The International Criminal Court

Thongsouk Saysangkhi (sometimes spelt Thongsouk Saysangkhy) was a political prisoner and a former deputy minister of science and technology in the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, a communist political party that has governed Laos since 1975.

In 1990, he was arrested after resigning from the Government and the Party and calling for political and economic change. Also arrested with him were Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittapong. All three were held without trial for two years, before being sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment.

In his resignation letter to Kaysone Phomvihan, then general sectary of the party's central execuitive committee and head of state, Thongsouk Saysangkhi said, "I oppose the dictatorial power of personal cliques, which are precisely what the Party and the State apparat are; and I am demanding the holding of free elections, the putting into practice of popular liberties and democracy, and the existence of democratic institutions opposed to the maintenance of a system of communist feudalism and Politburo dynastism. ... The history of humankind has now confirmed that a single-party system relying exclusively on coercion and deception is incapable of ever bringing prosperity and happiness to our people."

According to Amnesty International, Thongsouk Saysangkhi died in prison in February 1998. Amnesty says it was alerted to the poor prison conditions and Thongsouk Saysangkhi's poor state of health, but was told by Lao authorities that all three were well.

Thongsouk Saysangkhi, prisoner of conscience, died in mid-February 1998 in a remote prison camp in Laos, almost two months after Amnesty International had once again alerted the Lao authorities to his deteriorating state of health. Concerned governments have made repeated representations to the Lao authorities in recent months, both in Vientiane and at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. That Thongsouk Saysangkhi should have been allowed to die and his fellow prisoners left in such critical conditions in the face of these many expressions of concern highlights not only the Lao Government’s complete lack of care of its political prisoners, but its’ contempt for the opinion of the international community.

Since his arrest in 1990 with Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong, Thongsouk Saysangkhi had been detained in extremely harsh conditions, and was denied access to even the most basic medical care. For weeks after his death, the authorities refused to confirm that he had died, and Lao Government representatives told Amnesty International on several occasions that all three prisoners were in good health, in response to the organization’s requests for information. The authorities in the capital Vientiane did not even inform Thongsouk Saysangkhi’s family of his death, and they had to make repeated requests to officials in order to find out whether their family member had died.

Amnesty International has campaigned on behalf of these three prisoners since their arrest and detention in October 1990 following their peaceful calls for political and economic change in their country. [1] After two years of pre-trial detention, during which period they were held for some time in dark solitary confinement cells, all three men were convicted in November 1992 after an unfair trial and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment. A copy of the court judgment obtained by Amnesty International showed that the men were convicted because of their peaceful political beliefs. Part of the evidence quoted against Feng Sakchittaphong was a letter in which he stated:

"I want the democratic change to occur in a peaceful way, without street demonstrations, without confrontation and without overthrow."

The last charge is a reference to the men’s repeated requests for legal representation of their choice. Amnesty International has seen no evidence to support the charge as declared in the judgment that the three men were involved in violent protests during their pre-trial detention. At the trial they were not represented by counsel of their choice, and were not afforded the right to call and examine witnesses. The evidence presented against them by the prosecution were the letters written by the three men which called for peaceful change in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

In the seven and a half years since their arrest, Amnesty International has been able to obtain accurate information about the conditions in which Latsami Khamphoui, Feng Sakchittaphong and Thongsouk Saysangkhi were detained. In the initial stages of their detention in the capital Vientiane, they were held in dark isolation cells. Later they were transferred to Prison Camp Number 07, Ban Sophao, Houa Phanh province, in the far northeast of the country. There they were detained in one cell, measuring six metres long by six metres wide. Although they had mattresses and blankets, the floor of the cell was concrete and a gap between the bottom of the walls and the floor made the cell very cold for several months of the year. The prisoners were required to sit in silence, with a guard at the door to enforce this rule. They were reportedly threatened with beatings or being shot if they spoke to each other. They had no access to reading or writing materials, and were only permitted to leave the cell to bathe once a fortnight. No medical facilities are available in Camp Number 07, and over the years all three men suffered from various chronic medical complaints requiring treatment, including angina, kidney problems and, in Thongsouk Saysangkhi’s case, diabetes. The men’s families have had very limited access to the prisoners, and on the rare occasions that visits were permitted, only small amounts of food and medicine could be given to the prisoners. The intervals between permitted visits were sometimes as long as two years.

Although the organization has not been permitted to enter the country and conduct research, letters from the three prisoners to Amnesty International have reached the organization over the years. Some of these letters asked for help, others reported brief improvements or deterioration in conditions, and others explained the men’s political views. Until now, Amnesty International has not made public reference to these letters, out of concern for the prisoners’ safety, but has undertaken many actions, both publicly and through diplomatic channels in an attempt to improve the conditions under which the prisoners were held, pending an unconditional release for all of them. The organization deeply regrets that warnings it has given to the Lao authorities in the recent past have been ignored, with the tragic result that one of the prisoners has died in custody, having been denied access to the medical care he desperately needed.

Amnesty International was alerted to the most recent deterioration in the health of all three prisoners in December 1997, when messages were received asking for urgent assistance. Amnesty International promptly issued an Urgent Action (see Appendix B), calling for immediate medical treatment and hospitalization for all three men and urging the Lao authorities to take any possible steps to alleviate the prisoners’ conditions as a humanitarian gesture. There is no evidence that the Lao authorities made any efforts to respond to these appeals, in spite of interventions at the highest level, not only from Amnesty International but also from concerned governments and the United Nations.

In early February 1998, Amnesty International received copies of three handwritten notes, dated November 1997 and sent by Feng Sakchittaphong and Latsami Khamphoui, calling for medical help. While in the past, all three men had written letters, Amnesty International was very concerned that on this occasion, letters came only from two of the three men. One letter states:

"At the moment I am seriously ill ... My stomach is swollen, painful and I can’t eat anything. I can’t sleep. I am groaning with pain all the time. I ask you to go and ask permission from the authorities to send me home for treatment."

"I beg you to telephone or telegram to my wife and inform her that I am in very much pain. I can’t pass my waste or water for more than a week now ... I am constantly groaning. I beg you to go and ask permission for me to have treatment."

Amnesty International alerted members of the diplomatic community to this development. In the last seven years, a number of concerned governments have made representations to the Lao authorities on behalf of the three prisoners. The response from the authorities has been simply to give assurances that the men were well, and in at least one case to advise the concerned government "not to listen to Amnesty International". For seven and a half years the Lao Government has refused to improve the conditions of detention of these prisoners of conscience, with the tragic result that Thongsouk Saysangkhi was left to die, far from his family and with no medical care.

Amnesty International often was better informed about the condition of these prisoners than the Lao Government’s own diplomatic representatives. On 18 February, the organization received a message that Thongsouk Saysangkhi had died at least a week before, and asking for confirmation. Amnesty International’s representative at the United Nations in New York immediately contacted the Lao Mission to the UN and asked for confirmation; the Counsellor at the mission said he had no knowledge of Thongsouk’s death, but would contact Amnesty International if they received news from Vientiane. Amnesty International delivered a letter to the Lao Mission on 19 February, asking in writing for confirmation of Thongsouk Saysangkhi’s death, and calling for urgent treatment for Feng Sakchittaphong and Latsami Khamphoui (see Appendix C). Later that day, a letter was sent by fax from the Lao Mission to Amnesty International which was clearly designed to provide assurances about the state of health of the three prisoners. However, the letter was dated 18 June 1997, and was in response to a query from the UN Centre for Human Rights in Geneva, from 28 February 1997 (see Appendix D). Amnesty International reiterated to the Lao Mission that the organization had new information about the prisoners and was seeking confirmation and assistance from the Mission in bringing these concerns to the attention of the Lao Government (see Appendix E).

Concerned governments with diplomatic representatives based in Vientiane also requested official confirmation of Thongsouk Saysangkhi’s death from the Lao authorities, which was eventually given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in early March, more than three weeks after Thongsouk had died. In spite of repeated requests from Amnesty International, the United Nations, and the representatives of concerned governments, there has been no improvement in the treatment of the two surviving prisoners.

In March 1998, a letter reached Amnesty International from one of the three prisoners. Dated 19 January 1998, the letter was written when all three men were still alive, and almost a month after Amnesty International’s December 1997 Urgent Action on their behalf. It is a poignant cry for help from three prisoners of conscience, detained in appalling conditions and isolated from their families. The text of the letter (translated from the Lao original) follows:

We considered it an extremely important event when in December 1997, we had the opportunity to learn of the unceasing activities of Amnesty International with regard to the situation of violations of human rights in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and in particular of its enormously necessary efforts to assist in rescuing us from the danger of being in the vicious hands of those who want with ill-intentions immorally to punish us with death. We do not want to have to speak again about how the dictatorial authorities of the Lao PDR are using schemes of incommunicado detention, including prohibitions on family visits and the total denial of all medical care through their ignominious interdiction of all types of medications. This overall situation is the reason why we have now fallen into double ill-health and deterioration. These are extremely perilous circumstances that will be very difficult for us to traverse, even though we have tried in every way to live long and useful lives. At the same time, we would like to inform you about some things that are urgently necessarily in every aspect:

1. We have learned of news that in early January 1998 some medications were sent to us from abroad via the postal service from Vientiane to Sam Neua, which were then passed to the Justice Department of the Houa Phanh provincial police, along with gifts from our families. The news was that these medications and other items were opened and confiscated by the Justice Department of the Police, without acknowledging that they had ever been received. So, when police officials here investigated the reality, they didn’t dare to recognize it even though when they checked the packages against the list of items included, they found that the medications and other items had been lost due to damage. We therefore had to write letters to the governor of Houa Phanh province and the commander of the Houa Phanh provincial police asking for their assistance in having the medications and other items sent us, because we needed them very much. But this, too, was ignored for reasons that we don’t know.

2. Later, on 11 January 1998, the Head of the Prison 7 came personally to inspect the poor state of our health. He thus knew the facts of how truly poorly we were. He said, "we here at the camp have many times in the past reported your state of ill-health, and we have also sent every one of your letters to the upper echelons, but for some reason that I don’t know the Ministry of Interior has consistently ignored all this." And the head of the camp reemphasized that "We all know that we are no different from simple watchmen, and we have the utmost pity for you." We then asked about our food ration, because for the past three or four months we had only low quality rice, and none of us would be able to withstand this any longer, this endless deprivation, this just giving us plain rice. The head of the Camp interrupted to reply, "This matter is similarly under the control of the Ministry. We go to the provincial level to keep asking and asking again and again until we’re blue in the face. Give us a break and wait until I go again and ask yet another time."

Thus, again with the greatest of confidence in your role as Amnesty International’s spokesperson for what is morally right and for the glorious power of the civilized world, we would like to conclude by asking you to redouble your pressure through the most stringent of means vis-a-vis the dictatorial authorities of the Lao PDR to get them to cease all their base and vicious behaviour in our regard, and to release us unconditionally so that we can regain our freedom. At the same time, given all that we know, we would like to express our overwhelming gratitude to Your Excellency the Secretary-General of Amnesty International and our even more overwhelming and sincere gratitude to you, as a most senior and exalted person, for your every future good-hearted and well-intentioned move to put a stop to this most terrible and abject punishment to which we are being subjected by the Communist authorities in Vientiane.

Shortly after this letter was written, and smuggled out of the country at great personal risk to those involved, Thongsouk Saysangkhi died. It is too late for him and his family, but it is not yet too late for Latsami Khamphoui, Feng Sakchittaphong and their families. Amnesty International has tried for many years to engage the Lao authorities in dialogue about the conditions of detention of these three prisoners of conscience. The organization’s appeals, both public and private, direct and through intermediaries have been ignored, at the cost of one life. Amnesty International calls upon the Lao authorities to release Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong immediately and unconditionally and to return them to Vientiane, to their families, where they can receive the medical treatment they desperately need.

Three prisoners of conscience, detained since October 1990, are seriously ill and need immediate medical treatment. Amnesty International fears that if they do not receive appropriate medical treatment in hospital, the three prisoners of conscience will not survive.

Thongsouk Saysangkhi, Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong are detained in a prison camp in a remote area of Laos, to which access is very difficult. There are no medical facilities in the prison camp, and their conditions of detention are extremely harsh and fall far short of international minimum standards for the treatement of detainees. Recent calls for help from the three prisoners indicate that they are all gravely ill and urgently require medical treatment. All three men are known to have suffered from serious medical conditions throughout their detention, made worse by the harsh environment in which they are held. They have been denied the adequate medical care that they need, and their health has seriously deteriorated. Latsami Khamphoui has angina; Thongsouk Saysangkhi and Feng Sakchittaphong are suffering from a variety of illnesses including kidney problems, diabetes, and intestinal problems. Medicines recently sent to the three prisoners have not been received by them.

