A/HRC/45/36 145. On 25 May 2020, the Government109 stated that the allegations were drawn from unsubstantiated sources, the information was not accurate, and that Ms. Truong was not subject to reprisals. The Government noted that authorities put in place a mandatory COVID-19 quarantine of all individuals entering Viet Nam as of 21 March 2020, and stated that when Ms. Truong entered Viet Nam at the Cha Lo Border Gate of Quang Binh Province on 26 March 2020, she was asked to provide personal identity documents, contact tracing information and a health declaration and travel record. She was quarantined until 11 April 2020, plus an additional two days due to a high temperature, and then delivered by bus to her permanent residence in Viet Nam on 13 April 2020. The Government stated that she had 4 SIM cards but no personal communication devices, and borrowed other quarantined individuals’ phone to contact family. 146. On 30 April 2020, special procedures mandate holders addressed alleged acts of intimidation and reprisals in the form of threats, harassment, travel restrictions, surveillance, and acts of violence against members of independent religious communities and human rights defenders, who sought to participate, or participated, in the 2019 annual international conference in Bangkok on freedom of religion or belief in Southeast Asia. The conference included interaction with and training by OHCHR (VNM 2/2020). Allegations of police warnings, confiscation of passport and prevention of travel, detention and interrogation, as well as harassment of close relatives of a number of human rights advocates from Viet Nam invited to attend the 2018 conference in Bangkok with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief was addressed previously (A/HRC/42/30, Annex II, para. 112). 147. Ms. Nguyen Xuan Mai, Mr. Pham Tan Hoang Hai, Mr. Nguyen Van Thiet, Mr. Tran Ngoc Suong and Ms. Luong Thi No, who had participated in the previous conferences (see also Annex II), were reportedly banned from travelling to Bangkok from 28 October to 1 November 2019, under an order of the Ministry of Public Security or local police authorities. Mr. Nguyen Anh Phụng, who had initially planned to attend the conference, was reportedly interrogated at home for additional information on the conference and he ultimately did not attend (VNM 2/2020). 148. Members of various religious communities, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong (Catholic from Con Dau Parish), Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong (Con Dau Parish), Ms. Nguyen Pham Ai Thuy (Con Dau Parish), Ms. Ngo Thi Lien (Con Dau Parish), Mr. Thich Thien Phuc (Buddhist) and Mr. Nay Y Ni (Montagnard Christian) travelled from Viet Nam and participated in the 2019 conference in Bangkok. During the conference, they attended a training delivered by OHCHR on how to submit complaints to the special procedures (VNM 2/2020). 149. On 6 November 2019, upon their return to Da Nang International Airport, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong, Ms. Nguyen Pham Ai Thuy, Ms. Ngo Thi Lien and Mr. Thich Thien Phuc were reportedly stopped by security officers and separately subjected to intense interrogation about their participation in the conference, including what the conference was about, who the organizers and participants were, how they funded their travel, and what they had shared or done at the conference (VNM 2/2020). 150. Mr. Nay Y Ni was reportedly subjected to interrogation on 8 and 9 November 2019 upon his return from Bangkok, and the authorities searched his room on 13 November 2019. Subsequently, on 18 November 2019, he lost his employment at Bình Dương hospital (VNM 2/2020). 151. On 14 November 2019, in the context of an eviction of residents in the village of Con Dau Parish based on an order issued in 2011, many police officers surrounded the houses of Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Phuong. Fearing that it was an act of reprisal for having participated in the 2019 conference in Bangkok, they went to Lao Bao border in Quang Tri Province and attempted to cross to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic for safety. However, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong was detained and interrogated by the police before crossing the border. When he was taken by a police officer to a nearby hotel to spend the night, he was brutally attacked by a group of men until he fainted. They only stopped when a police officer intervened. On 30 November 2019, Mr. Huynh Ngoc Truong was again detained on a bus to the Cambodian border at Moc Bai and 109 https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=35311. 49