|
|
|
VIETNAM GOVERNMENT
PERSECUTES FAMILY MEMBERS OF ACTIVISTS: KOK KSOR’S BROTHER SENTENCED TO SEVEN
YEARS IMPRISONMENT AND HUNDREDS OF MONTAGNARDS ARE UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED
|
BACKGROUND:
Human Rights Watch has recorded the names of 188 Montagnards who have received
harsh prison sentences of up to thirteen years since 2001 for their religious
activities, participation in the protests, or for attempting to flee to Cambodia.
This persecution has escalated since April 10, 2004 when tens of thousands
of Christian Montagnards conducted a peaceful prayer vigil inside Vietnam’s
Central Highlands calling for an end to decades of such persecution. Human
Rights Watch also stated in a recent Briefing Paper of January 2005 (page
7) that:
Many Montagnard
refugees in the United States, as well as more recent arrivals living in UNHCR
shelters in Cambodia, have reported that members of their families––including
wives and children––have been arrested and detained by Vietnamese security
personnel. A Jarai church leader from Ayun Pa district, Gia Lai, who fled
to Cambodia in August 2004, told Human Rights Watch, that his wife and four
children were arrested in November. After three days of interrogation at the
commune police station, they were sent to the district headquarters, where
they were detained for several more weeks. “They threatened my wife. They
said, ‘Your husband is a traitor because he crossed the border to Cambodia.
You still work on the church committee and practice your religion. That’s
why we are detaining you.”
MONTAGNARDS
IMPRISONED: The Montagnard Foundation confirms that Ksor Krok (the brother of
Montagnard Foundation President Kok Ksor) has received seven years imprisonment
for the false charges of causing social unrest. Also imprisoned were Montagnards
named; Ksor Dro, Siu Djing, Siu Yunh, Ksor Jon, Ksor Sen, Siu Panh, who received
prison terms ranging from four to seven years. This information was also reported
in the official Vietnamese newspaper “Vietnam News” on 13 January 2005. President
of the Montagnard Foundation Kok Ksor responds;
“This
is not the first time the Vietnamese government has targeted my relatives
and other family members of our people. Vietnamese security police once forced
my mother who is over 80 years old to speak on Vietnamese television. When
she refused they threatened to kill her and actually beat her, breaking her
ribs”
Australian
based advisor to the Montagnard Foundation Scott Johnson also conducted a video
interview with Kok Ksor’s other brother, Ksor Ni, in a Cambodian Refugee camp
in August 2004 where he described how his mother was beaten with a electric
stun gun. Scott Johnson states,
“Ksor
Ni described how his mother was beaten by police with a electric baton for
having participated in the Easter 2004 demonstration. The testimony of him
and other victims in the refugee camp was appalling. I recall one man who
was tortured while police forced his 3 year old son to sit on his lap while
police beat his feet with clubs”.
The
Montagnard Foundation calls on:
- The international
community to urge Vietnam to immediately release Montagnard Prisoners who
have been imprisoned for practising Christianity, for participation in peaceful
protests, or for attempting to flee to Cambodia.
- The international
community to urge Vietnam to abide by the 2002 Concluding Observations of
the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the “serious violations” facing
the Montagnard peoples (UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031) and that Vietnam allow human
rights monitors access to the central highlands.
- The UNHCR and donor
nations to urgently protect the Montagnard Refugees in Cambodia and ensure
they are not forcibly deported against their will to Vietnam, and that Vietnam
and Cambodia abide by the UN Refugee Convention.
Unless
urgent action is taken many more Montagnards are going to suffer and die and
eventually the whole race of Degar people will be wiped out on this earth.
|
|
|
|
|