Thongsouk Saysangkhi, Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong are former government officials who were arrested in October 1990 for writing letters advocating peaceful political and economic change in Laos. They were tried in a grossly unfair trial in November 1992 on various charges including "preparations for a rebellion", "propaganda against the Lao People’s Democratic Republic" and "libel and slander". They were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment. All three have been adopted as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.

Family visits to the men have been severely restricted. At one point, no visits were allowed for almost two years. The men are allowed no reading or writing material, and at various times have been held in small cold cells with no beds, forbidden to talk to each other, allowed out of their cells only once a fortnight to bathe, and have been threatened with beatings by prison guards.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/express/airmail letters in English or French or your own language:

- calling for immediate medical treatment and hospitalization for Thongsouk Saysangkhi, Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong;

- urging the authorities to take any steps they can to alleviate the conditions of these prisoners of conscience who may not survive their current situation, as a humanitarian gesture;

- urging that all three prisoners of conscience be immediately and unconditionally released .

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 10 February 1998.

(1) For an account of the court proceedings and a full copy of the judgment see Amnesty International Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Prisoners of conscience suffering in isolation,(AI Index: ASA 26/02/96), November 1996. Biographies of the three prisoners can be found in Appendix A attached to this document.

The Lao Hmong refugee who documented an alleged massacre of five Hmong children by Lao troops has described in detail how the children were attacked and raped by Lao troops before he returned and photographed their mutilated bodies.

In a lengthy interview with RFA’s Lao service, Va Cha Yang, a merchant who smuggled video footage of the children’s bodies out of Laos, rejected claims by the Lao government that the video was fabricated.

“I would like to insist that the event really happened, and I can tell you that I am ready to take officials from various organizations to check the site..."

“I would like to insist that the event really happened, and I can tell you that I am ready to take officials from various organizations to check the site where Lao soldiers raped and murdered the four young Hmong girls and one boy,” Va Cha Yang, 38, said. “If, after the inspection, there is no truth to the whole thing, I ask that the whole world punishes me alone.”

The massacre occurred on May 19, between 7 and 8 a.m., he said. “It happened on the day when we went out to dig up bamboo shoots and roots for food preparation near the foot of the Me Nam Muak Mountain. We were divided into two groups—there were 20 of us altogether,” Va Cha Yang said.

“The first group was made up of 12 people including the four young girls and the one boy who were killed. The second group that I was in had eight people. We were walking 100 meters behind the first group. We were all walking past a big tree, using a path that was slightly cleared, when suddenly a group of Lao soldiers appeared and surrounded the group. At the same time, gunshots were heard all over,” Va Cha Yang said.

"...we could hear their crying and screams… As for the soldiers, they chased and grabbed the young girls."

“Our group, still 100 meters back, was shocked. We hit the dirt rapidly and then quickly ran back to where we had started from. From the leading group of 12, we could hear their crying and screams… As for the soldiers, they chased and grabbed the young girls. Laughing, they cried out, ‘Girls, girls,’ then started to rape them like animals,” he said. “There were about 30 to 40 soldiers.”

“Amidst the gunshots and the cries and screams from the children, our group of eight first hid in the dirt and then ran back to our camp. It took us 15 minutes to get there. Then along with two or three of our own soldiers, I ran back to the site. This time I took the video recorder with me,” he said.

“When we got to the site, the Lao communist soldiers were no longer there. As for the four young girls and the one young boy, their bodies lay on the ground in a very pitiful manner. Some had their entrails pulled out and left in piles next to their bodies. When I saw this, I was upset and so shaken that I almost could not take any pictures,” Va Cha Yang said.

Va Cha Yang, who is Hmong, had been hiding in the area since June 2003, after escorting two Western journalists into Xaysomboun Province to document a Hmong insurgency there. He was arrested on June 5, 2003, one day after the two journalists, Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud, were taken into custody. Falise and Reynaud were expelled on July 9, 2003, after receiving 15-year prison sentences for weapons possession and obstruction of justice. Two Lao military officers beat Va Cha Yang unconscious and held him for two days, then released him on June 7, 2003, he said.

Falise and Reynaud’s footage was confiscated, but the two men had left one video camera behind with Hmong rebel leader Moua Toua Ter, he said. Falise and Reynaud “were very touched by what they say and they felt pity for the people who live there,” Va Cha Yang said. “So they gave the camera to Moua Toua Ter so that he could record when the soldiers come to attack their camp.” Va Cha Yang fled to the rebel group after his release, and it was this video camera that he used to document the children’s bodies on May 19, he said.

Va Cha Yang said he remained in hiding in Xaysomboun Province for one month before fleeing with his footage to Thailand. Va Cha Yang was detained on suspicion of selling goods to the Hmong rebels from 1997-99 but was never charged, he said. While in custody he kept busy by cooking for his jailers and for the other inmates, and he said that it was perhaps because he was known for this that he was released quickly in 2003.

“Hostile news reporting and footage presented in foreign press were created for the purpose of slandering the Lao government..."

Lao official media this week quoted Lao army investigators as saying the alleged massacre was fabricated. The Vientiane Times cited Colonel Bouaxieng Champaphan, deputy director of the Lao People’s Army general staff department, as saying the alleged attack never took place.

“Hostile news reporting and footage presented in foreign press were created for the purpose of slandering the Lao government and dividing the state of solidarity among people within the country,” it quoted him as saying. Bouaxieng also “reaffirmed that Lao soldiers would not do such a thing,” it said.

Amnesty International says it has evidence confirming the alleged mutilation and massacre of unarmed children, aged between 13 and 16. Four of the five were girls and were also raped, it said.

“The attacks violate the most fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. These rapes and killings constitute war crimes,” the London-based human rights group said. “The Lao authorities must, as a matter of utmost urgency, permit UN agencies and independent monitors unfettered access to those rebels.”

In its 2003 human rights report, the U.S. State Department said the Lao government’s human rights record “was poor and it continued to commit serious abuses.”

“Members of the security forces abused detainees, especially those suspected of insurgent or anti-government activity. Heightened insurgent activity and the government's response resulted in scores of civilian casualties during the year. Prisoners were sometimes abused and tortured, and prison conditions generally were extremely harsh and life threatening. Police used arbitrary arrest, detention, and surveillance,” it said.

War Crimes Trial Urged for Lao Military and
Lao People's Revolutionary Party Officials

August 13, 2008

Hmong National Development (HND) urged the international tribunal and court in The Hague, Netherlands to immediately investigate and indict Lao military officers for crimes against humanity among others.

Hmong National Development, Inc. HND a Washington, D.C. non-profit corporation, again urged the international war crimes tribunal officials in The Hague, Netherlands, to investigate and indict key Lao military and communist party officials in Laos for recent crimes against humanity, including, ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes, especially against the Hmong people.

Hmong National Development, Inc., HND, continues to highlight and condemn, in the strongest terms, the ongoing war crimes of key Lao military officials and communist party officials for their brutal military attacks, ethnic cleansing campaign and atrocities directed against thousands of unarmed Laotian and Hmong villagers and civilians in parts of Xieng Khouang Province, Luang Prabang Province, Vientiane Province, Saysamboune Special Military Zone, Sam Nuea Province and elsewhere in Laos, including other closed military zones.

For more information visit: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA26/004/2004

Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND) continues to urge senior-level officials in The Hague to investigate and name Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphanvanh for crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes and other violations of international law. HND further urged that Lt. General Choumaly Sayasone (also spelled Choummali Saignason), who serves as President of the LPDR regime in Laos and be indicted on the same charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hundreds of Lao Hmong refugees recently forced back to Laos from a refugee camp in Thailand’s, Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province, have been sent to harsh and isolated political reeducation camps in Laos where they are being persecuted and suffer. Hundreds of Hmong refugees forced back to Laos have been tortured, summarily executed or have disappeared in Laos.

HND urged the Hague to indict other LPDR officials for the recent campaign of mass starvation and killing of the Hmong, including summary executions of hundreds of innocent women and children, including: Deputy Prime Minister, Major General Asang Laoli and Defense Minister, Major General Douangchai Phichit and others.

Due to pressure from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international community, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was recently flown from the Serbian capital Belgrade to the The Hague where he will face trial before a UN war-crimes tribunal. HND in cooperation with other human rights and non-governmental organizations has documented the massacre and killing of thousands of innocent and unarmed Hmong and Laotian civilians by key Lao military and political leaders of the communist party in recent months.

Karadzic, like the current military and communist officials in Laos [is accused of being] directly responsible for ordering the killing and attacks against thousands of Bosnian people, including a massacre and summary execution of over 8,000 Bosnian soldiers and men who were captured fighting against Karadzic’s soldiers at a U.N. protected safe haven overrun by Karadzic’s military troops.

[…]

Christy Lee stated further: "As a Hmong person, and on behalf of the Hmong community, we are urging war crimes tribunal officials in the international court in The Hague, Nettherlands, to immediately take action against Laos Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphanvany and other LPDR officials such as they are now doing to bring Radovan Karadzic to justice for his role in the massacre of thousands of people; HND is calling for the Hague war crimes officials to investigate and bring these Lao military and party officials before and international tribunal in the Hague; we want the LPDR regime and these officials to immediately cease these deplorable attacks against Laotian and Hmong civilians in Laos that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Hmong women and children in recent months."

In June, the U.S. Congress, lead by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Rep. Chris Shays, Rep. Frank Wolf, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. James Moran, Rep. Ron Kind, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and fifteen Members of Congress have recently introduced and cosponsored House Resolution 1273 (H. Res. 1273) which urges the LPDR regime in Laos to immediate cease its military attacks against the Laotian and Hmong people.

[…]

"At this very moment in the Phou Bia area, Vang Vieng and Phou Da Phao and elsewhere in Laos, the Lao regime is engaged in massive military and ethnic cleansing operations against unarmed civilians and is engaged in crimes against humanity; according to Amnesty International and other independent human rights organization the Lao regime is starving and killing thousands of its own people in the jungles and mountains of Laos, especially innocent Hmong women and children, who wish only to live in peace and freedom," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.

The Lao military, supported by the military and special forces units of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) is waging a war of ethnic cleansing and mass starvation according to recent reports by Amnesty International, the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), the Hmong Lao Human Rights Council (HLHRC), the Laos Institute for Democracy (LID), United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc. (ULDL) and others.

According to independent non-governmental organizations and religious believers, the LPDR regime in Laos is also engaged in intensified religious persecution, especially against independent Protestant Christian and Buddhists groups practicing their faith outside official government control and oversight, against Laotian and Hmong believe. This is being conducted by special units of the Lao and Vietnamese security and military forces.

Three (3) Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul, Minnesota, including Mr. Hakit Yang, have been imprisoned in Laos without charge for nearly one year, after being arrested by Lao military and security forces in 2007. Shortly after arrival in Laos from St. Paul, they were arrested in Xieng Khouang Province Laos. They were moved to the capital and jailed, tortured and subject to brutal interrogation in Ponthong Prison in Vientiane, Laos, before being handcuffed, placed in hoods and thrown on trucks and moved to another location in Laos in the summer of 2007.

Thousands of Laotian and Hmong civilians have been killed in Laos in the last year [2007] from combined LPDR military and security force attacks, mass starvation, summary executions and harsh imprisonment. Thousands have disappeared, and are feared dead, at the hands of Lao security and military units, including elite and special "hunter killer" units engaged in hunting and killing Hmong living independent outside the LPDR regime's control.

Hundreds of Hmong forcibly returned to Laos in the last several months.

"He sacrificed his life in the Quest for democracy"
Kay Danes - Former Political Prisoner Laos 2000-2001

Khamphouvieng Sisa-at died in September 2001 in the notorious Samkhe prison after Lao authorities allegedly starved him and forced him to endure prolonged exposure to the sun in the prison courtyard. A former political prisoner who had fled to Thailand after completing an eight-year prison sentence, Ly Vong, witnessed Khamphouvieng's arrival at the prison.

Ly Vong said Khamphouvieng was very weak when he arrived at Samkhe, a jail in the nation's capital, Vientiane, located not far from the beautiful golden landmark known to tourists as 'That Luang'.

During his detainment, like most other prisoners, Khampouvieng lived only on a small portion of sticky rice and bowl of water soup. Ly Vong says before his death, the prison authorities put Khamphouvieng outside in the direct sun for a long period of time.

Amnesty International has released several credible reports concerning the treatment of prisoners and conditions in Lao prisons. Ly Vong's account of Khampouvieng's death has been confirmed by other sources that arrived in Thailand earlier this year having been released from Samkhe prison.

