Y-Cong Hdok went into prison healthy and came home to be washed by his mother

He was nineteen when he was sentenced over an argument between boys in his village. Three months later his family were told he was in hospital. He was not. When they brought his body home and washed it, his chest was crushed and his face was broken.

What happened

Y-Cong Hdok was born in 2002 in Buon Kman village, in Dur Kman commune, Krong Ana district, Dak Lak province. His family describe a healthy young man, full of energy, and kind.

On 23 June 2021 the police invited him to their office. When he arrived, an officer arrested and handcuffed him. He was brought to court and sentenced to five years. The charge concerned his part in arguments between young men in his village; the village chiefs had reported it to the district police, who then sent him the letter calling him in.

He was held in Krong Ana district for about a month. On 23 July 2021 the district judge transferred him to Dak Lak capital prison. On 20 September 2021 officials there moved him again, to a prison called Dak Trung. An officer telephoned his mother and father to tell them where he now was, but would not allow them to visit.

The two telephone calls

On 5 October 2021 the officer called again. He told the family that Y-Cong Hdok was in hospital, and that he was sick. They went to the hospital that same day. He was not there. A nurse and a doctor told them his name was not on the list of patients admitted.

On a second call that day, the officer told the family that he had passed away.

His mother, father and relatives asked whether they could take his body home. The officer said that they could, and they did.

As they began to clean his body they saw that his chest was damaged and his face was broken. His jaws, and his body, were crushed.

How the case ran

1. 23 June 2021Arrested

   Invited to the police office, arrested and handcuffed on arrival.

2. June 2021Sentenced

   Five years, over arguments between young men in his village.

3. 23 July 2021Moved to Dak Lak capital prison
4. 20 September 2021Moved to Dak Trung

   Family told by telephone; visits refused.

5. 5 October 2021Told he was in hospital, then told he was dead

   The hospital had no record of him. His body was released to his family the same day.

What we are reporting, and what we are not

The arrest, the sentence, the transfers and the two telephone calls are as his family recount them, and the hospital’s denial that he had been admitted is what the nurse and doctor told them to their faces. The condition of his body is what his family saw when they washed him. No post-mortem was carried out that we know of, no cause of death was given to them, and no explanation has been offered since. What his family concluded, they concluded from what they were holding.

Why it matters

A family can be refused a visit, told their son is in a hospital that has never heard of him, told an hour later that he is dead, and then handed his body without a word of explanation. Whatever happened inside Dak Trung, the system around it was built so that no one would ever have to say.