The Vietnamese Embassy on Tuesday denied reports that a Montagnard man had fled to Cambodia to seek political asylum after being tortured.
The staunchly anti-Vietnamese Montagnard Foundation, headquartered in South Carolina, claimed Monday that 21-year-old Y-Phuoc Buon Krong was held for two days in June by Vietnamese officials who allegedly beat him unconscious and sprayed him with chemical mace, which led him to flee to Cambodia.
“I think this claim is only a claim, and in Vietnam no one has been tortured,” embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said. “The real situation in the Central Highlands of Vietnam is not as dark as some people claim…. In Vietnam, all people have equal rights and freedom.”
In a statement, the Montagnard Foundation alleged Y-Phuoc Buon Krong was arrested June 26, the day after he made remarks about the Vietnamese government’s reported mistreatment of minorities while officials with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees were attempting to interview his mother in Dak Lak province.
The Montagnard Foundation—which has in the past admitted to exaggerating its claims to attract international scrutiny to the Montagnard cause—could not be contacted.
However a Human Rights Watch staffer wrote by e-mail from Washington that HRW had received similar, credible reports about the incident from sources within Vietnam.
Inge Sturkenboom, UNHCR spokeswoman, said she could not comment on individual cases but confirmed that a UNHCR monitoring mission was in Dak Lak province at the time of the alleged incidents.
UNHCR also confirmed Tuesday that it had received 15 other Montagnard asylum seekers.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UNHCR official said four women and 11 men had arrived over the weekend.
“They came from Vietnam but we don’t know which border they came through because they don’t remember,” the official said.
Sturkenboom confirmed the arrivals but declined to provide details. “Their application for refugee status is being processed,” she said.
(Additional reporting by Thet Sambath and James Welsh)
