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VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS BEAT TO DEATH MONTAGNARD CHRISTIAN NAMED “Siu SUEK”: OTHERS TORTURED INCLUDING PREGNANT WOMEN BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS
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BACKGROUND: The indigenous Montagnards
(Degar) Peoples have suffered decades of persecution by the communist
government of Vietnam , namely; confiscation of their ancestral lands,
torture, killings, unjust imprisonment and religious repression. In
fact in 2004 the US State Department declared Vietnam to be one of worst
violators of religious freedom in the world. Hundreds of Montagnard
Degar People are currently in Vietnam 's prisons and since 2001 thousands
more have been subject to arrest, interrogation and torture. Examples
of such atrocities include the killings and torture of Montagnards listed
below. The Montagnard Foundation received this information direct from
sources inside Vietnam .
PREGNANT WOMEN BEATEN DURING ARREST AND TORTURE OF HUSBAND: On
27 July 2005 at approximately 12:00 o'clock midnight thirty
Vietnamese police stormed into the village of Plei Nglom Thung , Ia Pet
commune, Dak Doa District, Gia Lai Province and arrested our Christian
Brother named “Than”. The police accused “Than” of supplying food to some
of our Montagnard brothers and sisters who are hiding in the jungle. The
soldiers and police dragged “Than' out of bed and commenced beating him
in front of his wife and children. His pregnant wife, H'Plin, tried to
stop the beating but the police then beat her unconscious. “Than” was
then taken to Gia Lai Province Prison but his relatives are not permitted
to visit him.
BEATEN TO DEATH:
On 8 July 2005 a Montagnard man (name withheld) from the village in Cu
Se District, Gia Lai Province was out gathering food and
hunting for squirrels and jungle rats when he came upon
numerous Vietnamese
soldiers' footprints. He followed the footprints out of curiosity and
until he came upon a dead body with numerous bruises, blood stains and
evidence of torture.
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President of the Montagnard
Foundation, Mr. Kok Ksor states:
“Unless urgent
international action is taken to stop this
persecution our people will never be able to
live in peace.” |
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He went back to his village and alerted the villagers
who went with him to identify the body. The villagers recognized the dead
person as “Siu Suek” (40 years
old) from the village of Plei Lao , Nhan Hoa Commune, Cu
Prong District, Gia Lai Province . The villagers and family of “Siu Suek” stated
that the day before he had gone to visit relatives who live at the village
of Plei Pior but that he was detained by a group of Vietnamese
soldiers who then commenced beating him. The next time they saw “Siu Suek” was
when his dead body was found covered in bruises in the
jungle.
SOLDIERS HARRASS, ROB AND TORTURE MONTAGNARDS: On
12 July 2005, 8 Montagnard Degar villagers from the village
of Plei Sur “A”,
Ia Ko Commune, Cu Se District, Gia Lai Province were camped
overnight in Cu Don area. Early in the morning of the next
day 13 July 2005, they found woken up by 6 Vietnamese soldiers pointing
rifles at them. The soldiers forced the Montagnards to remain on the ground
kneeling in the sun from 7:00 o'clock in the morning until 5:00 o'clock
in the evening without food or water. The soldiers then released the Montagnards
but stole all of their farming tools including 2 farm tractors.
These Montagnards are poor and the theft of their necessary farming tools
and tractors will have a detrimental health on all their families.
THE
MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION URGENTLY CALLS ON:
- The United States
Government, the European Union, the United Nations
and all other peaceful nations to urgently investigate
the murder of “Siu
Suek” and these atrocities and insist Vietnam ceases all such human
rights violations and make such a precondition to
Vietnam being granted entry into the World Trade
Organization.
- The United States Government and
the European Union to insist all Montagnard Degar
Prisoners are fully accounted for and released
from Vietnamese Prisons and make such a precondition
to Vietnam gaining entry into the World Trade Organization.
- The United States Government, the European Union, the
United Nations, and all other peaceful nations insist
Vietnam 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 allow
human rights monitors access to the central highlands
and make such a precondition to Vietnam gaining entry
into the World Trade Organization.
President of the Montagnard Foundation, Mr. Kok Ksor states : “Unless
urgent international action is taken to stop this persecution our people
will never be able to live in peace.”
