Montagnard Foundation Releases Video of Refugees in Cambodia Testifying to Brutal Persecution by Vietnamese Government in the central highlands of Vietnam: Killings, Various Forms of Crucifixions, Lethal Injections, Beatings, Bounties and Being Forced to Renounce Christianity
The International Community Needs to Establish a Permanent and Independent Presence in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Protect the Montagnard People
Media Release, 21 November 2004 Spartanburg, SC USA
BACKGROUND: On April 10, 2004 tens of thousands of Christian Montagnards conducted peaceful demonstrations inside Vietnam’s Central Highlands calling for an end to years of persecution by the communist government. Vietnamese government security forces brutally attacked the demonstrators and Human Rights Watch reported on 28 May 2004, “Hundreds of demonstrators were wounded and many were killed on April 10 and 11 on key bridges and roadways”. Consequently hundreds of Montagnards have since fled to Cambodia to escape ongoing persecution inside Vietnam.
Excerpts below: Eyewitness testimony of the brutal treatment of Christian Montagnards who managed to escape Vietnam. These refugees were interviewed in Cambodian refugee camps in June – August 2004. To see full video go to: http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/ and click on video icon.
A form of Crucifixion: These Montagnards describe how Vietnamese authorities chained him to a wall while forcing him to stand over nails in 2003. Vietnamese police taunted him ”Where is your Jesus now?”
This Montagnard Christian R’lan Djih demonstrated how he was arrested by police and tortured by repeated beatings on May 22, 2003 for refusing to give up practicing Christianity.
This Montagnard man, Y- Dak describes how his entire village was forced to renounce Christianity in an official ceremony in 2003. Vietnamese police told him ”Not to believe in God anymore” and that Christianity is an “American religion.” He spent 17 months hiding in the jungle before United Nations refugee workers found him in Cambodia in 2004.
This Montagnard man describes how Vietnamese police killed 5 or 6 Montagnard prisoners after the April 2004 demonstration by giving them lethal injections
This Montagnard man Y-Tu describes how he witnessed seeing 35 to 40 Montagnards killed by police, lying dead on Phan Chu Trinh Street on 10 April 2004 in Banmathuot City. He also reported that 280 Montagnards were admitted to hospital after being wounded by police.
This Montagnard man, Puih Byep was arrested on June 7, 2004 and severely tortured by police. Fearing he was going to die in captivity the police released him. He fled to Cambodia. “They tortured and beat me” - “they burned my stomach with cigarettes and lighters”.
