“Pastor Ayun’s only crime was being a faithful Christian in a communist country,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “The Vietnamese government requires churches to register with the government. Many pastors like Pastor Ayun refuse to register their churches on principle because of the government’s extensive control over the registered churches. Registered churches have to receive approval in advance for special events and building changes. They face tight geographical limits on where they can minister. Any contact with foreign Christians is heavily scrutinized. They have to report about who comes to church and how much money the church receives, and from where. The government often uses the registered church pastors to spy on the unregistered church groups. Pastor Ayun’s ‘crime’ was simply refusing to subject the church to state control. And he is paying a high price for his integrity.” 

Pastor Ayun was found guilty of “undermining the nation unity policy” according to Article 116 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code. A person violates this article if they commit any of the following acts to oppose the government:  

• Sowing division among different social classes, or between the people and the government, armed forces, or socio-political groups. 
• Causing ethnic hatred, discrimination, division, separatism, or violating the right to equality among Vietnam’s ethnic groups. 
• Sowing division between religious and non-religious people, or between followers of different religions. 

Prosecutors claimed that Pastor Ayun had been involved in organizing and leading unregistered Protestant religious activities since 2003, and that beginning in 2019 he participated in establishing and operating an unregistered organization called the Church of Christ Central Highlands. They claimed he had received 7.7 million Vietnamese Dong (approximately 400,000 KRW) from a Vietnamese refugee pastor in the USA to support his activities.  

“Pastor Ayun’s attorney argued that none of these alleged activities demonstrated opposition against the government,” says Representative Foley. “Pastor Ayun is not opposed to the Vietnamese government. He is opposed only to government control of Christ’s church.” 

According to Representative Foley, Pastor Ayun and members of his congregation faced repeated questioning and harassment from the authorities prior to the trial. “His church members say they believe their pastor’s imprisonment is an effort to intimidate them into renouncing their faith.” 

“Believers in Vietnam’s Central and Northwest Highlands regions regularly face threats like expulsion from their villages, confiscation or destruction of property, and physical violence, from family members and from the authorities,” says Representative Foley. “They’re prevented from supporting themselves, and they’re excluded from social benefits and government aid programs. Then they’re told by authorities, ‘All these problems will go away if you just renounce your faith.’ Despite this opposition, unregistered churches in the Highlands continue to grow.”