Protestant pastor shot with rubber bullets

A pastor from the Ede ethnic minority who leads an independent Protestant house church in the Vietnamese highland province of Dak Lak was shot with rubber bullets on 1 December.

Pastor Y Hung Ayun, 62, was shot twice in the left knee at point blank range by the passenger of a motorbike which pulled up alongside him as he was travelling home. Both the driver and passenger were masked, and sped away immediately after the shooting.

Pastor Ayun, whose informal congregation meets in Tara Puor village, told Radio Free Asia: ‘They attacked me to warn that I should withdraw [from the independent house church] and return to the [government-approved] Evangelical Church of Vietnam.’

The Vietnamese Authorities require that all churches be registered with the government, and thus independent churches often face immense scrutiny and have been known to have land and buildings confiscated and pastors arrested if they refuse to register.

The Ede ethnic minority to which Pastor Ayun belongs is part of the larger Montagnard minority ethnic group which consists of approximately 30 indigenous tribes that live in Vietnam’s central highlands. Montagnards have faced growing hostility in Vietnam and abroad since the Dak Lak ‘uprising’ of June 2023, which saw nine people killed in attacks on provincial Communist party offices.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW is highly concerned at this attack on Pastor Y Hung Ayun which appears to have been intended to pressure him to abandon his house church and return to the government-sanctioned Evangelical Church of Vietnam. We call for a swift investigation into this incident, ensuring that Pastor Ayun’s assailants are brought to justice. We also reiterate to the Vietnamese government that it must revise regulations and legislation pertaining to religion to ensure that they align with international standards on the right to freedom of religion or belief, and that all Vietnamese citizens are afforded the full enjoyment of this right in law and practice.’