WhatFinger


Vietnamese officials pressure widow to sign them over to state

Murdered Pastor’s Widow Could Lose Children



Washington, D.C. (May 24, 2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has been informed that the widow of a murdered Vietnamese Christian was taken to a police station and told she must sign documents giving her children to the state.

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ICC issued a Press Release on April 30, documenting the beating and death of her husband, K’pa Lot, a Montagnard Christian jailed for publically expressing his Christian faith. New information states that on May 3, 2010, his widow, H’Nguen, was forced to take her two children, H’Danh and Y-Ly, to the Nhan Hoa Police Station and told she must sign documents giving custody to the government. “At the police station the security forces placed a document in front of H’Nguen,” said Scott Johnson, a spokesman for Montagnard Foundation, Inc. “In this case they are harassing them, they are trying to coerce her to sign the kids over to them. The motivation is to take revenge on the wife for telling [the Montagnard Foundation] what Kpa Lot's last words were.” [Scott Johnson is referencing K’pa Lot’s whisper to his wife, H’Nguen, how Vietnamese officials had severely beat him. He died hours later from internal bleeding.] “The police stated that she would not be allowed to see her children until they turned 18. H’Nguen refused, pleading emphatically that she was fully competent to care for her children. For 6 hours the police tried to force her to sign the document until she was finally released with the children that afternoon,” Scott stated. “The document was some sort of proof they wanted to show she agreed to her children being taken.” This event occurred in the village of Nhan Hoa, Cu Se district, of Gia Lai province in the Central highlands of Vietnam. ICC’s Regional Manager, Logan Maurer, stated, “K’Pa’s torture and death was a tragic example of the brutal religious persecution that still occurs today in Vietnam. It is all the more telling that his wife is now being threatened for getting word out. Taking away her children is a desperate action by a state that is attempting to coerce her into silence. ICC urges the State Department to hold Vietnam accountable by investigating this terrible action against a widowed mother, as well as the events surrounding the death of her husband.”


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Scott Johnson -- Bio and Archives

Scott Johnson is a lawyer, writer and human rights activist who has focused on issues in South East Asia.


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