After 5 months in a Vietnamese prison, authorities continue to deny visitation rights to her family, who fears that she has already been killed by security forces

From right to left:
Puih H’Woih, her elder mother, Puih H’Bat age 41,
and her children, Puih Huil age 7, Puih Dui age 10, Puih H’Huat age 12 and Puih Kui age 19

Is Puih H’Bat dead? On Wednesday April 9, 2008, at approximately 6:30 pm, four Vietnamese security police came to the house of our Christian sister, Puih H’Bat, in the village of Ploi Bang, Ia Chia commune, Ia Grai district, Gialai province while she was leading 20 Christian believers in prayer services at her home. The security police demanded that these Christians sign a document agreeing to join the Hoi Thanh Tin Lanh Vietnam (The Evangelical Church of Vietnam), which is the government sanctioned church. The police said if they refused to sign the document, that they would be arrested, tortured and imprisoned. All Christian believers at the home of Puih H’Bat, however, refused to sign the document.

The next day, on April 10, 2008, at approximately 8:00pm, more security police supported by Vietnamese soldiers came to the village of Ploi Bang and summoned the entire village to report to Ploi Bang Elementary school. The soldiers accused the people of following the Montagnard Foundation and Ksor Kok and worshiping him. The villagers and believers laughed at this and told the security police that “we do not follow the religion of Ksor Kok or worship him. He is not god. We only follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and worship our Almighty God the Father.” The security police continued to threaten the villagers, attempting to coerce them into signing the document joining the official government sanctioned church. When everyone still refused, they dismissed the meeting at approximately 10:00 pm.

On April 11, 2008, at approximately 4 am in the morning, 8 Vietnamese security police stormed into the house of our Christian sister, Puih H’Bat, and arrested her, put her in a truck and took her to Ia Grai district prison. The same night, the police also arrested two other Christian brothers, Ksor Sim and Rahlan Don. During the arrest of Ksor Sim, police sprayed a chemical repellant inside his house forcing the whole family outside, whereupon security police shocked him with electric batons until he collapsed unconscious. His wife and 16 year-old daughter ran to see if he was alive or dead, and the police then beat and shocked them with electrical batons until they also collapsed unconscious.

Ksor Sim and Rahlan Don have been released from prison because they had agreed to sign a document to follow the government sanctioned church.

On the left here is a photo of Puih H’Bat’s husband who is now living in the United States as a refugee. His name is Rahlan Hre, age 43, and he is terribly worried about his wife’s well being and also about how his children will survive without her. Currently, there is no one to take care of the children except for his elderly mother in law. All of his children have stopped attending school because they are devastated about what is happening to their mother in prison and are afraid that the government will come for them too.

Puih H’Bat is imprisoned at the criminal prison facility T-20 in Pleiku according to what the Vietnamese security police told her mother. But what crime has she committed? Is it against the law for a Degar woman to tell other Degar people about Jesus Christ? She was not preaching to the Vietnamese, but only to comfort our indigenous Degar community in order to be able to endure the brutality of the Vietnamese government.

Five months later, the authorities still refuse to allow Puih H’Bat’s family to visit her in prison. It is greatly feared she has already been killed or suffers from serious wounds as a result of being tortured. Why else would the Vietnamese government refuse to allow her family to visit her? The family fears for the worst and despite several appeals by her villagers to the authorities to release her, the authorities have maintained a blackout of information and is silent regarding her condition. They refused to allow anyone to know about her condition or welfare.

The Montagnard Foundation urgently calls on the international community, Embassies, Red Cross, UN, EU, US and concerned agencies to urgently investigate this matter. Please pressure the Vietnamese government to disclose the condition of Puih H’Bat and let her family know if she is alive or dead. Most of all, please pressure the Vietnamese government to immediately release her from prison so she may care for her family.

When they first arrested Puih H’Bat on the 11th of April in 2008, the Vietnamese security police charged her with being a Christian but refusing to join the evangelical church of Vietnam (ECVN).

This charge seems inconsistent with Vietnamese law, which states that “the citizen shall enjoy freedom of belief and of religion; he can follow any religion or follow none. All religions are equal before the law. The places of worship of all faiths and religions are protected by the law. No one can violate freedom of belief and of religion; nor can anyone misuse beliefs and religions to contravene the law and state policies” (Article 70).

Since this contradiction was brought up, the Vietnamese security police have changed the charges against her. Because they found a partial document of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in her house, they are now charging her with the crime of possessing a document of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. Why would this document be considered contraband in the hands of an indigenous Degar Christian?

We, the indigenous Degar people, want to know if the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted on September 13 2007 by 143 countries around the world included Vietnam, is intended to help indigenous peoples around the world or to trap them. Should we believe this declaration is intended to help the indigenous peoples around the world to have the same rights as non-indigenous peoples? If so, why would the UN allow a country like Vietnam to imprison an indigenous person simply for possession of this document?

Print PDF