More arrests among Montagnard Christians despite Hanoi's progress with the Vatican

Shrouded in mystery is the fate of 11 Christians, including six Protestants (Degar) and five Catholics from the Ha Mon community. They had been sentenced in the past, when their sentences expired 'there is no news' and 'they seem to have disappeared'. The basis of the sentence was 'religious activity or affiliation'. Concerns about these repressions persist in spite of openness towards the local Church and the Holy See.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Cases of ethnic-confessional persecution against the Montagnard religious minority, persecuted by Hanoi since the war in the 1970's, are returning to Vietnam. According to a report by an international activist group, for some time there has been great concern about the fate of 11 Christians imprisoned because of their faith, of whom "there is no longer any news" and who seem to have "disappeared into thin air".

Washington-based International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that the group - consisting of six Protestants and five Catholics - received sentences between 2011 and 2016 to a total of 90 years and eight months in prison. Among them are Protestants Degar Ro Mah Pla, Siu Hlom, Rmah Bloanh and Rmah Khil, accused of 'undermining the policy of national unity', and Catholics Runh, A Kuin, A Tik, Run and Dinh Kuh from the Ha Mon community, both of whom were not approved by the government.

"Eleven Vietnamese Montagnard Christians who have been imprisoned for religious activity or affiliation in the Southeast Asian nation have disappeared, raising concerns about the treatment of imprisoned followers of Christ in Vietnam," the Icc note explains.

According to the Campaign to Abolish Torture in Vietnam, there are nearly 90 Montagnards currently imprisoned or released under conditions that severely restrict their civil rights. "The missing Christian prisoners mirror a larger problem within Vietnam's legal framework for the nation's minorities," the Icc statement concludes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approached by Radio Free Asia (Rfa), would not comment on the news, which raises more than one concern among international activist movements about their fate.

Last January, 100 worshippers from Dak Lak province - an area populated by about 30 minority tribes - were put on trial for an attack on two People's Commune headquarters that left nine people dead on the ground. Of these, at least 10 were sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges. The remainder received sentences ranging from three and a half to 20 years in prison, mostly on terrorism-related charges.

For years, the 'Montagnard tribes' suffered religious persecution by the government, a legacy from the time of the Vietnam War when the Montagnards sided with the United States in an attempt to establish an autonomous nation. Over time, the authorities in Hanoi continued to repress them, accusing them of 'secession' and expropriating their land under this pretext.

Many have sought refuge in Cambodia, but the government in Phnom Penh has repeatedly sent the refugees back, in violation of UN regulations on political refugees. Their belonging to the Christian community also represents a further element of suspicion, which combines ethno-political attacks with persecution of a confessional nature.

Persecutions and arrests that continue to this day, in a historical phase in which Hanoi has embarked on a path of rapprochement with the Church, strengthening relations with the Holy See and recently welcoming Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States. A further step towards a (near) future re-establishment of full diplomatic relations and with the hope, not even too remote, of welcoming Pope Francis for an apostolic journey unthinkable until recently.

About 7% of the approximately 97 million people in the Asian country are Catholics. Speaking about the Vietnamese reality during the mass celebrated in St Joseph's Cathedral in the capital, the Vatican's "foreign minister" spoke of "living stones" whose witness "is deeply affecting me". There are great expectations and anticipation surrounding the pontiff's possible visit, which follows the important steps forward made in recent years in relations and for which the local authorities have already issued an invitation.