- Country
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2020
- Event Description
Poy and another villager, a woman named Keo were arrested over the next two days after the video appeared on Facebook Monday.
A resident of Xiengda village told RFA’s Lao Service Thursday, “Poy and Keo should not be arrested for merely posting the video on Facebook.”
“People can use their smartphones to record what happens to them so that they have evidence if something terrible occurs. Also taking photos and videos there isn’t against any laws,” the villager said.
Another villager told RFA, that the villagers were fully cooperating with authorities and not physically resisting the land-clearing operation.
“We were just requesting fair compensation. They had proposed that the project compensate us at a cost of 1,500 Thai baht per square meter [U.S. $4.26 per square foot], and to provide each family with a new 500 square meter [5382 square feet] plot of land,” the second villager said.
A village official told RFA on the same day that Poy and Keo had not been officially detained.
“They are only being reeducated in the district police station. There’s no problem. The police will reeducate and release them,” the official said.
“They were taken to the police station for defaming the police and officials on duty and posting it on Facebook, which is just not right,” the official added.
The official also said that the area in question was state land and it was once a national forest preserve.
RFA spoke to Linthong, an official of the medical college project, who said the villagers were merely being opportunistic.
“They settle the land in a forest preserve to eke out a small living, but when the land suddenly becomes more valuable, they try to take it over,” said Linthong.
Keo’s father told RFA Friday that he was trying to secure her release.
“I am filing for the police to release my daughter. They told me she resisted against the police,” he said.
Poy’s family is also requesting his release.
Failed commune
According to residents of the village, the project area was not a forest preserve, but communal land that was used as a collective farm to grow rice from 1979-1980, which failed.
Villagers started occupying the land for their own agricultural purposes, but the government never issued them permanent land titles, regardless of how long they resided there.
A third villager told RFA, “I lost 8,000 square meters [86,111 square feet] of my land to the government, but they just gave me 1.2 million kip [$134]. That is not a fair price.”
A Lao land expert told RFA that the arrest and detention of villagers who demand fair compensation is not new and it frequently happens in areas needed for government projects.
The expert added that no matter how long the villagers lived on the land, even if their occupancy precedes the forestry laws, they can still be removed for occupying state land.
Laos often comes under criticism for land grabs in which authorities seize land from people for development projects without paying them fair compensation for lost crops, property, and livelihoods.
Rights groups say the illegal appropriations violate basic human rights and that such land grabs are a major cause of social tensions in Laos and in neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Online, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 26, 2020
- Country
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Initial Date
- Nov 11, 2019
- Event Description
Police in the Lao capital Vientiane detained eight people this week who were planning protests calling for free speech and condemning land grabs and dam projects, later releasing six of them, RFA’s Lao Service learned on Friday.
The arrests took place on Nov. 11 and 12, thwarting demonstrations the activists had planned for four locations in the capital during the That Luang festival, a Buddhist celebration of a 450-year-old, gold-covered temple.
“On November 11, policemen arrested some of protest leaders … and on November 12, the policemen locked some more protesters in Oudomphone guesthouse in Phonesinuan village, in Vientiane’s Sisatthanak district,” a leader of the planned protest, who avoided arrest, told RFA on Friday.
“First, people were going to rally for respect of human rights, and freedom of speech,” the organizer told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his liberty.
“Second, they wanted to ask the government to prevent land grabs, dam building, deforestation, and unfair relocation of communities,” the activist added.
A Lao official with knowledge of the matter confirmed to RFA on Friday that “people were arrested on those days for planning to stage protests at four places (in Vientiane.”
The protests were planned for the That Luang pagoda grounds, the National University of Laos and two points along highway 13, the official said.
The guesthouse detention was witnessed by villagers.
“I don’t know whether or not those people had come to join the rally, but I saw around six people locked up by the policemen on November 12,” one villager told RFA on Friday.
“I heard some saying they are from the Phonethong district in the southern province of Champassak, but some were not from the south,” he added.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said "these wrongful arrests are just the latest example of the government’s phony pledges to donor agencies and foreign governments that it will respect fundamental liberties.”
The protest leader identified the eight detained activists as Sounthone Fasongsay, Kamkone Phanthavong, Bounnhone Phanthavong, Chiengsone Phanthavong, Kiatthisak Hakmisouk, Phouvong Xaiyaseng, Santinoy Thepkaisone and the wife of Thepkaisone, whose name was unavailable.
On Friday, the Sisatthanak district police station issued an order to release the six would-be protesters who were held at the guest house.
“On November 12, policeman detained an individual for gathering and making a noise longer than limited time during the celebration of the That Luang festival,” read a copy of the order received by one of the six.
“After investigation, police officers reached a compromise to release him on conditions defined in the law. He has been released and handed over to his relatives and local authorities for reeducation,” it read.
One of the six who were released confirmed with RFA that he and five others were “released today after being held for a few days.”
