Vietnam's montagnards are not the only ones fleeing the country to Cambodia. After being imprisoned and placed under 'pagoda arrest'' for much of the past decade, Buddhist monk Thich Tri Luc fled to Cambodia in April 2002 to seek asylum. The religious dissident was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June that year, but disappeared a month later. Until last month, his family didn't know whether he was dead or alive. Now they do. He's back in Vietnam under detention and is expected to be tried on charges of fleeing abroad to oppose the government. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.

'This case highlights so many of the abuses the Vietnamese government routinely commits,' said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch. 'Harsh repression of a religious believer, the apparent abduction and incommunicado detention of a peaceful dissident, and complicity in violation of international refugee law are all part of a broader pattern in Vietnam. These practices must stop.'

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry told reporters recently Thich Tri Luc - a member of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam - was arrested in July last year at the border. Human-rights agencies say he was returned to Vietnam against his will.