Khamphouvieng was one of five key leaders of the 1999 student democracy movement-including Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanmanivong and Keochay-who helped organize a peaceful but abortive demonstration on Oct. 26, 1999 in Vientiane. These young students were preparing to call for democratic reforms in Laos, a country controlled by an oppressive communist regime that prevents the social justice for its people.

After years of denials from Lao authorities over the arrests of the five student democracy leaders, the truth is now known.

Mr. Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, and over 100 of his colleagues, students and teachers, were arrested by the Lao Secret Police on October 26, 1999, the only one pro-democracy demonstration in Laos since 1975. Many of those jailed were mistreated and tortured by the Lao authorities. It is estimated that some 30-50 persons are still jailed. Amnesty International has issued several Urgent Action alerts regarding these pro-democracy demonstrators since November 1999.

We also learn that at least one of the 5 Lao leaders Movement for Democracy whose pictures is on the top of this Web-site has not been seen in the Lao's Gulag for more than a year

We are fearful that he may pass away due to the torture and harsh treatment by the Lao authorities. We therefore are urgently asking you on behalf of the Lao Students Movement for Democracy of 26 October, 99, to ask you to please contact your government and your elected officials to contact the Lao government to release Mr. Thongpaseuth and his colleagues immediately and unconditionally. As well as writing to the President of Laos, Mr. Khamtay Siphandone and Mr. Boungnang Vorachith, Prime Minister of Laos.

From the notice in Lao language bellow we now learned from the media that Mr. Khamphouvieng Sisa-At has passed away more than 2yrs ago due to torture and malnutrition.

ນຶ່ງ ໃນຈຳນວນ ຜູ້ນຳນັກສຶກສາ 26 ຕຸລາ ເສັຍຊີວິດ ໃນຄຸກຊຳເຄ້

ທ່ານ ຄຳພູວຽງ ສີສະອາດ, ນຶ່ງໃນຈຳນວນຜູ້ນຳ ນັກສຶກສາ ຄຣູອາຈານ 5 ຄົນ ໃນຂບວນ 26 ຕຸລາ, ໄດ້ເສັຍຊີວິດ ຢູ່ໃນຄຸກຊຳເຄ້, ອີງຕາມຂ່າວ ທີ່ເຊື່ອຖືໄດ້ ຊຶ່ງເອເຊັຍເສຣີ ໄດ້ຮັບໃນມື້ວັນສຸກ ວັນທີ 21 ເດືອນພຶສພາ ຜ່ານມາ.

ອີງຕາມຂ່າວດັ່ງກ່າວ, ທ່ານ ຄຳພູວຽງ ໄດ້ເສັຍຊີວິດ ແບບທໍຣະມານ ພາຍຫລັງທີ່ເຈົ້າໜ້າທີ່ ໄດ້ມັດຕາກແດດ ໃນເດີ່ນ ຄຸກຊຳເຄ້. ທ່ານ ຄຳພູວຽງ ໄດ້ເສັຍຊີວິດ ໃນຣະຫວ່າງ ເດືອນ 9 ປີ 2001 ແຕ່ທາງການ ສປປລາວ ກໍໄດ້ປິດລັບຂ່າວ ບໍ່ໃຫ້ຜິ່ວອອກມາ ສູ່ນອກປະເທດ.

ກ່ຽວກັບການເສັຍຊິວິດ ຂອງທ່ານຄຳພູວຽງນີ້, ອະດີດນັກໂທດ ການເມືອງລາວມົ້ງ, ທ່ານ ລີ ວົງ, ທີ່ຫາກໍຖືກປ່ອຍ ມາສູ່ປະເທດໄທ ໄດ້ຖແລງ ໃນການໃຫ້ສຳພາດ ແກ່ເອເຊັຍເສຣີ ໃນມື້ວັນສຸກ ທີ 21 ພຶສພາວ່າ:

"ຄຳພູວຽງ, ລາວຕາຍ ເມື່ອປີ 2001. ລາວຕາຍລະ! ເສັຍຊີວິດ ຄັກແນ່ ລະ, ເຫັນກັບຕາ ລະ. ລະກະ ຍາມໃກ້ຊິຕາຍນັ້ນ ເຂົາເອົາອອກມາ ນອນຕາກແດດ ນະ! ແມ່ນເຈົ້າໜ້າທີ່ ຮັບຜິດຊອບນັກໂທດນັ້ນ, ເຂົາຈັດເປັນໜ່ວຍ ເຂົາຮ້ອງວ່າ ໜ່ວຍແຮງງານ ພວກນັ້ນ, ເຂົາໄປຈູດ. ຄຳພູວຽງ ນີ້ ເຂົາບໍ່ໃຫ້ຄອບຄົວ ໄປຈູດເດ, ການຈັດຕັ້ງ ເຂົາໄປຈູດເອງ"

ພາຍຫລັງທີ່ໄດ້ ປະຕິເສດ ເຫດການ ຕຽມປະທ້ວງ 26 ຕຸລາ ມາເປັນເວລາຫລາຍປີ, ທາງການລາວ ກໍໄດ້ຖແລງ ແບບສັບສົນ ແລະ ບໍ່ແຈ້ງຂາວ ເຖິງຊາຕາກັມ ຂອງຄົນທັງ 5, ອັນມີທ່ານ ທອງປະສເດ ເກື້ອກູນ, ແສງອາລຸນ ແພງພັນ, ບົວວັນ ຈັນມະນີວົງ, ແກ້ວໃຈ ແລະ ຄຳພູວຽງ ສີສະອາດ.

ໃນວັນທີ 28 ເດືອນມິນາ ປີ 2003 ແລ້ວນີ້, ຂ່າວສານປະເທດລາວ ກໍໄດ້ເຜີຍຈົດໝາຍ ຂອງນາຍົກ ສປປລາວ, ທ່ານ ບຸນຍັງ ວໍຣະຈິດ, ກ່າວເຖິງການຕັດສິນຈຳຄຸກ ທ່ານ ທອງປະເສີດ ແລະ ຄນະ ແຕ່ 5 ຫາ 10 ປີ ແຕ່ກໍບໍ່ໄດ້ເວົ້າເຖິງ ການເສັຍຊີວິດ ຂອງທ່ານ ຄຳພູວຽງ ແຕ່ຢ່າງໃດ.

LAO DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT LEADER
DIED OF MISTREATMENT IN JAIL

One of the leaders of the 1999 pro-democracy student movement in Laos died nearly three years ago in detention following prolonged heat exposure and near-starvation by the authorities in a prison close to the capital Vientiane, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Khamphouvieng Sisa-at died more than two years ago, “around September 2001” in the notorious Samkhe prison after prolonged exposure to the sun in the prison courtyard and malnutrition. A former Lao Hmong political prisoner who had fled to Thailand after completing an eight-year prison sentence, Ly Vong, witnessed Khamphouvieng’s arrival at the prison.

"When he arrived at the prison, he was too weak to work and when a prisoner doesn't work, he doesn't get food," Ly told RFA’s Lao service. "He only received a small portion of sticky rice and a bowl of vegetable soup.

Khamphouvieng died because he wasn't cared for or fed properly. Before his death, the prison authorities put him outside in the direct sun for a long period of time."

Ly’s account was confirmed by another source who cited eyewitness accounts from other former Lao Hmong political prisoners at the jail who also fled to Thailand this year their release from Samkhe prison.

Khamphouvieng was one of five key leaders of the 1999 student democracy movement—including Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanmanivong and Keochay—who helped organize a peaceful but abortive demonstration on Oct. 26, 1999 in Vientiane.

The Samkhe prison has been criticized by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, for its treatment of political prisoners.

The protesters were preparing to call for democratic reforms, a crackdown on corruption, and more social justice for the Lao people. All five leaders were arrested, with dozens of others, and little has been heard of them since.

The international community, including Amnesty International, the United States Congress and the European Parliament, have repeatedly pressed the Lao government for news of the detained student activists, who became a symbol of the democracy movement in the exiled Lao population.

After years of denials from Lao authorities over the arrests of the five student democracy leaders, the official Lao news agency KPL published a letter on March 28, 2003 from Lao Prime Minister Boungang Vorachith in which he repeated the official version of events, but made no mention of Khamphouvieng.

Hundreds of students, teachers, cadres, and ordinary people were preparing to take to the streets of Vientiane on October 26, 1999 in peaceful

demonstrations calling for democratic reform and greater social justice when they were quickly suppressed by the authorities. While the five leaders were arrested immediately, others managed to flee, crossing the Mekong and finding refuge in Thailand and then in the United States.

Activist died in Lao prison from neglect, says radio report

Sunday May 23, 2004

AFP HANOI: One of the leaders of the 1999 pro-democracy student movement in Laos died nearly three years ago in detention following prolonged heat exposure and near-starvation, Radio Free Asia reported.

Citing a former Hmong prisoner who fled to Thailand after an eight-year jail sentence, the US government-funded network said Khamphouvieng Sisa-at died “around September 2001” in Samkhe prison near Vientiane.

“When he arrived at the prison, he was too weak to work and when a prisoner doesn't work, he doesn't get food,” Ly Vong told Radio Free Asia's Lao service.

“He only received a small portion of sticky rice and a bowl of vegetable soup. Khamphouvieng died because he wasn't cared for or fed properly.

“Before his death, the prison authorities put him outside in the direct sun for a long period of time.”

Samkhe prison has been criticised by international human rights groups for its treatment of political prisoners.

In a statement issued on Friday, the network said Ly's testimony was confirmed by another source, who cited eyewitness accounts from other former Hmong political prisoners.

The government could not be reached for comment. – AFP

Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada

To: Bounyang Vorachit, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Mr. Alounkeo Kittikhoun, Permanent Mission of Lao People’s Democratic Republic to the UN

From: Monique Pongracic-Speier, member of Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada

Date: 2004-06-07

LRWC is distressed by information indicating that one of the leaders of the Lao Students’ Movement for Democracy of 26 October 1999 (the “26 October 1999 Movement” or “Movement”), Khamphouvieng Sisa-At, died while in custody at the Samkhe prison near Vientiane in late 2001. According to information conveyed to the Lao Movement for Human Rights, and, in turn, to the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Mr. Sisa-At died after prolonged heat exposure. The information about the circumstances of Mr. Sisa-At’s death emerged in May 2004 following the release of other prisoners who were witness to it.

LRWC is aware that a number of individuals associated with the 26 October 1999 Movement were arrested in late October 1999 by secret police following the Movement’s public calls for the release of political prisoners, respect for human rights, a multi-party political system and elections for a new National Assembly. Given the new information about Mr. Sisa-At’s death, LRWC fears for the safety of members of the 26 October 1999 Movement whose whereabouts are unknown, but some of whom have been confirmed by the Government to be in custody. The missing individuals include Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Sengaloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanhmanivong, and Keochay.

LRWC calls on the Lao Government to take the following actions:

provide information on the whereabouts of Mssrs. Keuakoun, Phengphanh, Chanhmanivong, and Keochay;
release Mssrs. Keuakoun, Phengphanh, Chanhmanivong, and Keochay immediately and unconditionally;
return Mr. Sisa-At’s remains to his relatives;
end government opposition to human rights defenders; and
ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards.

LRWC respectfully reminds the Government of Laos of its duty to promote and protect the activities of human rights advocates in Laos, as confirmed by the Declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998.

LRWC also urges the Government to finally ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was signed by Laos in 2000.

Please advise LRWC, by mail, e-mail or fax, of the actions that the Government of Laos is taking in relation to the matters discussed above. LRWC awaits your response.

A hostage is a "a person held by one party in a conflict as a pledge that promises will be kept or terms met by the other party; a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands; one that is involuntarily controlled by an outside influence".

Hostage-taking is defined under international law (United Nations International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, adopted December 17, 1979) as the seizing or detaining and threatening to kill, injure, or continue to detain a person in order to compel a third party to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the seized or detained person.

On 19th January 2001, the Lao Government committed itself to 'hostage-taking' when a leading Laotian official leading their case told the ABCs reporter [Geoff Thompson] in Vientiane that the Government could free the Danes if another couple, the founders of Gem Mining Laos, who fled the country, made themselves available.

[ABC Transcripts 19/1/2001 Australians deny Laos sapphire heist, Family of jailed couple in Laos slams government action. Further reading click here

In September 2001, the Australian Government acknowledged to the Danes, in the presence of the Australian Embassy and Lao PDR Immigration officers, that the Danes were in fact, being held hostage! This consideration was reiterated in numerous media statements and in private comments to both the Danes and their family.

