Press Release Feb.23

Vietnamese Government executes a Montagnard Christian who was on the HumanRights Watch List and place Kok Ksor’s Mother under house arrest after torture.

TORTURED AND EXECUTED: Vietnamese authorities tortured and executed Y-Su Nie a Degar Montagnard Christian, after injecting him with lethal chemicals on 31 January 2003. He was from Buon Mbhao village, Mdrak district, Dak Lac province and had been in prison since 15 November 2002 when soldiers arrested him for being a Christian and land rights advocate. He was taken to Buonmathuot prison and tortured by beatings and electric shock. Eventually he succumbed and had been routinely taken out of prison to publicly denounce Kok Ksor and Christians in front of Montagnard villagers to try to force them from supporting the Montagnard Foundation. On January 30, 2003 they handcuffed him and told him he “would soon die, but because the Vietnamese government is merciful we will allow you to see your family one last time”. They then injected him with a chemical and released him. When Y-Su Nie saw his family he cried and told them “the government let me come to see you for only a few moments because the police has injected poison in my body”. The next day on January 31, 2003, Y-Su Nie died at 10:00 PM. He was buried on 2 February 2003.

BEATEN AND PLACED UNDER HOUSE ARREST: Kok Ksor’s mother H’ble Ksor is now suffering increased medical problems from the broken ribs she received after being beaten by Vietnamese security forces on 7 May 2001. The reason she was beaten was because she refused to denounce her son. While her sons read the denouncements of Kok Ksor given to them by the police on Vietnamese television she however, refused and they threatened to kill her. Eventually the police beat her and she was admitted to hospital for 3 days with broken ribs. She is still under house arrest in Bon Broai village of Ayun Pa, Gia Lai province where the police continually threaten her. It is common practice by the Vietnamese government to arrest, threaten and torture relatives of those who they consider political opponents. She is now suffering pain and cannot leave her village as security forces are watching her activities. Ksor H’ble is over 80 years old and never did anything to criticize the Vietnamese government. The persecution facing the Montagnards in Vietnam is escalating: According to the Jesuit Refugees Service in January 2003, about 80 Montagnard men, women and children who tried fleeing Vietnam were arrested by Cambodian police and forcibly handed over to Vietnamese border police. Many were savagely beaten and sources report summary executions and detention camps of refugees inside Vietnam which clearly violate the UN Refugee Convention. Persecution is also documented in the 200 page April 2002 Human Rights Watch report “Repression of Montagnards” (http://hrw.org/reports/2002/vietnam/). On 21 January 2003 Human Rights Watch released a new report, “Vietnam: New Assault on Rights in Central Highlands, Crackdown on Indigenous Montagnards Intensifies”. On 18 December 2002 Amnesty International Report also published a report “No Sanctuary: Plight of the Montagnard Minority” ASA 41/011/2002.). Further Hon. Marco Panella MEP of the European Parliament and founder of the Transnational Radical Party asked the European Commission on 19 February 2003 to investigate the persecution of the Montagnards.

The Montagnard Foundation herby requests the international community to urgently:

Investigate the execution of Y Su Nie and pressure the Vietnamese government to stop persecuting Ksor H’ble.
Urge Vietnam to stop executions and release the hundreds of other Montagnard Christian prisoners.
Urge the Vietnamese government to abide by the 2002 Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee regarding the “serious violations” confronting our people ((UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) and allow
human rights monitors into the central highlands and end the regime of martial law thus ceasing killings, Christian persecution, torture, coercive sterilizations and confiscation of the Montagnard’s ancestral lands.
Urge Vietnam and Cambodia to abide by the UN refugee Convention and stop persecuting fleeing Montagnard refugees.
Urge international Donors, the United States, European Union, the United Nations to pressure Vietnam to reconsider granting of aid to Vietnam and Cambodian as this will only encourage these governments to continue with its human rights violations against the indigenous Montagnard Degar people.