DIED IN AUGUST 2010
Two years ago, on April 12th, 2008, the Vietnamese security police from the province of Dak Lak, the district of Krong Pach and the communal village of Ea Knuec arrested our Christian Brother, Y-Kap Ayun. They were dressed in civilian clothes and one of the security officers was identified as K’Tieng (Koho ethnic). Y-Kap Ayun was arrested and sent to the prison facility Dai Phat Thanh in Buonmathuot City.
Mr. Y-Kap Ayun was born in 1969 from the village of Buon Kreh “A”, commune of Ea Knuec, district of Krong Pac in the province of Dak Lak. He was arrested and sent to prison because on the morning of April 12, 2008, he along with 300 other Degar Christians went to the People’s Committee at the commune of Ea Knuec peacefully requesting the right to worship their God and for the government of Vietnam to respect the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. After making their request, they went back to their village without any incidents or acts of violence at all. The Vietnamese still decided to punish everyone.
At around 8 O’clock in the evening on that same day, the Vietnamese security police went to the home of Y-Kap Ayun at the village of Ea Knuec and arrested him and took him to the prison facility named “Dai Phat Thanh” in Buonmathuot City where he was savagely beaten and tortured.
During the interrogation, security police asked Y-Kap Ayun, “Do you believe in God?” Y-Kap Ayun answered, “Yes, I do.” The security police told him that because he said “Yes” that he would be tortured. They said, “Because you believe in God, we will treat you like Jesus Christ was treated.” Then, the security forces spread out his arms and chained both of his arms to a wooden pole like he was being crucified and they began beating and torturing him. The security police used their military boots and kicked him hard on both sides of his ribs, stomped on his chest and punched him in his face until he passed out while still hanging from those two poles. From that day forward, Y-Kap Ayun continued to endure abuse and beatings while being held in the prison at Dai Phat Thanh in Buonmathuot City in the province of Dak Lak.
Without proper representation, the Vietnamese officials put Y-Kap Ayun on trial on April 19th, 2009 at approximately 9 O’clock in the morning. Y-Kap Ayun was sentenced seven years in prison for resisting the Vietnamese government. He was transferred to a prison facility in the province of Phu Yen but because he had been beaten and tortured so severely, he suffered from internal wound and became deathly ill. His condition worsened until he was near death. At that point, the security police took him to the hospital in the province of Phu Yen. But it was too late. The doctors could not save him and he died in the hospital.
On August 17th, 2010 at approximately at 10:00 in the morning, a security police officer from Ea K’Nuec commune summoned the wife of Y-Kap Ayun to their office and informed her that her husband had died in the hospital. His wife and relatives went to the hospital. They hardly recognized him because it has been decaying. The family saw sutures on his head and under his chin. His wife cried and begged that she be allowed to bring his body back to the village so that they could have a decent burial for her husband according to our custom and traditions. But the Vietnamese government officials would not allow her to take her husband’s body back to their village because Y-Kap Ayun had not finished his prison term before he died. The government officials told her, “You must wait until he completes his prison term first and then you can come and pick up his bones”. The security police took the corpse back to the prison and buried him there. The family did not know where Y-Kap Ayun’s body had been buried because they were not allowed to attend the burial.
To us, the Indigenous Degar people, this kind of treatment is an outrage and not because of the crimes that our Christian Brother, Y-Kap Ayun, had supposedly committed, but because of the hatred the Vietnamese government and people expresses toward the Degar race. The Degar man had already been murdered, but they still wanted to punish him by denying him a proper burial. They demanded that his bones finish his prison term. What sense is that unless it is just express hatred?
We hope that all of the governments of the world who respect the value of human beings will carefully consider their business dealings and investments in Vietnam. How long can a government who practices such evil continue to exist? All governments and investors should openly question the Vietnamese government regarding this type of behavior. We also wholeheartedly ask all Christians of the world to pray for the indigenous Degar Christians or Degar people in general so that our Almighty God will give them strength to withstand this persecution. Help them not to be angry, but instead to pray for the Vietnamese government and people so that God will forgive them of the evil things they do. Pray that the Vietnamese will soften their hearts toward God and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
The Montagnard Foundation reiterates clearly that our goal is to peacefully co-exist in Vietnam as equal citizens with our human rights, religious rights and land rights being fully respected and protected.