In a statement to the ABC, "It's very difficult for the Lao authorities to accept that there's anything much wrong with a situation where people may take the rap for something that they didn't do. As they said to us on a number of occasions, if the Danes had been released, where does that leave us? How can we get the compensation for all the damage that has been done to the Lao people over the years by Gem Mining Lao? Don't be too fussed about the connection between the Danes and Gem Mining Lao. The Danes are all we've got left".

Hong Kong-based Jardine Securicor hired Kerry Danes on 4 January 1999 as Managing Director to its subsidiary, Lao Securicor Company Limited [Lao Securicor], a joint venture partnership between Jardine Securicor [70%] and the Lao PDR Ministry of Interior [30%].

Lao Securicor Company was established to provide security services for private enterprise, foreign investors, non-government, and other organizations. The subsidiary experienced a number of problems within only weeks of commencing operations in October 1998. Many key expatriates employed by the company had fallen foul of the Lao PDR authorities at some point including the then manager who departed the Lao PDR claiming in a letter dated 28 October 1998 terminating the lease of the house he rented "due to difficulties with the Lao Government".

On 18 January 1999, Kerry Danes and the General Manager of Securicor in Hong Kong arrived in the Lao PDR to conduct a handover from the outgoing Managing Director to Kerry Danes. They met in the law offices of Dirksen, Flipse, Doran and Le [DFDL], the company engaged by Jardine Securicor to provide legal services to its subsidiary, Lao Securicor. Kerry Danes was told there were no problems with the Joint Venture and that if there were any difficulties in the future, he would have the full support of Securicor.

In May 1999, Kerry Danes discovered a letter in his office from the Lao PDR Ministry of Interior [Joint Venture Partners of Laos Securicor], ordering the closure of the Laos Securicor operation and directing Securicor to cease seeking future business. Kerry Danes consulted with DFDL lawyers and his superiors in Securicor Hong Kong. He was advised to disregard the letter and to grow the company stating that the differences with the Joint Venture Partners had been resolved.

In June 1999, Kay Danes was formally employed by Lao Securicor in the dual roles of Administrative Manager/ Contracts Manager. In accordance with her work permit 10% tax was paid on all income derived from within the Lao PDR.

Kay Danes continued to provide professional consulting services outside Laos for clients requiring 'Close Protection Services'. This did not in any way conflict with her employment contract with Lao Securicor. On occasion, her services were engaged by Securicor [Hong Kong] in countries external to Laos. According to the Lao Law, there was no tax payable in the Lao PDR by Kay Danes in respect of the business that she conducted entirely outside the jurisdiction of the Lao PDR.

Within the first two years of operation, Lao Securicor became one of the country's leading service providers, training over 1400 Laotians in the field of 'Security' based on International Standards. It's client base grew to over 75+ prestigious clients including, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asia Development Bank, International and Domestic Airports, Embassies, Non-Government organizations, United Nations Projects and leading foreign investors, businesses and private residences.

On 28 May 2000 the Directors of Gem Mining Lao [GML], a client of Lao Securicor, left the Lao PDR to obtain urgent medical treatment. They did not return out of concern for their safety. As this report shows, GML was in the process of what later resulted in an illegal expropriation by the Lao PDR government. Unbeknown to Kerry Danes, GML faxed a letter to DFDL lawyers appointing Kerry Danes as their representative in their absence.

In a meeting on 31 May 2000, Kerry Danes and Deserek Tesco [DFDL] attended a meeting at the Lao PDR Mines Department with the Ad Hoc Committee of the Foreign Investment Management Cabinet [FIMC]. The Ad Hoc committee refused to accept Kerry Danes appointment as the GML representative. Subsequently, GML Director Julie Bruns emailed her signature to DFDL lawyers and enabled GML to administer their own affairs from Thailand.

Seven months after the departure of the GML Directors, on December 1, 2000 the members of the Ad Hoc Committee, the Village Chief of Haisok Village, the Director of the Department of Geology and Mines and the Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Vientiane Municipality conducted a search and inspection of Gem Mining Lao [GML]. Also present were Dirksen, Flipse, Doran & Le [DFDL] lawyers and Mr. Kerry Danes representing Lao Securicor. During the course of the inspection, a written record of GML's inventory was prepared which showed gemstones held in the office strong room weighed 1.7065 tonne. Owing to the fact that no one present could open the office safe, the Ad Hoc Committee arranged to have it cut open.

The Laos authorities twice asked Kerry Danes to sign a document stating that he would accept full responsibility for "what happens to Gem Mining". Kerry Danes refused to sign such a document.

According to a Memorandum dated 1 December 2000 and signed by, amongst others, representatives of the Lao PDR authorities and Mr. Kerry Danes, the responsibility of the jewelry kept in the safe fell on Ms. Julie Bruns and Mr. Bjarne Jeppeson. There was nothing in the safe other than some papers.

The Gem Mining Directors continually refused to return to Laos amidst numerous death threats by members of the Lao PDR authority. They remained under 24 hour protection in Thailand where they hoped they could resolve their issues with the Lao PDR Government.

The Thai SWAT were engaged by Kay Danes as subcontractors to her 'consulting services' external to the Lao PDR and in this case, provided 24 hour protection to the GML Directors.

The Thai SWAT was informed by members of the Royal Thai Navy that a reward of US$500,000 was available for anyone who returned the GML Directors to the Lao PDR authorities. The Thai SWAT warned the Royal Thai Navy that they would use whatever force necessary to ensure the protection of the GML Directors.

Three weeks following the inspection of the GML office by Lao PDR authorities, on December 23, 2000, Kerry Danes was secretly abducted from his Lao Securicor office and taken to the office of the Lao Immigration in Vientiane. He was confined in an interrogation room where he was told to write a statement that would implicate his client, GML in alleged criminal activity. The Lao PDR authorities had accused GML of stealing their own assets but they did not provide any evidence to support their claim. GML Directors however were able to provide detailed evidence that supported the Lao PDR Government's destruction of their assets and move to illegally expropriate their assets.

Kerry Danes refused to bear witness against the Securicor client and because of this he was handcuffed by four policemen who then proceeded to slap, punch and kick him for an hour. He suffered a bruised face, cuts inside his mouth, a bleeding nose, abdominal pain, temporary hearing loss and pain in his ear, and pain in the rib cage. As a result of his unwillingness to sign a false confession that might have resulted in legal liability against his employer, Jardine Securicor, Kerry Danes was secretly transferred to Phonthong prison [the foreigner's jail]. He was held in a cell with one other prisoner, and was kept in wooden leg stocks for 48 hours and not given any food or water for three days.

Kerry Danes was subjected to a further six interrogations at the prison, all of which involved physical violence. During these interrogations, there was no attempt to provide Kerry Danes with medical assistance or access to a lawyer or to Australian consular officials.

Kay Danes was detained in the presence of the Australian Embassy at the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge following the abduction of her husband. DFDL lawyers, upon hearing of Kerry Danes abduction advised Kay Danes to depart Laos without delay. She gathered her two small children and made her way to the Lao-Thai border but was detained. The Lao PDR police accused Kay Danes of stealing sapphires from GML but found nothing when Kay Danes insisted they search her luggage.

The Australian Embassy officials arrived at the Friendship Bridge where Kay Danes was detained having been informed of Kerry Danes abduction and having told Kay Danes via mobile telephone that they would accompany her across the border. The Lao PDR police insisted on detaining Kay Danes for questioning.

Kay Danes revealed to the Australian Embassy that she was concerned that the Lao PDR authorities would seize her Thai company's payroll that she was carrying in her bag not yet searched by Lao PDR authorities. The Australian Embassy officials informed the Lao PDR authorities of this and the money was immediately confiscated. Kay Danes was taken to the same office of the Immigration Department where Kerry Danes had previously been interrogated.

Fearing for the safety of her two young children, Kay Danes arranged for the Australian Embassy to secretly evacuate them from Laos on the morning of December, 25, 2000. By the afternoon of that same day, Kay Danes was secretly transferred to Phonthong Prison and despite the fact that Kerry Danes was also being held in Phonthong Prison, neither was allowed to communicate with the other throughout their detainment. During several interrogations, Kay Danes was threatened with mock execution and pistol whipping, and told her husband would be executed on the charge of spying if she did not sign statements given to her by Lao authorities [Members from the office of H.E. Kham Ouane Boupha, Minister of Justice, Lao P.D.R.]. Kay Danes feared for her life but refused to sign false confessions. The false statements sought by Lao PDR authorities were for the Danes to;

c) Sign a statement that Kay Danes and Kerry Danes sold sapphires to Anthony Norman, Manager of Ferrier Hodgson [Thailand].

From Mid-1999, Ferrier Hodgson [Thailand] was providing advice to a Creditor Steering Committee representing 148 creditors of Thai Petrochemical Industries Public Company Limited [TPI], owed approximately US$3.4 Billion dollars. Ferrier Hodgson then proceeded to advise the Creditor Steering Committee in its negotiations with the principles and management of TPI for a debt-restructuring agreement.

The debt-restructuring agreement of 17 January 2000 provided for Mr. Prachai Leophairatana, TPI's Chief Executive Officer and principal shareholder, to be the Plan Preparer, conditional upon Mr. Prachai undertaking not to challenge the Creditor Steering Committee's claim that TPI was insolvent and not to deviate from the agreed debt-restructuring plan. On 8 February 2000 Mr. Prachai breached these undertakings. Accordingly, on 9 February 2000 the Petitioners [members of the Creditor Steering Committee] amended their petition in the TPI matter filed in the Thai Bankruptcy Court and sought to substitute the subsidiary Effective Planners Limited [EPL] of Ferrier Hodgson, as the Plan preparer in place of Mr. Prachai.

By 21 March 2000, hostilities were directed from TPI to EPL. The Manager of Ferrier Hodgson, Mr. Anthony Norman, set out in detail the terms of a revised agreement to engage security services including close protection services, and proposed that those services be provided by Kay Danes and her subcontractors, the Thai SWAT. The close protection team was to be comprised of specially trained SWAT members of the Thai Police during their off-duty hours, which would be coordinated by Kay Danes. The relationship between EPL and Kay Danes was at all times a proper and genuine commercial relationship. On several occasions there had been a number of false and improper allegations of wrongdoing made by Mr. Prachai against EPL and Mr. Anthony Norman. Such allegations included that the commercial relationship between Kay Danes and EPL was fraudulent and did not involve a genuine provision of security services for which TPI payments were made to Kay Danes. As evidence provided for in the KPMG Chartered Accountants report 19 April 2001, it was proven that the commercial relationship was proper and in particular there was no avoidance or evasion of withholding tax, nor was there any evidence of fraud, tax fraud, embezzlement or other nefarious activity. It was made clear to the Danes during their interrogations that the Lao PDR authorities were working in cooperation with the Chairman of TPI in Thailand to destroy both the reputations of Gem Mining Laos, Ferrier Hodgson [Thailand], Kerry and Kay Danes.

Legal safeguards contained in the Lao Law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings (1989), which details safeguards for arrest and detention procedures, are not applied in practice, and individuals are often left at the mercy of prison officials. According to Amnesty International, there is no record of cases where these rights have been upheld in their entirety, or of any of these rights being routinely guaranteed. In particular, the process by which a case reaches the court appears to be wholly haphazard; individual cases simply do not get heard, and detainees have no access to lawyers, and often remain ignorant of the charges against them.

The 2003 US State Department Report on Human Rights Practices states, that detainees are often subjected to "beatings, long-term solitary confinement in completely darkened rooms, and burning from cigarettes". In some cases detainees are held in leg chains or wooden stocks for part of their confinement.

The arrest and detainment of Kerry and Kay Danes proved contrary to writings of the Lao Law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings (1989) whereby; The accused or defendants have the right to:

Breech: Kerry and Kay Danes were not informed of the charges against them. They were tortured as interrogators attempted to extract false confessions. They were denied legal support and Embassy contact and were held arbitrarily for a further six months in a prison, without charge.

Breech: No evidence was presented by the Lao PDR authorities to support the allegations of wrongdoing by the Danes. Certainly no cross-examination of witnesses or allegations was permitted in the Lao PDR court.

Breech: Repeated requests were submitted by both the Danes legal counsel and the Australian Government to obtain information from the Lao PDR Ministry of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Lao PDR Government as to the nature of the charges against the Danes, their treatment, access and various other requests in accordance with their basic legal and human rights but in most all requests submitted, most were denied, ignored or delayed unnecessarily.

4. Review all documents contained in case files after all investigations have been closed.

Breech: Despite numerous requests from the Danes legal counsel and Australian government, no documents were made available for review even after charges were laid and trial pending.

