Background: Our Christians Brother, Siu Tin, who was born in 1968 from the village of Ploi Tot Bioc, city of Cu Se, district of Cu Se in the province of Gia Lai, was arrested and sent to prison facility T-20 in Ploi Ku City on February 6, 2001 because he was a Christian and for refusing to join the sanctioned church ECVN. On September 26, 2001, he was sent to criminal court for trial and sentenced to 8 years in prison. After his trial, he was transferred to a prison facility in the province of Ha Nam. On October 6, 2008, he was finally released from prison but continues to be harassed by the Vietnamese security police.
Around 8:00 AM in the morning of September 9, 2010, Siu Tin received a summons to show up at the police station in the city of Cu Se.
When he got to the police station, a police officer named Tong, which was one of the Vietnamese police officer at the station, asked him a few questions as followed:
Officer Tong asked: “Which church have you been going to worship your God?”
Siu Tin answered: “We don’t have a church therefore we have our sermon in our home.”
Officer Tong: Is it right that you have lured people to worship Degar?
Siu Tin: No, it is not right. We do not worship Degar because Degar is not a religion. Degar is the name of our people just like the name of your people is Kinh. We worship our Heavenly Father God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Son. But we belong to our church, Degar Church just like your people belong to the Vietnamese Church.
Officer Tong: You lie.
And then he started beating Siu Tin from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM on September 9 of 2010. Covered in bruises and blood, Siu was finally released. He was unable to walk home on his own due to his injuries so the security police escorted him back. His injuries were so severe that once he was home Siu Tin could not eat and speak for 2 days.
Before returning to their station, the security police warned Siu Tin that he couldn’t tell anyone about what they had done to him. If he does, they will come back to arrest him and his family and send them to prison and torture them to death. If someone asks him, he must say that he had a motorcycle accident.
On behalf of all Degar prisoners, with all of our heart, we would like to humbly appeal to the United Nations, the European Union, the United States of America and the rest of the governments of the world who are conducting business with Vietnam to use their influence on the Vietnamese government to stop its repressive and inhumane treatment of the indigenous Degar people.
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