Concerns have intensified over the fate of eleven Vietnamese Christians, including both Protestants and Catholics, whose whereabouts remain unknown following their imprisonment for religious activities.
The individuals, sentenced between 2011 and 2016 to a total of over 90 years in prison, are feared to be at the center of a larger issue of religious persecution in Vietnam.
According to International Christian Concern, six of the missing belong to the Protestant faith, notably from the Degar community, also known as Montagnards.
These indigenous tribal people from the Central Highlands have faced severe repression for their conversion to Christianity post-Vietnam War.
Members such as Ro Mah Pla and Siu Hlom were imprisoned under charges of “undermining national unity policy,” a common accusation for those involved in unapproved religious movements like Degar Protestantism.
The remaining Protestants, Sung A Khua and Y Hriam Kpa, reportedly faced harsh reprisals for their refusal to renounce their faith.
Reports indicate that Khua’s family was expelled from their village, and he was later arrested on dubious charges of “deforestation” when attempting to rebuild his home. Kpa was detained for his continuous church services.
Five Catholics, identified as Runh, A Kuin, A Tik, Run, and Dinh Kuh, associated with the unapproved Ha Mon Catholic Church, have similarly disappeared, adding to the distress within the religious community.
These individuals were also charged with undermining national unity, highlighting a pattern of targeted suppression against unregistered religious entities.
The situation is further complicated by the Vietnamese government’s strict control over religious practices, enforced through the 2018 Law on Belief and Religion.
This legislation demands that religious groups must register and wait five years before they can be recognized, a process described by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as “complicated and burdensome.”