Breech: Legal representation was provided for the Danes but the Lao PDR court advised that the law did not provide for adversarial proceedings. The legal representative merely acted as an interpreter at the court since no interpreter was provided. The Danes were separated during the entire court proceedings and therefore, the Lao lawyer could interpret for one but not simultaneously.

Breech: The Danes legal representation was not permitted active participation in any court proceedings. He was in fact, told by the court to be silent.

7. Voice personal objections against judges, people's arbiters, people's prosecutors, investigative officials and law officers, experts and translators

Breech: Again as stated by the Lao PDR court and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lao PDR law and court does not provide for adversarial proceedings and the Danes Lao Lawyer was told to be silent during proceedings.

8. File complaints concerning the improper conduct of, or orders given by investigative official and law officers, the prosecutor or the court

Breech: It is not practical to file complaints of this nature since the Lao judicial system considers that persons are automatically guilty and the action of going to court is a process of formalization of wrongdoing.

Breech: The final party presenting their opinion in court is the Lao Public Prosecutor.

10. Appeal for a rescission of orders of investigative officials and law officers, or the prosecutor, or an overturning of orders, decisions and judgments of the court.

Breech: The Danes appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected outright. The Danes Defense were merely informed of this rejection and not given any opportunity to have the matter heard.

Further, the Lao law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings (1989) states that when the whereabouts of a suspect has been discovered and when it is deemed necessary, investigative officials or law officers may detain a suspect for three days in order to conduct investigations, but a report must be made to a prosecutor within 24 hours from the time that person was detained.

Upon receiving a request for an order to initiate temporary custody from an investigative official or law officer, the prosecutor must make a determination whether to release or to initiate temporary custody within 24 hours [see article 46 of the Lao Law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings (1989)] Before an arrest warrant is issued, the prosecutor or the court must be able to establish that the act in question is a criminal offence for which the law prescribes punishment by imprisonment and that the evidence in the case must be convincing.

In the Danes case, there was no warrant for arrest and imprisonment of Kerry Danes.

The warrant for his detainment stated that he was only to be detained under house arrest for questioning pending the investigation of his client - Gem Mining Lao.

The arrest of Kay Danes was illegal since there was never any warrant of arrest issued and no legal grounds that would support her detainment. Evidence provided within the first 24 hours by DFDL Lawyers confirmed that Kay Danes had not broken any Laws of the Lao PDR.

The Australian Government began calling on the Lao PDR Government to declare the charges against the Danes. When the Lao PDR Government failed to acknowledge any charges the Australian Government strengthened their requests.

The Lao PDR authorities brought the charge of spying against Kerry Danes. The Australian Government and Australian Army quickly refuted this allegation, confirming that Kerry Danes was in fact, a current serving soldier but had taken a leave of absence from the military as approved by the Chief of the Australian Defence Force.

The Lao PDR Government dropped the charge of spying which carried a penalty of capital punishment.

According to the Webster's Dictionary the definition of a hostage is: "a person held by one party in a conflict as a pledge that promises will be kept or terms met by the other party; a person taken by force to secure the taker's demands; one that is involuntarily controlled by an outside influence.

In September 2001, the Australian Government admitted to the Danes, in the presence of the Australian Embassy and Lao PDR Immigration officers, that the Danes were in fact, being held hostage! Further, the Australian Ambassador made the following public statement on Australian national television; "It's very difficult for the Lao authorities to accept that there's anything much wrong with a situation where people may take the rap for something that they didn't do. As they said to us on a number of occasions, if the Danes had been released, where does that leave us? How can we get the compensation for all the [alleged] damage that has been done to the Lao people over the years by Gem Mining Lao? Don't be too fussed about the connection between the Danes and Gem Mining Lao. The Danes are all we've got left." Ref: ABC Television story "On Their Honor" by HE. Jonathan Thwaites, Ambassador to Laos.

On 27 March 2001 the Lao PDR Government continued on the line to the Australian government that if the Danes confess to crimes and pay compensation then the matter can be resolved.

According to Australian Department of Foreign Affairs correspondence to the Australian Government, on 28 March 2001, the Lao lawyer acting for the Danes concluded that at penal law, detainees shall be released within 48 hours if their case is 'consumed by doubts'. This is said to be a "fundamental international principle applied by all jurisdiction systems in any civilized nation". Reference: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade [DFAT] Freedom of Information [FOI] FILES 104/2 - Point (A).

All these indicators and those mentioned in the beginning of this report, confirm the Australian Government's belief, the Australian People's opinion and that of the Danes family themselves, that the Danes were being held hostage.

Furthermore, during Mr. Prasith's visit [the Danes Lawyer] with the Danes he claimed the following; -"During this visit I can see penal suffering of these people because of their long detention. This visible suffering is due to their innocence, because a guilty person will not be suffering. Every day in the detention they suffer irreparable psychological damage".

Prasith stated that he was particularly concerned by Kay's suffering as a woman. He said that "if the detention is dragged on their health will be increasingly jeopardized. A long tradition of Lao-Australian relation will be consequently affected." Reference: DFAT FOI FILES 104/2 - Point (B)

Article 47 of the Law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings states "Arrests are to be conducted using techniques and methods which are suitable to the nature of the offence and the person to be arrested. Battery or torture of arrested persons is prohibited."

Both Kerry and Kay Danes were ill-treated and tortured repeatedly but despite this treatment they refused to sign false confessions which would otherwise have had disastrous implications for their respective clients and for the Danes personally. Police interrogators and prison officials constantly badgered the Danes over six months to "Confess and sign" and "Pay the money and go home". Clearly, this type of harassment and prolonged detainment without charge also supports the Australian Government's belief in that the Danes were being held hostage.

The Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners require that: Instruments of restraint, such as handcuffs, chain, irons and straitjackets, shall never be applied as a punishment.(14) The use of arcane instruments of restraint, such as these wooden stocks, is also prohibited. Their use for extended periods of time, leading to such humiliation, pain and ill-health, is clearly a form of torture.

Kerry Danes was handcuffed throughout interrogations and placed in wooden leg blocks (4-5 kilograms), which is the standard procedure during interrogations in Phonthong Prison Lao PDR.

As a result of her own traumatic experience of unlawful detainment, torture and ill-treatment, Kay Danes, now suffers the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic depression as diagnosed by Australian medical practitioners.

In an inward cable between the Australian Embassy in Laos and the Australian Government, it is clear that diplomacy does not guarantee results according to expectation and to those rights that should be automatically afforded in these circumstances. On 12 April 2001, four months following the Danes unlawful arrest and detainment in squalled conditions of a Lao PDR prison, the Australian Ambassador reports that despite persistent representations to the Lao authorities, consular visits have not been granted as requested. Reference: DFAT FOI INWARD CABLE - 92/1.

Diplomatic negotiations can be effective in some cases, but inevitably slow. In the Danes case, the processes were excruciatingly slow but did eventually yield results if only, as a result of an Ambassador, his Embassy and the Australian Government, media and people who supported the Danes throughout their hostage ordeal.

Australian Ambassador met with Lao PDR Official Vichit Xindavong to discuss a possible framework for a negotiated resolution to the case. Vichit said that he would ask the judicial authorities to postpone further legal proceedings until the Australian and Lao PDR Governments had consulted further in search of a "Diplomatic Resolution".

Secondly, the Lao PDR People's court would prepare an executive paper which would draw on the prosecutions formal case against the Danes without providing the actual judicial documents. Thirdly, on the basis of this paper, the two governments would enter into confidential consultations, but if the Australian side disagreed with the propositions or factual basis of the Laos executive's position it could draw on information assembled by the Defence team. Reference: DFAT FOI INWARD CABLE CVT3334 - 92/2.

The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded that the Danes legal representation accept any decision arrived at between two governments. Reference: DFAT FOI CVT3334 - 92/3 Point (7).

Vichit Xindavong asked the Australian Ambassador that even the fact that this morning's meeting had occurred it must be kept confidential. If a "Diplomatic Resolution" were to be arrived at, it could only be done without any publicity. Reference: DFAT FOI INWARD CABLE - 92/3 Point (10)

The Danes case drew much attention to the lack of rule of law and no statement epitomizes that more than the statement made on 14 April 2001, the Australian Ambassador determines that the Danes won't get a fair trial… "the credibility of Lao judicial system is more on trial than the Danes". Reference: DFAT FOI FILES - 95/1.

Leading up to the trial of the Danes, their Lao lawyer explained to the Australian Embassy that the Lao PDR Prosecution had concluded that if the Danes sought to defend themselves against the charges that would be laid, then the Prosecution would have to introduce additional allegations which would make the Australian government shameful. The Australian Ambassador commented that he had no idea what this rash statement meant. Reference: DFAT FOI FILES 6/2, 6/3, 6/4 Points 6, 7, 8 & 9

The Danes lawyers' submitted evidence without knowing exactly what charges would be brought against their client. It was rumored the charges related to tax evasion, embezzlement and destruction of property. Two days prior to the scheduled trial of the Danes, their Lao lawyer, Mr. Prasith made a request to submit a statement at the court in support of his client's innocence.

The President of the Vientiane court asked why such a statement was needed and advised Mr. Prasith Phommarack that on the day of the court hearing he would simply be asked if the charges against his client should be dropped. He would respond by answering either "YES" or "NO".

It is unprecedented for a Defence statement arguing that the accused are not guilty to be delivered to the court. The normal function of the Defence lawyer is to plead mitigating circumstances and ask for clemency. Reference: DFAT FOI FILES 31/2 point (2).

Lao PDR lawyers are not allowed to request or demand anything from the court as the Danes case proved. Furthermore, on 27 July 2001, the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister met with the Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad who proposed that the Danes' appeal to the Supreme Court be withdrawn as the quickest way of finalizing the legal process. This suggests that the law can be easily manipulated by Lao PDR officials.

As the Danes case progressed and the pressure mounted on the Lao PDR Government with the Australian Foreign Minister calling "charge them or release them," the Danes were finally charged six months following their unlawful detainment. The only words provided by way of charges, with no further particulars, were "embezzlement, tax evasion, destruction of evidence".

Substantial evidence to rebut all charges - was presented to the Lao PDR court but the Danes defense was not permitted to present this evidence during court proceedings. Instead, the Lao judges submitted a letter containing a forgery of Kerry Danes signature. They attempted to get his confirmation of its legitimacy despite his repeated denials that it was indeed his signature.

When Kay Danes was called to stand before the three Lao PDR judges for interrogation, she was called to bear witness against Kerry Danes. After examining the so-called evidence, Kay Danes confirmed to the Lao PDR court that the letter was an obvious forgery. In her professional capacity as an Administration Manager of Lao Securicor and Chief Executive Officer of a Thai Security Company, Kay Danes identified the document as a forgery.

The signature on the bottom of the document was pixilated, meaning it had been scanned onto a page. The black markings around the signature were evidence that the paper containing the signature had been photocopied onto the letter which was written in Lao language.

Furthermore, according to Lao Securicor standard operational procedures, Kerry Danes in his capacity as Managing Director implemented a safeguard to protect the company against such illegal attempts to defraud the company. All correspondence, instructions and official directives were written in English text with a cross-reference code to the Lao version and vice versa attached, clearly stating that the English version shall take precedence over the Lao Version. This was done to ensure the integrity of Lao Securicor and its staff.

The standard format Lao Securicor adopted for all correspondence was in accordance with Australian Military writing, that being left hand justified.

The document presented by the Lao PDR court did not contain any cross-reference codes, did not show any reference to the existence of an English version and was written with the signature block right hand justified which contradicted the administration procedures adopted by Lao Securicor.

The company seal was affixed to the page which the Lao PDR Government had seized prior to the trial. It was not affixed in the usual position in accordance with standard administration procedures adopted by Lao Securicor. All of these factors were pointed out to the Lao PDR court but the judges dismissed these facts and proceeded to the next stage.

The trial of Kerry and Kay Danes was conducted in a 'closed court' which lasted five hours. The couple were sentenced seven years imprisonment. Their Lao lawyer was not permitted to cross-examine the 'so-called' evidence and when Kerry Danes insisted upon raising his own defense, the Lao PDR court instructed the Danes Lao Lawyer to tell his client to remain silent. When reading his closing statement, the Lao Lawyer for the Danes was visibly shaken. This bold action by the Danes Lao Lawyer was unprecedented in the history of Lao PDR legal proceedings.

A trial such as that in Australia would take at least four weeks. The judgment was delivered within 25 minutes after the court went to recess. It was pre-typed and stamped with the official seal of the Lao PDR.

