VIETNAMESE POLICE TORTURE MONTAGNARDS: ONE ABDUCTED AND ANOTHER FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE AS POLICE RELEASE HIM FEARING HE WOULD DIE IN PRISON

BACKGROUND: The indigenous Degar Montagnard Peoples have suffered decades of persecution by the Vietnamese communist government, namely; confiscation of their ancestral lands, Christian religious repression, torture, killings and imprisonment. In October 2006 the US State Department has continued to maintain Vietnam on the “watch list” of countries that are the worst violators of religious freedom. To date over 350 Degar prisoners remain in Vietnamese prisons for charges involving standing up for their human rights, for spreading Christianity or for fleeing to Cambodia. Vietnamese security forces continue arresting and torturing House Church of Montagnards throughout the Central Highlands, many for merely possessing mobile cell phones. It is noted that ‘Reporters Without Borders”  reported that UK and US Companies had sold mobile phone spy monitoring equipment to Vietnamese security forces, see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18648

 

ABDUCTED BY POLICE
On October 13, 2006 two Vietnamese police in a jeep, named Hung and Tuan, abducted our Christian brother named Thinh, while he was walking about 500 meters from his village. Thinh is from Plei Biatih village, Adok commune, Dakdoa district, Gialai province. Thinh’s whereabouts and situation of his health is currently unknown and his family and relatives are extremely worried for his safety.

POLICE RELEASE VICTIM FEARING HE WOULD DIE IN CUSTODY
On September 18, 2006 the Vietnamese police tortured our Montagnard Christian brother named Y-Tao Eban and he is now fighting for his life after local doctors stated he was “bleeding on his brain” from being beaten. Y - Tao Eban was beaten repeatedly with an AK 47 rifle as he had been before on August 23 and September 14 (details below) but this time he became unconscious. The police were afraid he would die in captivity and quickly organized a taxi to take him back to his village.  His family then took him to a hospital because he could not move and the doctor stated he has “bleeding inside his brain”.  His family worries whether he will survive. Other members of his family were also tortured and the detail of what led to Y-Tao Eban’s ordeal is as follows:

First Torture Session - on August 23, 2006 the police from the city of Buonmathuot province of Daklak initially summoned Y Tao Eban and two other family members to their office because of suspecting them of possessing mobile cell phones.  During the interrogation, the police tortured all three of them by beating, boxing and kicking them all over their bodies and heads. Y-Tao Eban was tortured more severely than the others.  They were kept in police custody for two days and released on August 25, 2006. All three victims are all from Buon Dung Village, Buonmathuot City, Daklak Province and their names are:

1. Y-Tao Eban (born 1979) – NOW FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE
2. Y- Chui Hdok (born in 1976
3. Y- Ku Mlo (born in 1984) 

Second Torture Session -on September 14, 2006 the Vietnamese police also tortured Y-Tao Eban at the office of the provincial committee for the second time.  The police confiscated his mobile cell phone and tortured him by striking him with AK-47 on his head, back, ribs and chest. The police also held his head and repeatedly smashed it on the concrete wall.  The next day on September 15, 2006 he was released and sent back to his village.

THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION CALLS ON:

• Concerned Embassies and the international community to urgently investigate details of these torture reports and please assist in getting urgent medical attention to Y – Tao Eban and determine what has happened to the abducted Montagnard named Thinh.
  


• Concerned Embassies and the international community to urgently demand Vietnam release all 350 Degar Prisoners identified in the Human Rights Watch report of 14 June 2006. http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/14/vietna13542.htm
  


• Concerned Embassies in Vietnam and the international community to pursue a permanent humanitarian presence in the Central Highlands to monitor human rights there by US, UN, international agencies and NGOs.
  


• The United States Congress to insist that human rights conditions are directly linked to the United States granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations status to Vietnam.