Whereabouts unknown
Pastor Adao was arrested at Bình Dương City on 9 April 2022 and taken to the police station there. We have had no word of him since.
He knew he was being followed, and tried to get clear of them. Four officers stayed with him from Saigon to Bình Dương, and stopped him when he arrived.
Name Adao, a Dega pastor
Home Ya Xiêng village, Rờ Kơi commune, Sa Thầy district, Kon Tum province
Taken 9 April 2022, Bình Dương City
Held at Bình Dương police station
Last contact None since his arrest
What happened on 9 April
Adao is one of the Dega pastors, and he lives in Ya Xiêng village, in Rờ Kơi commune, Sa Thầy district, Kon Tum province.
On 9 April 2022 he travelled to Tân Sơn Nhất, in Saigon, to visit. The police kept watch on him and followed him: wherever he went, they were behind him. He understood then that he was going to be arrested, and tried to get away from them, leaving for Bình Dương City. Four officers stayed with him the whole way.
When he reached Bình Dương City they stopped him, arrested him, and took him into the police station there.
What is not known
Nothing has been heard of him since the officers took him in. No charge has been made public, no hearing has been reported, and no one has been told where he is being held.
What we are reporting, and what we are not
That Adao was followed and arrested is reported to us by those who knew his movements that day. What has happened to him since, we do not know, and we will not guess. We are recording him as a man taken into custody whose whereabouts the authorities have not accounted for.
Why it matters
A pastor can be followed across two provinces, stopped, and taken inside, and then simply stop existing as far as any record goes. It is the not-knowing that does the work: his congregation cannot ask after him without drawing the same attention to themselves.
If you have seen him or heard of him
If you have any information about Pastor Adao since 9 April 2022, please contact the Dega Central Highlands Organization.