1. Embezzlement of state assets represented the Laos Government's case against Kerry Danes relating to jewelry allegedly stolen from the office of Gem Mining Lao.

2. Tax evasion represented the Laos Government's case against Kay Danes on the false premises that Kay was required to register in Laos, business she was performing as a sole trader in Thailand.

3. Destruction of computer records represents the Laos Government's case against both Kerry and Kay Danes for allegedly damaging the information on the computers belonging to Gem Mining Laos.

The Lawyers for the Danes established the innocence of their clients in a 317 page legal submission based on affidavits, forensic accounting, witness testimony, Lao law and other comprehensive documentation that was also provided to the Australian Government for extensive scrutiny. The submission was prepared in duplicate in both English and Lao Language to the Lao PDR court in advance of the court case that took place six months after the Danes detainment. The legal submission was never referred to in the Lao PDR court nor was the evidence submitted officially to the court by the Judges who received the submission. The evidence was submitted to H.E. Kham Ouane Boupha, Minister of Justice, Lao P.D.R. who did not so much as even raise issue with the 317 page legal summary.

1. Embezzlement of state assets [265 pieces of jewelry] - Contrary to the court findings it was proven that Kerry Danes did not have the key or combination to the GML safe. The provisions of security for the contents of the GML safe did not form part of the services provided by Securicor as stated in the Memorandum of 1 December 2000 signed by the Laos government. A signed affidavit also stated on 29 May 2000, Gem Mining Directors telephoned their Lao Manager Mr. Sommay Bounnaphol and asked him to pack up the jewelry and take it to them in Thailand. The Ad Hoc Committee of the Laos Government acknowledged in its Memorandum of 1 December 2000, "that the responsibility for the missing jewelry fell on Ms. Julie Bruns and Mr. Bjarne Jeppeson". The jewelry which was actually 152 pieces and not 265 as declared by the Lao PDR authorities was not the property of Gem Mining Laos. It had been annexed from the GML Assets register prior to the company being listed on the stock exchange years prior to this incident. It should have no bearing on the case against the Danes. [Reference: legal submission to the Lao PDR 30 May 2001]. Furthermore, as in evidence submitted to the Lao PDR court Julie Bruns had presented the 152 pieces of jewelry to the New Zealand Embassy on the 24 January 2001 for verification of ownership. [Reference: legal submission to the Lao PDR 30 May 2001].

2. Tax Evasion: The Laos government alleged that Kay Danes was guilty of tax evasion for money she received from her client in Thailand where she provided consultancy services. There was no tax payable in the Lao PDR by Kay Danes in respect of the business that she conducted entirely outside the jurisdiction of the Lao PDR. Further, payments made by her client were net of tax payable in Thailand. Kay's client undertook to pay all taxes including withholding tax and VAT on the fees payable to Kay Danes. A comprehensive forensic accounting report by KPMG [Accountants] concluded that because the contract was executed in Thailand, any stamp duty that might have resulted, would have been payable to Thai authorities rather than the Lao PDR. This was further supported by the articles of the foreign investment laws of both Laos and Thailand. Evidence later submitted to the Thai Court through the Lao PDR Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, following the Danes return to Australia, established the genuine and commercial nature of Kay Danes' relationship with her client in Thailand. The Thai court determined that the evidence submitted to them by the Laos Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad did not support any wrongdoing by Kay Danes as alleged. The matter was thrown out of the Thai court. Furthermore, the Australian Ambassador being present at the Lao PDR court and in his own right a Legal Attorney was visibly concerned when the Lao PDR Minister for Taxation testified in the Lao PDR court against Kay Danes and in doing so, committed perjury. He falsely represented the Lao Law when he submitted that Kay Danes had breeched the law in accordance with the Instruction on the Implementation of the Decree of the Council of Ministers No. 370/BOL/94, dated 23/10/90, regarding the Management of Foreign Currency and Precious metals.

This instruction relates to the restriction of those who reside in Laos to take out foreign currency from the Lao PDR not exceeding US$2,000. What the Lao PDR minister failed to mention to the Lao PDR court was that the Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR had agreed to amend the instructions and so passed a resolution on 28 April 1994 of the agreement that authorized persons to take foreign currency out of the Lao PDR "without any limit as to the amount and without requesting approval from the Bank of the Laos PDR". This resolution was expressly implemented "to reduce certain restrictions and to open wide the right of those who reside in the Lao PDR to take foreign currency abroad, with the aim of increasing the confidence of residents and foreigners, including foreign investors, regarding the management of foreign currency system in Lao PDR". Thereby, the accusations against Kay Danes were false.

3. Destruction of computer records - The Lao authorities alleged that Kerry Danes had misappropriated various items of office furniture, computers and other equipment by removing them from the Gem Mining main office. This was done in late October/early November 2000 prior to the seizure of Gem Mining by the Lao PDR Government and with the expressed written permission from Gem Mining Directors to transfer specific items of office furniture to Lao Securicor in payment of outstanding security service fees owing by Gem Mining Lao to Lao Securicor. In any event, the items were secured at the Lao Securicor office and could have been returned at any time to the Laos authorities upon request, and in fact, were returned undamaged. The Danes were not employees of Gem Mining Laos and no involvement with its daily operation, equipment or affairs.

The computer records and documentation relating to the operation of Gem Mining Laos were under the exclusive control of their own employees. The so-called evidence that the Danes were accused of destroying was the so-called evidence that the Laos court used against the Directors of Gem Mining Lao in order to sentence them on 8 February 2001 in their absence, to 20 years imprisonment. In addition the Gem Mining Directors were ordered to pay US$31 million dollars and 10.1 million kip in damages to the Laos Government for their alleged role in destroying their own investment, amongst other things, stealing their own assets. The Lao PDR Government convicted the GML Directors in their absence and in doing so, did not provide any opportunity for a fair and transparent trial. Nor did they provide an opportunity to resolve this dispute under the rules of UNCITRAL as stipulated in their concession agreement.

The Danes personal funds and Thai Company payroll [US$150,000] that were previously seized by order of the Lao authorities were returned to the Danes by the Lao Court. Kay Danes had been accused of breeching the Lao law whilst, at the time of her detainment, she had been carrying her Thai Company's payroll.

Substantial evidence was presented to the Lao PDR Public Prosecutor within the first 24 hours of Kay Danes' detainment that proved she did not breech any Lao laws as supported by documentary evidence in a resolution by the Governor of the Bank of Laos dated 28 April 1994 authorizing persons to take foreign currency out of the Lao PDR "without any limit as to the amount and without requesting approval from the Bank of the Laos PDR". This resolution was expressly implemented "to reduce certain restrictions and to open wide the right of those who reside in the Lao PDR to take foreign currency abroad, with the aim of increasing the confidence of residents and foreigners, including foreign investors, regarding the management of foreign currency system in Lao PDR". Consistent with the Resolution, declaration forms for 1999 and 2000 and current as 23 December 2000 for travellers departing from the Lao PDR did not require the person departing to declare any amounts of currency. It followed that Kay Danes had committed no wrong by proceeding to take funds from the Lao PDR into Thailand. She was acting in accordance with the Lao law. The Australian Government supported the Legal Brief prepared that the Danes had no case to answer.

On December 7, 2000 the Laos Government signed the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR]. In doing so, it embraced the principles espoused in the ICCPR and signalled to the international community its willingness and intention to implement the philosophy articulated in the ICCPR. The observance of Article 9 is an important step in that process. In addition, it is submitted that Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 9 of the ICCPR form part of international customary law. The rights prescribed in those articles are fundamental human rights. States recognize those rights as obligatory by reason of their fundamental nature: see Federal Republic of Germany v Denmark; FRG v the Netherlands ICJ Rep 1969 3 at paragraph 77 and per Judge Lachs.

Kerry and Kay Danes were arrested and detained in breach of Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 9 of the ICCPR.

At no time were they given a fair trial nor were their lawyers allowed to access information relating to their case. This is a clear violation of their legal rights according to the Lao Law Concerning Criminal Case Proceedings (1989), the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1948] article 9 states "no-one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile", article 10 of the Universal Declaration states: "Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against them", and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR] 1976, article 9 which states; "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of the arrest, of the reason for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him."

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer met in Hanoi on the 27 July 2001, with his counterpart the Laos Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad. It was proposed by Mr. Somsavat that the Danes withdraw their legal appeal to the Laos Supreme court as the quickest way of finalizing the legal process. The Lao Minister noted that the civil matter of compensation was the sticking point and recognized that the Danes could not afford to pay the compensation being requested. He concluded that in those circumstances some sort of guarantee from the Australian Government would suffice. The Australian government alleges to have made it clear that they could not guarantee payment. Mr. Downer proposed that this aspect of the matter might be resolved through negotiation, and said that a senior delegation from Australia would travel to Laos immediately to conduct such a negotiation. Mr. Downer asked that Ambassador Thwaites convey Mr. Somsavat's proposal to the Danes and their lawyer as a matter of urgency. Mr. Downer "strongly encouraged" the Danes to take the offer presented by the Lao PDR Government. It was made known to the Danes through the Australian Foreign Affairs officials that if the Danes rejected the offer, "the Australian Government cannot guarantee your safety" and that "your situation may in fact, deteriorate" or words to that effect.

Almost two months later on 14 September 2001, the Australian Ambassador met with Mr. Somsavat who advised the Supreme Court's ruling (details separately conveyed to Embassy that same day) that the Danes' appeal had no basis and was rejected. This came as no surprise since no appeal of this magnitude has ever been won in the history of the Lao PDR.

The Australian Ambassador advised Lao PDR Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad that the Australian Government wished to commence negotiations immediately in accordance with the Hanoi agreement.

On 04 October 2001, the Danes agreed to a four-point deal as negotiated by the Australian Government which secured their release. The final terms of the agreement were;

Agree to pay compensation to the Laos government [Australian Government advised that the Laos Government did not expect payment];

Sign document acknowledging court's decision, but importantly to the Danes, not guilt.

After ten months of detention, having been tortured, illegally detained and ill treated, the Danes were forced to agree to the terms of the four point agreement 'Hanoi Agreement' as negotiated by their government; or face an uncertain future through continued detainment. The Lao foreign ministry advised the Australian Embassy that the Danes would be released into the custody of the Australian Ambassador pending the outcome of an appeal for clemency. Despite these negotiations some members of the Laos Government continued to aggravate the discussions and this interference came directly from the Lao PDR Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad. In hindsight, the Danes believe that the Lao PDR Foreign Minister was unprepared for their acceptance of the four point deal.

The Australian Ambassador reiterated a popular opinion "the Danes are the most highly principled people I know".

On 19 October 2001, amidst further delays the Danes' application for clemency remained with the Prosecutor-General. Lao PDR Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad claimed to Jason Bleibtreu of Channel Nine News, that the Thai Judicial authorities had requested the Lao Government extradite the Danes to Thailand. Reporters from 'Thai Manager Daily' were present at the interview. Reuters and Ron Corben [AAP] informed the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs that on 10 October 2001, Bounmaly Vilavong, Somsavat Lengsavad's Chief Investigator, held discussions on the Danes case in Bangkok at the time of the Danes' release from prison. Thai businessman [TPI Chairman Prachai Leophairatana] who had been trying to intimidate Kay's client [Ferrier Hodgson] into leaving Thailand [hence the 24 hr armed protection] had visited Vientiane late in the previous week. Reference: DFAT FOI FILES O.VT3557 178/2 Point (5). File 2 Document 103.

These events and other more secretive meetings that were observed by investigators for the Danes, revealed the obvious interference from both the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Thai Petrochemical Industries.

The Danes lawyers were still seeking to resolve the Danes case separately to the Australian Government's continuing diplomatic negotiations. Their lawyer had established a good relationship with the families of General Savay [Head of State Security], and Phetsamone Vongphouthone [Head of General Police Department] through an Australian citizen married to the daughter of the police chief. It was revealed that the Lao PDR Foreign Minister, Somsavat Lengsavad, had engaged the Head of General Police, Phetsamone Vongphouthone, to transport Kay Danes to the Thai border and leave Kerry Danes behind at the Australian Embassy.

The Laos Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad reportedly sought to delay the President's pardon until a new Lao-Thai treaty could be introduced. Reference: DFAT FOI FILES O.VT3557 178/3 Point (6). File 2 Document 103.

This would enable him hand Kay Danes over to the Thai authorities that were being manipulated by her client's adversary, TPI Chairman Prachai Leophairatana who was seeking to reclaim his company that had been part of a US$3.2 Billion dollar debt restructuring project that Kay's client had undertaken on behalf of the 148 creditors. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs sought confirmation from the Australian Government to consider an approach to Thai Government to prevent further harassment of Danes. Reference: DFAT FOI FILES O.VT3557 178/3 Point (8). File 2 Document 103.

