Torture, Killings, Hospitals Cleared of Montagnard Degar Patients
BUONMATHUOT CITY SEALED OFF: HOSPITALS CLEARED OF MONTAGNARD PATIENTS
11/21/06 Vietnam (Montagnard Foundation) 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 Brothers 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 Kbuors 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.
THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION CALLS ON:
Ø Concerned Embassies and the international community to urgently investigate details of these torture reports and please assist in getting urgent medical attention to these victims.
Ø 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
Ø Concerned Embassies and the international community to pursue a permanent humanitarian presence in the Central Highlands by US, UN and international NGOs.
Ø The United States Congress to insist the above human rights issues are permanently addressed prior to the US granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations to Vietnam .