RFA was unable to confirm the fate or whereabouts of two detainees who were not released with the others on Friday.
Reports of protests are rare in Laos, a one-party communist state since 1975 that brooks no public opposition and deals with dissent harshly.
"Lao authorities have frequently labeled as national security threats anyone peacefully expressing dissenting views, criticizing the government, or simply calling for respect for human rights and democratic rule." said Human Rights Watch.
There are no publicly available government figures on political prisoners in Laos, whose opaque judicial system makes it hard to give a reliable estimate on how many are being held. Three were arrested in 2017 and charged with treason after protesting in front of the Lao embassy in neighboring Thailand.
The fate of about 10 other detainees, including students protesters arrested in 1999 and self-styled freedom fighters who launched a raid via a Thai border checkpoint in 2000 remains unclear.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 26, 2019
- Country
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Initial Date
- Feb 1, 2019
- Event Description
Two Lao villagers detained for almost two years without trial for protesting the loss of land awarded by the government to a Vietnamese rubber company are now seriously ill in jail, a local source says. In July 2017, 15 residents of Yeub village in Sekong's Thateng district were taken into custody for obstructing workers and cutting down trees on their former land, with several beaten or subjected to electric shocks in the days following their arrest. Four members of the group have since been released, with another reported to have died in custody last year, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Ten others remain in detention. Two of the villagers still in custody, Souvanh and a villager named Nay, are now in failing health due to the harsh conditions in their jail, a local villager told RFA's Lao Service this week. "Souvanh's body, legs, and arms are swollen, while Nay suffers from a stomach problem and is passing blood," RFA's source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nay had been taken earlier by police for medical treatment, but is now again behind bars, the source said. Souvanh and Nay are now confined with two others in a district police security division jail in Laman district, with six others held at Ban Mo Jail, a provincial police security division facility also in Laman, RFA's source said. Souvanh, who is regarded by police as the group's leader, is being held apart from the others in a separate cell, he added. Call for release Speaking to RFA, Vanida Thepsouvanh-president of the Lao Movement for Human Rights, based in France-called on the government of Laos to "immediately and unconditionally" release the 10 Sekong villagers still in jail. "We recall with great sadness that one has already died in prison," Thepsouvanh said. "The remaining prisoners, most of them from the Brou ethnic minority, who are suffering from poor nutrition and harsh treatment and are confined in dark cells, have serious health problems and could lose their life at any moment," she said. "As we have said before, these persons would not have been arrested if they were living in a country where rule of law prevails." Land grabs and the appropriation of public property to turn over to foreign and domestic companies are common in Laos, and villagers affected by them often refuse to speak out publicly because they fear retribution.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Initial Date
- Jan 22, 2019
- Event Description
The Lao government should urgently investigate the disappearance of three Thai political activists who were last seen in the capital, Vientiane, in December 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 22, 2019, Thai authorities told Human Rights Watch that DNA samples from the bodies found in the Mekong River matched two of the missing activists, Phu Chana and Kasalong. Prominent Thai anti-monarchist Surachai Danwattananusorn, 78, and two close aides, known as Phu Chana, 54, and Kasalong, 47, were last seen in Vientiane on December 11, 2018. Their colleagues promptly reported the disappearances to Lao authorities. The identification of Phu Chana and Kasalong's bodies, raised grave concerns for Surachai, Human Rights Watch said. The two bodies' hands and feet were bound and their faces smashed beyond recognition. They also both had been disemboweled and stuffed with concrete. "The Lao government seems intent on sweeping the abduction and gruesome murder of Thai activists under the rug," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Lao authorities need to credibly investigate and prosecute this heinous case, which has raised alarms for Thai activists in exile in Laos." Two days before the Thai military staged a coup and took power on May 22, 2014, Surachai fled to Laos to escape charges brought against him for lese majeste (insulting the monarchy) and accusations by the Thai military junta regarding his involvement with anti-government militia groups. While in Laos, Surachai, along with the other missing activists, operated online radio programs that strongly criticized military rule in Thailand and the Thai monarchy. The Thai government repeatedly demanded that Laos hand over Surachai and all other Thai anti-monarchists, most recently when Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha visited Vientiane on December 13. The Lao government has not conducted serious investigations into previous disappearances of Thai anti-monarchists living in Vientiane, including Itthipol Sukpaen, missing since June 2016, and Wuthipong Kachathamakul, missing since July 2017, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) does not operate an office in Laos, which could offer protection to refugees. The Lao government also does not permit the regional UNHCR office based in Bangkok to provide protection for Thais who to flee to Laos to escape political persecution. "The Lao government has an obligation to find out what happened to Surachai and all other Thai activists who have gone missing in Laos," Adams said. "Foreign governments and donors should press the Lao government to take serious steps to investigate these cases and prosecute whomever is responsible."
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Death, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
4 shown of 4 entities