Siu Nan fled to Thailand with his parents, was sent back in 2019, and was arrested on 28 March 2022. He was accused of intending to start a Dega group against the government.
Name Siu Nan
Home Plei Hra village, Ea Hla commune, Cư Puh district, Gia Lai province
Deported From Thailand, 2019
Arrested 28 March 2022
What happened
Siu Nan is a young Dega man from Plei Hra village, in Ea Hla commune, Cư Puh district, Gia Lai province. He was in Thailand in 2017 with his parents. They had left home because his father had been arrested and imprisoned, and because after his father’s release the police kept coming to the house, looking for grounds to arrest him again.
In 2019 he was deported from Thailand back to Vietnam. The Vietnamese embassy in Thailand signed the papers that returned him to his village, and he has lived there since.
Police officers said that he was the one who would start a Dega group against the government. On 28 March 2022 they arrested him. His family reported that he was beaten: his nose bleeding, his face swollen, his eyes injured.
What we are reporting, and what we are not
The flight to Thailand, the deportation in 2019 and the arrest in March 2022 are as his family described them to us. The accusation against him is the one the officers made; we have seen no evidence offered for it, and no charge brought in any court. The injuries are as his family saw them.
Why it matters
Siu Nan was returned under an arrangement between governments, to the country his family had fled. Three years later he was arrested for something he was said to be about to do. Deportation is presented as a solution; for the people sent back, it is the beginning of the next case.
If you can add to this
If you know Siu Nan’s case, or you were returned from Thailand under the same arrangement, please contact the Dega Central Highlands Organization.
