Penalty for advocating democracy in Laos? 16 years in jail or worse

Thongpaseuth Keuakoun and Sengaloun Phengphanh, two former leaders of the Lao Students Movement for Democracy (LSMD), remain detained in Samkhe prison, on the eastern outskirts of Vientiane. Thongpaseuth and Sengaloun were arrested in Vientiane on October 26, 1999, along with fellow LSMD members Bouavanh Chanhmanivong, Khamphouvieng Sisa-at and Keochay, for planning peaceful demonstrations that called for democracy, social justice and respect for human rights. All five were subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison for “generating social turmoil and endangering national security”. The government, however, denied that it had detained Bouavanh, Khamphouvieng and Keochay.
Thongpaseuth and Phengphanh are imprisoned in solitary confinement with their legs locked in wooden stocks at all times. Prison authorities allow them out of their cells once a week or once every fortnight to wash and empty the buckets that act as their toilets. They are accompanied by police officers and not by prison guards. Witnesses described them as looking like “human skeletons”. They are allowed to have neither visitors nor food and medication sent from family members. For many years, the Lao government refused to admit Thongpaseuth and Phengphanh had been detained.
The lengthy arbitrary detention of the two former student leaders as well as the prolonged torture inflicted upon them are gross and unacceptable human rights violations. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release them, investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and provide compensation for their wrongful detention.
Khamphouvieng Sisa-at died in Samkhe prison in September 2001 as a result of serious food deprivation, prolonged heat exposure  and a lack of adequate medical care. In 2006, the government stated that Keochay had been released in 2002 upon completion of his prison term and “transferred to guardians to further educate him to become a good citizen”. However, Keochay’s family was never informed of his alleged release and his fate remains unknown. The government’s claim of Keochay’s release and Sisa-at’s death in custody contradict Vientiane’s earlier statement that only two LSMD members – Thongpaseuth and Phengphanh – had been arrested on October 26, 1999. To this day, the fate and whereabouts of the fifth former student leader, Bouavanh, also remains unknown.
We urge the Lao authorities to investigate and ascertain the circumstances related to the death of Khamphouvieng Sisa-at in Samkhe prison, make the investigation’s findings public, and hold those responsible for his death accountable. They must also disclose the fate or whereabouts of Bouavanh and Keochay.
The Observatory and LMHR also call on Lao authorities to determine the fate of nine other activists – two women, Kingkeo and Somchit, and seven men, Soubinh, Souane, Sinpasong, Khamsone, Nou, Somkhit, and Sourigna – who were detained in November 2009 for planning to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations.
More international efforts are needed to press the Lao government to be transparent about the fate or whereabouts of many missing student leaders, activists and human rights defenders. Many of these cases amount to enforced disappearance – an issue that the Lao government has failed to address for far too long.
The two rights organisations also urge the Lao government to speed up the investigation into the enforced
disappearance of prominent civil society leader Sombath Somphone, who was last seen at a police checkpoint on a busy street of Vientiane on
the evening of December 15, 2012.
 
Karim Lahidji, president of the International Federation for Human Rights.
Gerald Staberock, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.
Vanida Thephsouvanh, president of the Lao Movement for Human Rights.