UNPO - Montagnards: Amnesty International report 2004

The Cambodian authorities failed to respect their international obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the UN Convention against Torture. Hundreds of Vietnamese asylum-seekers from the Central Highlands (Montagnards) were forcibly returned to Viet Nam despite mounting evidence of ill-treatment amounting to torture and the imposition of long prison sentences after unfair trials upon their return (see Viet Nam entry). Many asylum-seekers – women, children and men – spent long periods hiding in jungle areas with little access to food and medical care. There were numerous reports of interference by Vietnamese border police and other security officials on the Cambodian side of the border in the rounding up and deportation of asylum-seekers, including payment of "bounties". Despite negotiations between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the authorities, the UNHCR continued to be denied access to border areas and was unable to provide full protection to asylum-seekers.

In Vietnam, arrests and trials continued of those linked to the 2001 unrest and the resulting flight of hundreds of ethnic minority (Montagnard) asylum-seekers to neighbouring Cambodia. Allegations of torture and deaths in custody were also reported by overseas Montagnard groups.

Thirty-three men were sentenced to between 18 months' and 13 years' imprisonment for their involvement in the unrest or for helping those trying to flee the country, bringing to 76 the total number of people known to have been tried since 2001. No outside monitoring was permitted of the trials, and detainees' access to family members and lawyers was limited. Not all such cases were made public and the number of those arrested and detained was believed to be much higher. Access to the Central Highlands remained strictly controlled; several groups of diplomats and journalists were permitted to visit the region under close supervision.

Y Kuo Bya, Ye He E Ban, Y Jon Enuol and Y Bri Enuol were sentenced to between 10 and 13 years' imprisonment and between three and four years' house arrest on release by the People's Court of Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands on 16 October. They were charged with inciting unrest in 2000-2001 and "sabotaging the policy of national unity".