Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Laos

International Federation for Human Rights, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Laos, 14 April 2005, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/ifhr/2005/en/60520 [accessed 20 April 2024]
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Death while in custody of Mr. Khamphouvieng Sisa-Ath80

In October 1999, five members of the "Lao Students Movement for Democracy of 26 October 1999", Messrs. Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Khamphouvieng Sisa-ath, Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanhmanivong and Keochay, were arrested and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for "generating social turmoil and endangering national security". The group had organised a peaceful march in Vientiane on 26 October 1999 to denounce social injustice and to call for the respect of human rights and democratic reforms in Laos.

In May 2004, new information, which was previously concealed by Laotian authorities, revealed that Mr. Khamphouvieng Sisa-ath had died in late 2001 as a result of mistreatment while in detention in Samkhe prison, which is located in a suburb of Vientiane. According to co-detainees who had witnessed his death and were subsequently released, Mr. Khamphouvieng Sisa-At died after being exposed to heat for a long period of time. Mr. Sisa-At's ashes were not returned to his relatives.

The Laotian government always refused to provide any coherent information on the whereabouts or health conditions of the other members of the 26 October Movement. Messrs. Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Sengaloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanhmanivong and Keochay were allegedly still detained in Samkhe prison at the end of 2004.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

80. See Annual Report 2003 and Urgent Appeal LAO 001/0604/OBS 041. 259

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