Amnesty International Report 1999 - Laos

LAOS

Three prisoners of conscience continued to be held throughout the year, one without trial. One prisoner of conscience died in custody. At least 45 prisoners of conscience were arrested for their religious activities, 13 of whom were tried and sentenced and the remainder released without charge. Three political prisoners continued to serve prison sentences imposed after unfair trials, one of whom reportedly died in custody.

In February the National Assembly approved the appointment of Khamtay Siphandone as President and other ministerial changes in the cabinet.

Three prisoners of conscience continued to be held in Prison Camp 7 in a remote area of the northeastern province of Houa Phanh, one of whom died in detention. Latsami Khamphoui, Feng Sakchittaphong and Thongsouk Saysangkhi had been sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment in November 1992 after a grossly unfair trial. Despite the official charges against them, which included offences such as "preparations for a rebellion", it was believed that they were detained in 1990 for calling for peaceful political and economic change. Detained in extremely harsh conditions with no medical facilities, they continued to suffer from serious health problems requiring hospital treatment (see Amnesty International Report 1997). In January they appealed for help, describing the deterioration in their health and the refusal of the authorities to improve their situation. Thongsouk Saysangkhi died in mid-February reportedly from complications related to diabetes.

Information was received about the detention without trial since March 1996 of prisoner of conscience Khamtanh Phousy, an army captain and director of a military mapping company. Although initial charges against him were reportedly dropped in October 1997, he was not released. Khamtanh Phousy had converted to Christianity in 1992; it was believed that he was arrested because of official suspicion of his religious activities and because of contacts with foreign nationals through his work. He was transferred from c-156 Prison in the northern town of Xieng Khouang to Prison Camp 7 in December 1997 and detained under harsh conditions, including being chained and locked in wooden stocks for 20 days.

At least another 45 prisoners of conscience were arrested for the practice of their religious beliefs. In January, 44 people, including 39 Lao, three US, one French and one Thai national, were arrested at a Bible study meeting in the house of Sy Yilatchai in the capital, Vientiane, organized by the Church of Christ. Six Lao nationals were released within a few days, as well as the foreign nationals who were asked to leave the country. Twenty others were released in mid-February. The remaining 13 prisoners were tried on 25 March accused of organizing meetings to create disorder. They included six employees of Partners in Progress, a US humanitarian organization, affiliated to the Church of Christ, which was carrying out sanitation and health projects in Laos administered by the three arrested US nationals. Eight of those tried, including Sy Yilatchai and his two sons, were sentenced to three years' imprisonment; Sy Yilatchai's daughter and a farmer were sentenced to two years' imprisonment with one year suspended; three women were released after being given suspended sentences. The sentences were reportedly reduced on appeal by the Supreme Court in October to between 10 months and two and a half years' imprisonment, following which two of them were released in November.

Father Tito Banchong Thopayong, a Catholic priest, was arrested in January in Bokeo province after visiting Christian families in the area. He had been the assistant parish priest at the Catholic Cathedral in Vientiane for five years, and had reportedly spent several years in prison in the 1980s. The reported official reason for his arrest was teaching religion without permission. He was imprisoned and held under house arrest until June.

Political prisoners Pangtong Chokbengboun, Bounlu Nammathao and Sing Chanthakhoummane continued to be detained at Prison Camp 7. It was reported that Bounlu Nammathao died in detention in June or July. The three men had been sentenced to life imprisonment after an unfair trial in 1992 for a range of crimes allegedly committed prior to 1975. They had already been detained for "re-education" for 17 years without charge or trial (see Amnesty International Report 1997).

Amnesty International continued to call for Thongsouk Saysangkhi, Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong to be immediately and unconditionally released and provided with urgently needed medical treatment while still in detention. In May it published Lao People's Democratic Republic: Prisoners of conscience left to die, which criticized the failure of the authorities to respond to concerns about their health.

In September Amnesty International published a report, Lao People's Democratic Republic: Religious imprisonment, which urged the authorities to release all prisoners of conscience detained for their religious beliefs. The organization continued to call for the fair trial or release of long-term political prisoners.

No response had been received from the authorities by the end of the year.