Independent Protestant pastors shot with rubber bullets
Y Hưng Ayun, pastor of a house church in Tara Puôr, shot in the knee by two men with covered faces in an ambush last Sunday. The government monitors independent churches it does not approve, seizing Bibles and equipment. In September, Y Phô Êban, 57, in Cuê village, was also threatened; he laments that they are “not allowed to gather.”
Rome (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Pastor Y Hưng Ayun, 62, was attacked last Sunday in Tara Puôr, a village in the Vietnamese province of Đắk Lắk.
“They attacked me to warn that I should withdraw and return to the (government-approved) Evangelical Church of Vietnam,” he told Radio Free Asia, showing the bruise on his knee caused by the rubber bullets.
The clergyman, who is an ethnic Ê-đê (Rade), a local minority, oversees the village house church. He was ambushed on his way home by two men with covered faces – one pulled out a gun and shot him twice in the left knee with rubber bullets and then walked away.
It is not unusual for the authorities to closely monitor independent churches, and intimidate pastors and faithful.
According to the 2024 report on Vietnam by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), harassment includes disruptions and limitations of religious activities, as are seizures of Bibles, mobile phones, computers, and cash.
Pastor Y Hưng did not file a complaint with the local police, but the day after the attack, agents did “visit” him at home, but he was not in.
The pastor spent nine years in prison for "undermining the national solidarity policy.” After completing his probation, he enrolled in a training course to become a pastor in 2017.
Since then, he has been closely monitored by law enforcement who have installed security cameras to watch his home and asked him to inform them when he goes away on long trips, Radio Free Asia reports.
Another pastor, Y Phô Êban, 57, leader of an independent church in the village of Cuê, was involved in a similar episode last 25 September. He was shot in the leg while cutting the grass in his coffee field. He fell to the ground, not knowing who had shot him.
The attack left him with a bleeding wound, a deep hole in his leg and a chipped bone. His family took him to a hospital where a doctor removed the bullet and treated the wound, but he still cannot walk.
Y Phô also did not report the incident to local authorities. “They hate me because I worship at a house church, which they absolutely forbid,” he told Radio Free Asia. “They said we were not allowed to gather. Every time they summon me to the commune (municipal headquarters), they threaten to ‘handle’ me and my family. That’s what they always say.”
Y Phô said he believes he was shot because he heads an independent Protestant church with 200 followers in his village.
Y Quynh Bđăp, 32, son of the pastor in Cuê and founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group, was tried in absentia by a Vietnamese court in January in connection with the June 2023 attack on two government offices in Đắk Lắk province that left nine people dead.
He denied any involvement in the case, and fled to Thailand. Vietnam has asked its neighbour to extradite the activist, but there are fears that he could face torture or death if he is sent home.
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15/10/2021 13:09
