Arrested because they mourned and prayed for their church building that was destroyed

As you might have read from our previous press release on May 27, 2009 regarding the destruction of the first Christian church constructed by the Indigenous Degar people in the Central Highlands, thousands of Degar people mourned this loss and entered a time of prayer for three days and three nights. The following press release is a report of the consequences of that mourning.

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On May 1^st of 2009, at the village of Buon Puortara, around 450 of our Christian brothers and sisters gathered to mourn the loss of their church and pray for three days and three nights. Because of this mourning and praying, the Vietnamese security police selectively summoned 12 people from among the 450 to their office in the communal village of Hoa Dong, district of Krong Pac in the province of Daklak on May 13, 2009 for questioning. Their names are listed below: 1. Y-Than Mlo is a preacher 2. Y-Ler Eban is a believer 3. Y-Lia Eban is a believer 4. Y-An Eban is a believer 5. Y-Nuat Eban is a believer 6. Y-Gung Nie is a believer 7. Y-Glen Kbuor is a believer 8. Y-Nuh Eban is a believer 9. Y-Yom Ayun is a believer 10. Y-Jon Eban is a believer 11. Y-Co Eban is a believer 12. Ama Hlieng is a believer The police told them: From now on you are not allowed to worship and pray to your God. These Christians answered: We will not stop worshiping and praying to our God. Besides, your government has agreed to give religious freedom to all Vietnamese citizens according to international laws. You can persecute us or do anything you want to us because you have power over us but our Lord God has power over you. You can destroy our bodies of flesh but you cannot touch our souls. We only want to mourn and pray for the first church that our Lord God had built for our people and we also wanted to pray that God would forgive you and your government for what you have done to God’s church. What is wrong with that? At this time, the Vietnamese security police did not harm any of these Degar Christians but we are afraid that, in the future, the Vietnamese government will find some other reasons to accuse them in order to murder them. Finally, all 12 of them were released at around 6:00 pm of that same day. On the same date of May 13, 2009, the Vietnamese security police from the communal village of Ea Drong, district of Krong Pac in the province of Daklak summoned three of our Christian brothers from the village of Buon Krak (Y-Lue Buonkrong age 47, Y-Bin Mlo age 24 and Y-Bhem Mlo age 34) to their station for the same reason as the other Degars – that is, mourning and praying for their destroyed church. The police kept them at their station for 2 days and then released them on May 15, 2009. But, before they were released the police warned them that “From now on, do not fast and pray to your God anymore, and do not ever tell Degar who are living in the US that we have forbidden you from worshipping and praying to your God. Because of them, you people do not listen to our government.” Clearly, the Vietnamese government is using fear techniques such as intimidation, arrests, and torture in order to force Degar Christians and people to endure its genocidal policies. Our indigenous Degar people of the Central Highlands have cried out to the world, and especially to the United Nations, the European Union and the United States of America for help. We have begged and pleaded that someone would have mercy and relieve our people from the painful agony of death that the Vietnamese government has laid upon them since 1975. Tragically, it seems as if everyone has ignored our suffering and forgotten our people because we have nothing to offer in return. The only thing that we know for sure is that our Almighty God will not forsake us and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is standing at the Heavenly Gate with His arms open, ready to receive us into His Peaceful Kingdom.

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