Key events:

• Dak Lak Provincial Police Arrest a Montagnard on Charges of ‘Sabotaging the National Unity Policy’
• Y Quynh Bdap Extradition Trial: Correctional Department Says Vietnam’s Prisons ‘Always Respect Prisoner Rights’
• To Lam Concludes Trip to China, Announces a Joint Declaration

Dak Lak Provincial Police Arrest a Montagnard on Charges of ‘Sabotaging National Unity Policy’

The Security Investigation Bureau of Dak Lak Provincial Police announced on Aug. 15 that they had arrested and charged Y Po Mlo, 63, a Montagnard living in the Krong Nang District, on a charge of “sabotaging national unity” under Article 116 of the Penal Code. The police alleged that Mlo had links to several members of the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, better known as FULRO, a group consisting of different Central Highlands ethnic insurgencies formed during the Vietnam War. 

According to the police, starting from 2023, Y Po Mlo had directly contacted members of various advocacy groups that raise awareness of the Vietnamese government’s repression of indigenous peoples in the Central Highlands, including Montagnards Stand Up for Justice (MSFJ) and the Montagnard Support Group (MSG). Mlo was accused of receiving orders to “oppose the regime” from Y Mut Mlo, an exiled Montagnard who was sentenced to 11 years in absentia due to his alleged involvement in the Dak Lak attack in June 2023. Some 100 people have been accused of launching coordinated gun attacks on two local government offices in Cu Kuin District, which left nine people dead, including four police officers, two local officials, and three civilians.