refuse to make a firm decision regarding him.

The public prosecutor, who initiated the case sending him into the hospital, now says there are no criminal charges against him. Rev. Truong's long attending doctor says he has no mental condition. However, he still remains locked in hospital.

Rev. Truong was last visited by the doctor that had been seeing him on 10th June 2005, and his absence and apparant disappearance has brought about fears that something may have happened to him. Rev. Truong and his wife are worried about his safety.

A CSW source on Vietnam remarked: "Even though authorities themselves have confirmed that Pastor Truong is neither criminal nor crazy, they still incarcerate him in a mental hospital. It sounds like the Soviet Union 50 years ago."

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said, "The release of this story should embarrass the Vietnamese Prime Minister, who is about to go to the US to convince America that all is well in Vietnam. At the same time, a delegation from Dong Nai Province, the location of the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, is visiting America on a trade mission. It is time the West confronts the reality of Vietnam’s flagrant disregard for the religious freedom of her people."