~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam jails three hill tribe members over protest

HANOI - Three hill tribe people were sentenced to up to 11 years in jail over a protest last year in Vietnam's Central Highlands, state-controlled media reported Wednesday. Ksor Vung, 36, Ksor Thup, 53, and Hlun, 37, were convicted of organizing anti-government demonstrations and inciting other ethnic minority members, collectively called Montagnards, to flee to neighboring Cambodia, said the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

Hlun, who only uses a single name, was sentenced to 11 years in jail and the others 10 years at Tuesday's one-day trial in Gia Lai province, the report said. The report said the three were active members of a disbanded guerrilla group that fought alongside the Americans during the Vietnam War. It said they received money from an exile group in the United States to buy mobile phones, used to receive instructions from abroad, to organize demonstrations and to incite other Montagnards to flee to Cambodia. Court officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

Vietnam, Cambodia and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement to resettle or repatriate about 750 Montagnards currently under UNHCR protection in Cambodia. Thousands of Montagnards _ many of whom are Christians in this Buddhist-majority country _ took to the streets last year to protest government restrictions on religion and confiscation of ancestral lands.

International rights groups have said at least 10 protesters were killed in the clashes with police. However, Hanoi said only two died, struck by rocks thrown by other protesters. The area was sealed off to international media and diplomats after the incident. There was a similar demonstration in 2001, after which about 1,000 Montagnards fled to Cambodia. They were eventually resettled in the United States.

The Associated Press - January 26, 2005