Pastor Y Yich (59) of the banned Dega Protestant Church in Vietnam’s Central Highlands has been released after serving a twelve-year prison sentence. Following his release he must serve three to five years’ probation.
Pastor Yich was arrested on 13 May 2013 and accused of “undermining national solidarity policy”. In November 2013 he was sentenced to twelve years in prison for spreading Dega Protestantism, communicating online with Montagnard pastors and separatists in the US and meeting with former prisoners of conscience. (Vietnam’s Montagnards comprise several indigenous people groups in the Central Highlands.)
The pastor was reportedly beaten and tortured in prison, while also suffering from high blood pressure, joint pain, stomach inflammation, hepatitis and kidney stones, but prison authorities denied him access to medical treatment. There has been no news of his health status since his release.
Pastor Yich worked for many years for freedom of religion and indigenous rights for his fellow Montagnard people and was previously arrested in December 2006, accused of “undermining the solidarity policy” and imprisoned for four years. He and his wife Amying H’Dom have five adult children.
Congressman shares news of release
News of Y Yich’s release was reported by International Christian Concern after it received an email from US Republican congressman Glenn Grothman who, since October 2022, has been advocating for the pastor’s release (and that of imprisoned church leader Y Pum Bya) through the Defending Freedoms Project of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body of the US House of Representatives. The email stated that Y Yich was released in mid-May.
In his email, Mr Grothman stated: “I’m deeply relieved to learn of the release of Vietnamese prisoner of conscience Y Yich. In 2022, I was proud to sponsor Y Yich after learning of his unjust imprisonment for simply practicing his Christian faith. He served twelve unnecessary years in prison, and his release this May was long overdue. No one should ever be persecuted, tortured, or imprisoned because of their religious beliefs. Y Yich’s story serves as a reminder of the brutal reality of communism and its long record of human rights abuses around the world.”
He added, “I hope Y Yich can now experience the peace and dignity he has long been denied. Sadly, we know that the Vietnamese government often continues to closely monitor former prisoners. I urge the US and the international community to stand with those, like Y Yich, who courageously fight for the right to worship freely.”
Read Y Yich’s Prisoner Profile.
Read Church in Chains’ Vietnam Country Profile.
(International Christian Concern, Church in Chains Prisoner Profile)
Photo: Campaign to Abolish Torture in Vietnam