Vietnamese Authorities Beat Motagnard Pastors

09 November 2004

Montagnard Pastors Held, Beaten Over Faith

2004-11-08| RFA |

WASHINGTON—Authorities in central Vietnam have rounded up four Mennonite Christian clergymen and demanded that they renounce their faith, penalizing the two who refused with fines, beatings, and three months of house arrest.

According to clergymen interviewed by RFA’s Vietnamese service, police and members of a local people’s committee in Chu A Village in the Sa Thay district of Gia Lai Province summoned Y Kor, Y Yan, Y Djik, and Y Kat to local government offices on Nov. 6. (Eds: Y is the family surname)

Local authorities told the men—all ethnic minority Montagnards—to sign papers renouncing their Mennonite faith, the pastors said. Y Kor and Y Kat signed the papers and were then permitted to return home, but Y Yan and Y Djik refused and were detained, handcuffed, and beaten, Y Yan and Y Djik said.

Authorities in the village couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Public denunciation

A day later, on Nov. 7, senior police officers from Gia Lai—located in the Vietnamese Central Highlands—brought the four men to a public denunciation in front of the Chu A villagers, they said. The officials involved included police Lt. Col. Chan, Maj. Tran Van Sau, and Pleiku City deputy security chief Vu Minh Tan, they said.

At the village meeting, police told the villagers they would be jailed and fined unless they also renounced the Mennonite church, according to a Mennonite clergyman who was present.

Police also announced that Y Yan and Y Djik would be held under house arrest for three months and fined 200,000 Vietnamese dong (about U.S. $15). Police also confiscated Y Yan’s government-issued identity card, the clergyman said.

“They detained me from the morning of Nov. 6,” said Y Yan. “[The next] morning they handcuffed me, beat me, threatened me, and didn't give me anything to eat or drink. I was criticized [publicly] at the village—they made me pledge not to do wrong things, not to follow my religion. It was very hurtful, emotionally too.”

“They chained and handcuffed me, interrogated and beat me. They took me out in front of the village and asked me to quit the Mennonites… If I remain active [in the Mennonite church] I will be imprisoned for 24 months,” he said. “They forced me to quit the Mennonites and disbanded the entire group… Our church had 600 people.”

“They made me sign a pledge [to quit the church] and read it out loud before the villagers… I had to recite all I did,” he said. “Preacher [Y] Djik was also handcuffed, slammed in the face, interrogated.”

Steep fines

Another Mennonite pastor, Nguyen Cong Chinh, said the fines were well beyond what anyone in the village could pay. “People have no rice to eat—so how can they pay the fine? They have no clothes to wear, and the Montagnards have no land to grow things either,” said Chinh, who is not a Montagnard.

The Mennonite Church is a Protestant denomination that began in Europe in the 16th century and adheres to a pacifist doctrine. It currently claims a following of 1 million people worldwide.

The Mennonite Central Committee, the social service arm of the Mennonite Church, was one of very few Western charitable groups permitted to remain in Vietnam after the Communists came to power in 1975.

Mennonites in Vietnam, many of whom live in the Central Highlands, have faced increasing pressure from government officials in recent years.

Easter protest, crackdown

At Easter this year, thousands of Montagnards protested in the Central Highlands to demand the return of ancestral lands and an end to religious repression. The U.S.-based Montagnard Foundation claimed 400 Christians were killed in the ensuing crackdown, although Hanoi said only two people died.

On May 15 this year, authorities arrested Mennonite pastor Ksor No, head of the congregation in Ia Grai District, also in Gia Lai Province. No reason was given or documentation shown.

In June, Mennonite pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, an outspoken Mennonite church leader in Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested after publicly criticizing the government for detaining four Mennonites three months earlier.

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said last week that Quang would face trial Nov. 12 at the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on charges of “obstructing officials from carrying out their duties.” Conviction could mean a jail term of up to seven years.

In September 2004, the U.S. State Department designated Vietnam as a "Country of Particular Concern" because of what it called Vietnam's "particularly severe violations of religious freedom."