On 06 November 2001, the Lao President Khamtay Siphandone signed a decree pardoning the Danes. This was formalized at a brief ceremony attended by the Danes, their lawyer, the Australian Ambassador and Lao government officials at the Lao Foreign Ministry. The Lao PDR Government demanded and received US$150,000 from Kay Danes as the initial payment against the agreed compensation, as a sign of good faith.

On 09 November 2001 both Kerry and Kay Danes returned to Australia and were reunited with their three young children who had endured the separation and uncertainty as to whether the Australian government would be successful in negotiating their parent's release.

The TPI Chairman Prachai Leophairatana continued his battle against Kay Danes' client Ferrier Hodgson [Thailand] and obtained so-called evidence from the Lao PDR Foreign Minister that had been used to convict the Danes in the Lao PDR court. The so-called evidence did not support any wrongdoing by Kay Danes as alleged by the Lao PDR Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad. The matter was thrown out of the Thai court.

To the Australian Government, its people and the International media, the Danes were clearly innocent of any wrongdoing as convicted falsely by the Lao PDR court.

The Danes received a Presidential Pardon from the Lao PDR by way of a third person note between two governments. This document is not available to the public or the Danes who have made several attempts to obtain a copy under the Australian Freedom of Information Act [FOI].

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have stated to the Danes that the Presidential Pardon granted to them by the Lao PDR Government has been placed under the protection of 'National Security' as determined by the Australian Government.

There is no valid reason why this document cannot be made public except for the fact that the Lao PDR Government insisted that any negotiations be conducted secretly. Reference: DFAT FOI INWARD CABLE CVT3334 - 92/2.

The Danes are now forced to live with an unjust conviction that carries with it restrictions that impede their return to a normal life.

Despite their desire to have their name cleared and reputations restored, the Australian judicial process does not provide an avenue for them to submit their case for review. Furthermore, the Lao PDR Government is unwilling to provide the Danes, their legal counsel or the Australian Government with any documentation that substantiated the Lao PDR's assumption of the Danes' guilt.

Not only does the 'Danes case' have detrimental effects for the Danes themselves, but also effects the bilateral relationship between Australia and Laos and in attracting such interest from the international community. It has become a case that will remain in the minds of many investors for years to come and has been formalized in a novel 'Deliver Us From Evil'.

The Danes lawyers presented their views to the Lao PFR government on the effects of the continued detention of the Danes. They identified that it would cause investor sentiment against the Government and the people of the Lao PDR and it did. It would raise unnecessary intervention and criticism of the Lao PDR by the otherwise sympathetic governments of a number of other countries that contribute significant foreign capital and aid to Laos and it did.

The Danes lawyers concluded that Investors are accustomed to operating in a commercial and legal environment where persons accused of breaches of the criminal law are not held for long periods but are either charged and released on bail or security, or released unconditionally. Many Investors could not understand why the Danes were not treated in the same manner as they would be treated in their home country or at the very least, in accordance with International law and subsequently, Lao PDR Law.

Many of these investors concluded that the Lao PDR authorities did not provide a satisfactory or full explanation for the circumstances surrounding the Danes detention, and that there was no demonstrated substance to the allegations that were made against them. Of necessity, these investors commit some elements in the implementation of their investment programs to their nationals residing in Laos. Existing and prospective investors would now question the Lao authority's intentions and may in fact, fear the arbitrary arrest and detention of their own employees. Moreover, existing employees of enterprises already undertaking projects in Laos may decide to abandon their employees and projects prematurely, seriously jeopardizing the viability of these investments.

The successful completion of foreign investment projects is dependant on transparency, certainty and consistency of application of all laws and regulations which may affect the projects. Because of the large sums of money involved in implementing development projects, foreign investors require, as a precondition to future application of development funds, that there be transparency, certainty and consistency in the application of all laws and regulations with affect the projects.

When investors become aware of the circumstances such as were evident in the Danes case, they are likely to form the view that the prevailing legal system in the Lao PDR is operating in a manner which is less than transparent. This perception may be expected to cause uncertainty and insecurity about proposed investments.

The decisions made by international financial institutions are also dependant upon the level of confidence they may have in the Lao PDR legal system. Existing or proposed projects are submitted to a rigorous assessment of their viability and prospects of successful completion.

The events leading to the detention of the Danes created concerns in the minds of those who make such decisions. Competing projects put forward foreign aid and investment in other countries in the SE Asia region and in similar circumstances, may be more favorably considered. This could mean that in the future, the Lao PDR could lose out to competing projects in other counties where similar concerns do not exit. As was predicted by many observers to the Danes case, institutions and organizations whilst sympathetic to the aims and intentions of the Lao PDR, did defer their approval of support to Laos and some funding projects were withdrawn all together.

Overseas entities purchasing goods and services from the Lao PDR often do so in an ongoing basis. To continue their trade, they require certainty and confidence in the Lao Legal system. Because of the impact of the Danes case on the International community, there is now uncertainty in the minds of international traders in respect of their long-term commitment to import goods and services into or export them from Laos. Some have transferred their trade to other SE Asia countries where they can expect a better legal system that provides them with greater certainty and transparency.

The Danes case raised quite a number of concerns regarding the existing banking arrangements within the Lao PDR. Despite that their personal funds were secured in a foreign bank they were still seized without grounds. Financial institutions could be expected to sense a loss of confidence in the future of the Lao PDR and its legal system in the minds of overseas investors, financiers, international banking and aid agencies, and international commercial entities generally. Even the US State Department itself chronicles the LPDR government's perennial poor record on human rights. They continue to restrict freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association. Citizens do not have the right to change their government.

Police use arbitrary arrest, lengthy detention without charge, and surveillance. Prisoners are abused and tortured, and prison conditions generally are extremely harsh and life threatening. The international community has a responsibility to focus more on, and strongly encourage, regimes like that of the Lao PDR to uphold the principles of the international agreements they sign, in accordance to International law.

The international community should be vigilant in calling for reforms in all respects and for the Laos Government to agree to establish an independent board of arbitration to protect the broader interests of all future foreign investors to Laos. There are standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners, the basic principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention and non-detention, and as discussed in depth in this report, there are processes designed to protect foreign investors to Laos and yet, these are continually ignored by the Laos regime.

Clearly the principles of both humanity and integrity in relation to human rights and foreign investor's rights are constantly mocked by the Laos regime. Agreements are useless if not enforced and regimes like Laos will continue to violate these agreements and laws if they are not made accountable. They will continue to hide behind the walls that protect them, sovereignty, diplomacy and bilateral relations. Meanwhile, the road that beckons foreign investors to Laos remains rife with uncertainty and danger.

On the 14 Jan 2004 I received this rather interesting message [as posted in the public forum 'HereLaoVoice'] from a Lao servant of the Communist Regime:

" Hey..Kay do you know how to play with brand new gun? If not please stay out from Laos country do not against and talk about us. My AK-47 can not stop when see violent person. I'm knew you got torture but not enough in the past? Can try it again Kay Danes?"

It just goes to show that the exposure we are creating through Foreign Prisoner Support Services, and all of us who champion the rights of others world-wide in order to preserve human dignity and educate many as to the suffering of prisoners in such countries as Laos, is certainly making an impact on those still continuing to violate human rights!

Sok dee [good luck] and I hope you will continue to be encouraged to fight for those who do not have a voice!

Advocate for Foreign Prisoner Support Services
Web Address: http://www.foreignprisoners.com

Nightmare in Laos - Kay Danes

Hours after her husband, Kerry, was kidnapped by the Communist Laos government, Kay Danes tried to flee to Thailand with her two youngest children, only to be intercepted at the border. Torn from them and sent to a communist prison, it was then that the nightmare really began. Kay was forced to endure ten months of outrageous injustice and corruption while she and her husband fought for their freedom from behind the filth and squalor of one of Laos’ secret gulags. Battling against a corrupt regime, she came to realise that there were many worse off people held captive in Laos – people without a voice, or any hope of freedom. Kay had to draw from the strength and spirit of those around her in order to survive this hidden hell, while the world media and Australian government tried desperately to have her and Kerry freed before it was too late and all hope was lost. For Kay, the sorrow and pain she saw people suffer at the hands of the regime in Laos where human rights are non-existent, will stay with her forever, and she vowed to tell the world what she has seen.

Standing Ground

STANDING GROUND is the true story of Kerry and Kay Danes, a couple managing a security business in Laos. They are wrongl arrested and thrown into a stinking prison accused of stealing gems from a business for which they did security work. They were charged and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

TWO European freelance journalists and their Laos-born US translator were sentenced yesterday to 15 years in a Laotian jail in a decision expected to have diplomatic repercussions similar to the Kerry and Kay Danes affair.

French cameraman Vincent Reynaud, Belgian photojournalist Thierry Falise and a Hmong-American pastor, Naw Karl Mua, were arrested in early June after they spent two weeks filming ethnic Hmong rebels who have waged a 25-year war against the communist Government.

The case has generated interest in Europe and has been likened to the diplomatic wrangling over the Danes, the Australian couple who served 12 months of a seven-year sentence for gem smuggling.

Ms Danes, who with her husband was released after the Australian Government intervened, now runs a website from Brisbane in support of prisoners in Laos. She said last night the case demonstrated it was still not safe for foreigners in Laos.

She said the Government had tried to hide its war with the Hmong, the remnants of a CIA-backed army who have fought the communists since the Vietnam War. "The politburo must have really closed ranks on this one," she said.

"This is a bit different than accusing a couple of foreigners of stealing sapphires; journalists are a lot more credible. They're going to have a great story, but will they ever get out to tell it?"

The journalists did not know until the two-hour trial began that they had been accused of possessing an explosive device.

They were also charged with obstructing the investigation - reportedly because they did not tell police about the bomb - and ordered to each pay $US1000 ($1500) to the family of a security guard who died after the rebels fought with a group of villagers.

Three Laotians were also tried on the same charges and received the same sentences. A fourth, who escaped arrest, was sentenced in absentia. Sources close to the families said last night the journalists had not known of the bomb in a bag authorities found in a hut after a clash in a village on June 3, the night before the arrest.

The trial was conducted in Phonesavanh, 110km northeast of the capital, Vientiane.

The French Foreign Ministry and the European Union issued statements suggesting relations between Europe and Laos would be damaged if the three were not released.

A US push to normalise trade relations with Laos would also be affected, members of Congress said.
After the sentence was handed down, the US embassy in Vientiane said the trial had "fallen well short" of international standards.

"We do not believe the trial and its outcome served the cause of justice," the embassy said, and pledged to continue to fight for Reverend Naw Karl Mua's return to the US. US Ambassador Douglas Hartwick and his French counterpart Bernard Pottier attended the trial, after which the defendants were driven off to an undisclosed location.

Amnesty International expressed "deep shock" at the decision. "Fifteen-year prison terms after a trial lasting two hours defies belief," it said. Spokesman Daniel Alberman said last night he was particularly concerned about the fate of the Laos nationals, whose identities are unknown.

Douze chrétiens laotiens, dont certains issus de la minorité ethnique Bru, ont été arrêtés par les autorités de la République Démocratique Populaire Lao ( RDPL), entre le 20 avril et le 15 mai 2004, dans plusieurs villages du district de Muong Phine, province de Savannakhet (Sud), selon des informations fiables reçues mardi 18 mai par le Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l'Homme (MLDH).

Ainsi, contrairement aux affirmations des autorités de la RDPL selon lesquelles les citoyens lao ne sont jamais inquiétés pour des motifs religieux, la minorité chrétienne du Laos est donc toujours persécutée pour la pratique de la foi, une répression qui dure depuis plus de 28 ans.

Selon les nouvelles parvenues au MLDH, trois chrétiens - - MM. GORNJEAN, A-LAR et A-LUA--u village de Katip, district de Muong Phine ont été arrêtés le 20 avril 2004 pour avoir refusé de renoncer à leur foi chrétienne, et ont été forcés de travailler jour et nuit, avec un seul maigre repas par jour.

Après avoir été convoqués par les autorités de police le 14 avril 2004 pour leur sommer d'abandonner leur religion, six autres chrétiens -- MM SIPAK, A-DANG et SOMSAI du village de Kengchay, ainsi que MM. BOUNLERD, MAK et KHAMPON du village d'A-Lawkork-- ont été placés en détention le 11 mai 2004, pour avoir refusé de se plier aux exigences officielles.

