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REPRESSION IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS DURING THE APEC SUMMIT:
TORTURE, KILLINGS, HOSPITALS CLEARED OF MONTAGNARD DEGAR PATIENTS
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BACKGROUND: The
indigenous Montagnard Degar Peoples have
suffered decades of persecution by the Vietnamese
communist regime, namely; confiscation of
their ancestral lands, Christian religious
repression, torture, killings and imprisonment.
Currently over 350 Degar prisoners remain
in Vietnamese prisons for simply demanding
recognition of their human rights, for spreading
Christianity or for fleeing to Cambodia.
During the Asian Economic Cooperation Forum
(APEC) summit that commenced on 17 November
2006 in Hanoi the Vietnamese regime cracked
down on the Montagnard Degar population.
BUONMATHUOT CITY SEALED
OFF: HOSPITALS CLEARED OF MONTAGNARD PATIENTS
On
November 16, 2006 the
Vietnamese soldiers and police closed off
the entry routes and main highway in and
out of Buonmathuot City. Our contacts inside
Vietnam reported all Montagnard Degar people
who tried to enter the city were stopped
and sent back to their villages by police
and soldiers and only Vietnamese people were
allowed to enter the city. The Vietnamese
authorities also had all the Montagnard Degar
patients in all the hospitals in Buonmathuot
City sent home to their villages, because
the government did not want any foreigners
to question them about the situation in the
Central Highlands. Also the surrounding
villages in the region reported that large
numbers of soldiers and police surrounded
their villages threatening to shoot them
if they attempted to leave.
ARRESTED,
TORTURED FOR POSSESSING MOBILE CELL PHONES
On
November 11, 2006 Vietnamese
police arrested two of our Degar Christian
brothers for suspicion of owning cell phones. The
police at first electric shocked them until
they fell unconscious. Then whilst on the
ground the police started beating them with
batons, then dragged them up and commenced
beating and kicking them in public. The men
were taken to Buonmathuot City prison and
electric shock tortured more and their condition
is currently unknown. Our Christian Brother’s
names are as follows:
- Y-Ren
Buonya,
(born 1974) from Buon Kdun village, Buonmathuot
city, Daklak Province.
- Y-War
Enuol,
(born 1973) from Buon Kdun village, Buonmathuot
city, Daklak Province.
MONTAGNARD
STUDENT STABBED BY MASKED POLICE IN RETALIATION
FOR HAVING A RELATIVE WHO FLED TO CAMBODIA
On
November 6, 2006 a
Montagnard student named Y-Thim Kbuor was
attacked with knives by two police wearing
masks in his boarding school in Buomathuot
City, Daklak Province. He suffered multiple
stab wounds to his stomach, chest and side.
Y-Thim Kbuor had been recently arrested,
harassed and threatened by Vietnamese police
because his brother had fled to Cambodia
as a refugee. Further details of his arrest,
harassment and stabbing are as follows:
Background:
On 2 November 2006 the Vietnamese police arrested
Y-Thim Kbuor at school and kept him in custody
until 5 November 2006. The police sent him
back to school but told the head of the school
to terminate him immediately from school. The
reason the police gave was that Y Thim Kbuor’s
brother Y-Drim Kbuor had previously fled to
Cambodia. On 5 November 2006 the authorities
of the school named, Tan Van Hong,
Pham Ngoc Chau and Tuan Van
Toan then summoned Y-Thim Kbuor and
told him that from that day on he was terminated
from school and he must return to his village. While
he was preparing to leave the next day, Vietnamese
police (who were wearing masks) entered his
room at the boarding school at around 9:00pm
and stabbed him numerous times with knifes
on his stomach, his chest and on his side. His
school friends heard his cries and ran to his
room but the police had already left. At the
hospital, the doctors refused to treat him
unless he paid them $20,000,000 Vietnamese
Dong. As a student Y-Thim Kbuor did not have
enough money and so did not receive any medical
treatment. Y-Thim Kbuor was born in 1986, from
Buon Cuor Knia village, Buon Don District,
Daklak Province and he is a 12th grade
student at the school of Truong Dao Tao Nghe
Thanh Nien Dan Toc in Buomathuot City. His
current condition from his stab wounds is unknown.
STUDENT
RUN OVER BY POLICEMAN
On
November 11, 2006 our
Christian Brother Y-Sau Nie was
walking with his friend, Y-Khuen Alio, to
school from their village of Buon Nieng,
an unknown policeman ran over them with his
motor bike killing Y-Sau Nie instantly and
seriously injuring his friend whom was taken
to the hospital. Y-Sau Nie was born in 1986
and is from the village of Buon Nieng, commune
of Ea Enuol, district of Buon Don, province
of Daklak. He was in the 11th grade
at the school of Truong Dao Tao Nghe Thanh
Nien Dan Toc Buonmathuot. His friend, Y-Khuen
Alio age 16 was in 10th grade
from the same village and attending at the
same school.
All
of what have happened to the Degar people, our
people cannot complain to the Vietnamese officials
because the Vietnamese rules and laws only protect
ethnic Vietnamese not Degar people. Besides,
the Vietnamese government considers Degar people
its enemy number one because of our support to
the US Armed Forces during the war and because
our people have accepted Christianity a religion
that initiated from the United States of America.
