WRITTEN QUESTION E-3033/02

by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission

(23 October 2002)

Subject: Vietnam: nine-year prison sentence for a Montagnard who sought political asylum in Cambodia

Official sources within the Vietnamese Government announced a few days ago that Rlan Loa, a 38-year-old Vietnamese citizen belonging to the Jarai (Montagnard) ethnic minority has been sentenced to 9 years' imprisonment for allegedly fleeing abroad in order to organise resistance against the government.

In December 2001, Rlan Loa sought political asylum in Cambodia. He was arrested by the Cambodian police in January 2002 and handed over to the Vietnamese police without having been allowed to contact the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Cambodia, in clear breach of the UN Convention of Refugees, which has been ratified by the Cambodian Government.

Rlan Loa is one of thousands of Montagnards who have sought and are still seeking refuge in Cambodia from the repressive action (which includes the imposition of martial law) taken against the Montagnards since the peaceful demonstrations held in February 2001. Following the granting of political refugee status to approximately 1 000 Montagnards (almost all of whom were subsequently transferred to the United States) by the UNHCR in Cambodia, the exodus is continuing while the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments are continuing to violate international law on the protection of political refugees.

What action does the Commission intend to take vis-à-vis the Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities with a view to securing the release of Rlan Loa and ensuring respect for the Convention on Refugees which Cambodia has ratified?

Does it intend to enforce the provisions stipulating that respect for human rights and democratisation are preconditions for the implementation of the cooperation agreements with Cambodia and Vietnam?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2002)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answers to his previous written questions, P-2650/02(1) and E-2845/02(2).

In relation to the particular events mentioned in the present question, it is confirmed that the State-run Vietnamese Newspaper Cong An Nhan Dan (Peoples Police) has published a report on the sentencing of Mr Rlan Loa, by a court in Gia Lai Province on 1 August 2002 following a public-open trial, to nine years in prison to be followed by five years' house arrest, for illegally leaving the country to fight against the Government of Vietnam. The report described Mr Rlan Loa as a supporter of the establishment of an independent state in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and alleged that he had been in contact with a non-Vietnamese advocate of Central Highlanders' rights.

It has not been possible to obtain any confirmation of the arrest and deportation from Cambodia of Mr Rlan Loa, or of any other action to prevent him from seeking political refugee status. It is confirmed, however, that the status granted to Vietnamese Montagnards in Cambodia by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is that of refugees and not that of political refugees.

The Commission, together with the diplomatic missions of the Union, will continue to follow closely the developments concerning the situation of the Vietnamese Montagnards, both in Cambodia and in the Central Provinces of Vietnam, and take appropriate action.

(1) OJ C 137 E, 12.6.2003, p. 102.

(2) OJ C 192 E, 14.8.2003, p. 81.