UN condemns Hanoi for human rights abuses and violations of Montagnard

At the center of criticism in the UN experts' report is the trial of about 100 members of the Christian minority. The proceedings allegedly failed to meet standards and showed summary charges, torture and mistreatment. Also in the crosshairs are the stages of the trial and the role of the media. No comment from the government.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - In a report sent to Hanoi on June 14, which was only made public in recent days, UN experts address Vietnam with concern over a trial of 100 Montagnards last January, in which clear human rights violations emerge.

The proceedings, in fact, allegedly failed to meet international standards for a fair and equitable trial, while the defendants were allegedly subjected to illegal arrests and detentions in connection with the case, in which incidents of torture and ill-treatment also emerge.

Added to this are summary charges of terrorism, unexplained deaths in cells and restrictions on freedom of expression and media participation, as well as discrimination against indigenous peoples and religious minorities, in this case Christians.

Montagnard is a term coined by French colonialists to describe a group of about 30 ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Since 1975, after the Vietnam War, the government has implemented a migration policy, bringing more than three million people to the region; according to government statistics dating back to 2019, they accounted for 39 percent of Dak Lak province's total population of 5.8 million.

Last January, 100 worshippers from Dak Lak province-an area populated by some 30 minority tribes-were put on trial for a June 11, 2023 attack on two People's Commune headquarters that left nine people dead on the ground.

Of these, at least 10 were sentenced to life in prison on terrorism charges. The remainder received sentences ranging from three and a half to 20 years in prison, mostly on terrorism-related charges, while six were tried in absentia without legal protection in the courtroom.

The U.N. report to Hanoi states that “senior Vietnamese government officials” allegedly commented on the proceedings even before they began with “highly prejudicial words about the defendants' alleged responsibility for terrorist crimes.”

In addition, the “state-controlled media (including television) referred to the defendants as ‘terrorists’ and published pictures of some of the defendants” after their capture.

The speakers also questioned the use of a “mobile court” for Dak Lak's trial, the use of which would not be regulated in the country's criminal law and lacks a “proper legal basis” as well as being characterized by “arbitrariness.” “We are concerned,” the note stressed, ”that the proceedings did not serve a legitimate educational function, but resulted in publicly embarrassing, shaming, humiliating or degrading the defendants and their families.

On Aug. 15, Vietnam's permanent mission to the United Nations requested a two-month extension to respond to questions, findings and criticisms contained in the report, while the Foreign Ministry in Hanoi declined to comment in the face of requests for clarification or explanation made by Radio Free Asia (Rfa), which was met with strict press silence.

“The excessive response to the June 11, 2023 attack; the unjust mass trial in January 2024; the inclusion of Msfj (the activist movement Montagnards Stand for Justice) on the terrorist list in March 2024; and the alleged intimidation of Vietnamese refugees in Thailand in March 2024 appear to be part of a larger and growing pattern,” the UN report concludes, ‘of discriminatory and repressive surveillance, security checks, harassment and intimidation’ against the Montagnard minority.

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

Their Christian faith also represents an additional element of suspicion, which combines ethno-political attacks with denominational persecution although in the recent period the authorities have begun a path of rapprochement with the Church.

Against this backdrop came the recent visit of Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Vatican secretary for Relations with States, and the not-so-distant hope of welcoming Pope Francis for an apostolic trip.