Chris Smith: “In early July, Nam Nguyen, this is Nam Nguyen right here, a Catholic from Con Dau, was savagely beaten to death for his…”

“In early July, Nam Nguyen, this is Nam Nguyen right here, a Catholic from Con Dau, was savagely beaten to death for his faith by the Vietnamese police. His brother, Tai Nguyen, testified at an August Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing that police repeatedly kicked his brother in the chest and the back and on his temples. Of course, that means there are fewer marks on the face, but his body was riddled with punches and broken bones. "Blood," he said, "poured out of his nose and ears." Tai said his brother told his wife he couldn't handle the beatings anymore. The wife, seeing her husband's broken body, kneeled in front of the police and begged them to stop. In response, they punched and kicked him again and again and again, and Nam Nguyen died in his wife's arms, this man right here. What was Nam Nguyen's alleged crime? His faith in Jesus Christ and his devotion to his Catholic parish. The entire Catholic community and its property in Con Dau, you see, is in the process of being confiscated or stolen by the Vietnamese authorities.”