Exasperated after violent interrogations and round-the-clock intimidation at the hands of the Vietnamese government, Christian Montagnard Y-Man Eban escaped into the forests of eastern Cambodia on July 7, 2015.

“The reason I ran away from my country was because the Vietnamese police interrogated me four or five times and put me in jail for a week. They beat me a lot,” Eban, 30, said from Dak Lak province.

When asked why he was arrested, Eban said it was because he sought “the freedom and independence for Dega people.”

Eban was one of more than 300 Montagnard Christians, the indigenous peoples of the Vietnamese Central Highlands, also known as Dega, who three years ago started fleeing into Cambodia with tales of oppression at the hands of the Hanoi government. It was the first exodus in around a decade, when thousands fled amid crackdowns on protests in 2001 and 2004.

Persecuted for decades due to reasons including their support for America in the Vietnam War and their faith, there have been widespread accusations of human rights abuses and land grabs in the rolling hills of the Montagnards’ homeland.

Virtually all have since been returned by the Cambodian authorities and just 20 have been granted refugee status. Eban said the persecution and surveillance back in the Central Highlands had continued unabated since he was sent back in October 2015 after being denied asylum.

“Since I came back to Vietnam, the authorities have viewed me as a criminal,” Eban said. “l regularly read the Bible and pray to God to bless us,” he said. Back in the Central Highlands, Eban had little doubt as to why the Cambodian government appeared so eager to prevent his people finding a safe haven from the wrath of Vietnamese authorities.