La vague de répression s'est poursuivie le 15 mai 2004 au village de Hueyhoy, district Muong Phine, avec l'arrestation de MM. KHAMCHAN, DONKHAM et BOUNTHA, en raison de leur volonté de rester chrétiens contre l'avis des autorités.

A ce jour les douze chrétiens sont toujours incarcérés à la prison de Muong Phine. Neuf d'entre eux, ceux des villages de Kengchay, A-Lawkok et Kueyhoy, ont les mains et les jambes constamment emprisonnées dans un carcan en bois, selon les informations obtenues par le MLDH.

Devant ces faits graves et inacceptables, le MLDH exprime sa plus vive indignation et condamne avec force ces violations répétées des droits fondamentaux des Laotiens. Il dénonce, une fois encore, le double langage et l'absence de sincérité des dirigeants de la RDPL, dont les actions violentes à l'encontre de la population contredisent, de façon flagrante, les paroles rassurantes à l'égard de la communauté internationale et des pays donateurs.

Ces violations de la liberté de croyance, qui ne sauraient être le fait des seules autorités villageoises ou locales, démontrent clairement que la RDPL reste un régime liberticide et répressif, et confirment les informations alarmantes contenues dans le rapport publié le 12 mai par la Commission américaine pour la liberté religieuse dans le monde (USCIRF) et dans le rapport complémentaire du Département d'Etat américain sur la situation des droits de l'Homme et la Démocratie en RDPL, publié le lundi 17 mai 2004.

Le MLDH demande aux autorités de la RDPL de rendre leur liberté à ces chrétiens, sans condition, de mettre fin à la campagne de répression contre les minorités religieuses et les minorités ethniques au Laos, et de libérer immédiatement toutes les personnes emprisonnées pour leurs opinions ou leur croyance.

Le Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme appelle les pays donateurs, en particulier l'Union Européenne et ses Etats membres, les Nations Unies, les Etats-Unis, le Japon, l'Australie, l'ASEAN et les Institutions financières internationales, à reconsidérer leurs relations bilatérales avec la RDPL et à accentuer leur pression, y compris économique, sur ce régime totalitaire afin que la liberté de croyance et les droits fondamentaux des Laotiens soient pleinement respectés.

Mouvement Lao pour les Droits de l’Homme ( MLDH)
Lao Movement for Human Rights ( LMHR)

Lao Nationals sent to Gulag following their surrender under the repatriation program

Foreign Prisoner Support Services have been informed by reliable sources that Miss Latda Pathammavong - a Lao national working for the International Organizations Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Laos, allegedly took part in a repatriation program in 1996 that resulted in the arrest and detention of at least five Laotians surrendering in good faith under the program.

The witnesses report that the Lao nationals who surrendered in December 1996 were guaranteed safety by the UNHCR and the Lao MFA that no action would be taken against the Laotions who had previously lived in exile. Sources report that the Lao nationals were promised a parcel of land as a measure of good will.

Immediately upon their return to Laos, they were arrested and to this day are incarcerated in a Laotian prison in the capital of Vientiane, Lao PDR.

The individuals have been detained for the past eight years without charge and without any support from the International community [UNHCR] that allegedly guaranteed their safety.

Their identities have been confirmed by a number of sources that claim the individuals have received no medical treatment or legal support since their incarceration. Their families are restricted from visiting them.

Refugees International have made several visits to Wat Tham Krabok as part of the resettlement process for Hmong refugees. Miss Latda Pathammavong is reported to be working closely in association with Refugees International.

FPSS call on the UNHCR to further investigate this case in the interests of protecting the integrity of the repatriation program and safety of those requiring its assistance.

- CASE No. 9 -

October Protestors

Laos Students Movement for Democracy
detained on the

26 October 1999

Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanmanivong, Thongpaseuth Keuakoun

A group of protestors have spent nearly a decade in prison after organising a peaceful demonstration in the Lao capital of Vientiane calling for political, social and economic change.

The five men were arrested as they attempted to unfurl banners outside the National Assembly building in October 1999. One of the protestors, Khamphouvieng Sisaath, has since died in custody as a result of harsh punishment inflicted by prison guards.

In July 2009 MPs from across the political spectrum publicly condemned the imprisonment of the five protestors. A year later, the UN Universal Periodic Review recommended to the Lao authorities that the men be released. Despite this, Keochay is the only protestor to have been released. The others remain in prison, with no sign of when they may be freed.

On the morning of 26 October 1999, a group of 30 young people belonging to the Lao Students Movement for Democracy (LSMD) gathered in front of the National Assembly building in the Lao capital, Vientiane to call for peaceful political, social and economic change. As they attempted to unfurl banners they were quickly surrounded by policemen and five of the protesters – Thongpaseuth Keuakoun, Seng-Aloun Phengphanh, Bouavanh Chanmanivong, Keochay and Khamphouvieng Sisaath – were arrested and sentenced to long terms in prison for treason.

Less than two years later, 40-year-old Khamphouvieng Sisaath died in custody after he was ill-treated by prison guards. He had been tied spread-eagled to a post in the prison yard and left in the hot sun for hours until he died of heat exhaustion. No investigation is known to have been carried out into the circumstances of his death.

Public demonstrations have not been permitted in Laos since the founding of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975. The Lao authorities deny that the attempted protest of October 1999 ever occurred.

In 2003 the authorities claimed that the protesters had been ‘found guilty of collusion with a foreigner’ on whose instruction they were carrying out 'spying activities’ intended to ‘undermine independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Lao PDR’. Amnesty International has interviewed eyewitnesses to the attempted protest and believes that there is no basis for the Lao authorities’ allegations.

Thongpaseuth Keuakoun founded the LSMD in February 1998. He had been a university student in Vientiane, but lack of money prevented him from completing his course. Married with seven young children, he lived in poverty, supporting himself and his family as a street vendor.

LSMD was originally concerned with issues of social welfare, access to health care and free education, but the group’s objectives broadened in 1999 to address a wider political platform and their leaflets called for multi party democracy in Laos (a one-party state), free and fair elections and the release of political prisoners.

Thongpaseuth Keuakoun recruited young people to LSMD, many of them students and former students who had been unable to finish their studies for lack of money. The group met in secret because of the strict restrictions on freedom of expression and association.

Intolerance of political dissent

The only legal political party in Laos is the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. Opposition is not permitted and there are no independent domestic nongovernmental organisations. The state controls the media, religious organisations and trade unions, and tightly restricts freedom of expression, association and assembly. Vaguely-worded national security legislation is used to imprison anyone perceived to be critical of the government or its official policies.

The attempted public demonstration in 26 October 1999 was unprecedented: the first and last such protest by Lao nationals believed to have been attempted since the founding of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975. The only protest since then was held in 2001 by five foreign nationals, including MEP Olivier Dupuis, to mark the second anniversary of the 1999 demonstration. The five were arrested, given two-year suspended sentences for anti-government propaganda and immediately deported.

Judicial proceedings fall far short of international fair trial standards. People are often held without trial for long periods and those who have been tried may be held beyond the end of their sentence. Conditions of detention in police stations and prisons are extremely harsh, with reports of torture and ill-treatment, inadequate food, poor medical care and no guaranteed family visiting right.

Lao Political Prisoners transferred in November 2001 from
Phonthong Prison to Somkhe Prison

Maintaining an accurate list of prisoners in any Lao Prison is extremely difficult because the Lao authorities do not yet permit International monitoring of their detention centres. However, from time to time, advocates of Foreign Prisoner Support Services are able to access information about the prisons and persons detained there from reliable Government and non-Government sources. We are not able to reveal their names publicly in respect to their request to remain anonymous.

Feng Sakchittaphong and Latsami Khamphoui. The pair served a 14 year sentence for charges including "making preparations for rebellion" and "propaganda against the Lao People's Democratic Republic".

These men were former high-ranking government officials arrested in October 1990 for writing letters advocating peaceful political and economic change in Laos. Feng had held a high-ranking position in the Ministry of Justice; Latsami was a Vice Minister of Economics and Planning.

The three men were tried in a closed court in November 1992 on various charges including "making preparations for rebellion", "propaganda against the Lao People's Democratic Republic" and "libel and slander".

After their trials, they were transferred to Prison Camp 7 where, according to former prisoners, the conditions are severe, inhumane and cruel.

Foreign Prisoner Support Services hopes that by the release of these two prisoners of conscience, the Lao Government will be encouraged to address the human and legal rights of other prisoners currently detained in Laos awaiting trial.

Somkhe Prison is a domestic jail located 3 km from the City of Vientiane via Nong Niang Village and beyond the statue of General Kaison Pomvihan. Prisoners detained in Somkhe Prison are categorized by Lao authorities as "the most serious political cases". They are held without charge, trial or sentencing.

Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang are serving prison sentences of 12 and 15 years for assisting two European journalists, Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud, research a story about ethnic Hmong rebels hiding in the Laos jungle. Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang, both Hmong, had been working as their guides.

In June 2003 they were all arrested and charged with various offences, including possession of firearms and drugs, and brought to trial. All received lengthy sentences, but the journalists were released and deported following diplomatic pressure. Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang had no legal representation and were sentenced to 12 and 15 years in prison respectively. Their trial lasted less than three hours and the outcome appeared pre-determined.

- CASE No. 12 -

Ill treatment of Political Prisoners, by the Laos Communist Regime

As you also know, several former high ranking Royal Lao officials were sent to various re-education camps that LPDR likes the world to call as a Seminar Camp, but in reality it is a "Gulag or a Death Camp."

I want to share with you the lives of those individuals that were in this Gulag that was once called Camp No. 7. The information that I will share with you is from one of the eyewitness who survived more than ten years of torture, and was able to live to talk about his experiences in this Gulag. This person currently is living in the United States, and is willing to testify if needed.

Camp No.7, formerly known as Camp No. 5A, was reserved for the prisoners that were categorized by the LPDR as the top enemies of the regime. These prisoners were arrested and separated from other prisoners in other re-education camps on October 12, 1977. They were:

1. Lt. Gen. Bounleuth Sanichanh, Armed Forces Inspector
2. Lt. Gen. Bounpone Makthepharak, Supreme Commander of the Royal Lao Government Armed Forces
3. Lt. Gen. Phasouk S. Rasaphak, Armed Forces Chief of Staff
4. Brig. Gen. Bounchanh Savathphayphane, 1st Intervention Division Commander.
5. Brig. Gen. Kane Insixiengmay, Logistic Division Director
6. Brig. Gen. Atsaphangthong Pathammavong, Capital City Security Commander
7. Brig. Gen. Bounleung Rattanabanlang, Military Security Commander
8. Brig. Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth, Cease - Fire Committee
9. Brig. Gen. Chao Sinh Saysana, Operations Division Commander
10. Brig. Gen. Ly Lithilusa, Intelligence Division Commander
11. Brig. Gen. Nouphet Daoheuang, 3rd Region Commander
12. Brig. Gen. Thongphanh Kanocksy, Defense Ministry Spokesman
13. Ret. Lt. Gen. Ouane Rathikoun, Council Committee for the King
14. H.E. Issara Don Sasourith, Irrigation Dept. Director
15. H.E. Khamchanh Pradith, Ambassador to Australia
16. H.E. Liene Phravongviengkham, Ambassador to Peking
17. H.E. Pheng Phongsavanh, Minister of Interior
18. H.E. Soukanh Vilaysane, Minister of Veterans Affairs
19. *H.E. Touby Lyfoung, Council Committee for the King
20. Col. Amkha Khathakhanthamixay, Signals Division Director
21. **Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanty, Chief of G-2, 1st Military Region
22. Police Col. Heng Saythavy, Pakse Province Senator
23. Police Col. Kavinh Keonakhone, Rallied from Pathet Lao Forces
24. Police Lt. Col. Khammouk Phaengsyaroun, Pakse Police Commander
25. Maj. Sivilay Phetsomphou, Rallied from Pathet Lao Forces
26. Capt. Sery Sayakham, Engineering Division
27. **Col. Phom Phanthavong, Bankeun Subdivision Cmdr, was arrested on September 19, 1978, one month prior to the arrested of the above twenty-six prisoners.

This Camp No. 7, was divided into two prison areas, prison A and Prison B. In prison A's area, there were two jail cells, and the area of this prison camp was about 20m x 25m or 60 ft x 75 ft. One cell was used to house prisoners while another was used as a kitchen. In prison B's area, there were three jail cells. The area of this prison B was about 70m x 25m or 210 ft x 75 ft. Prison A and B are in the same vicinity, but are separate entities.

On October 28, 1977, 26 prisoners were locked up in Prison B's area. The smaller jail cell with 5m x 8m x 2.10m or 15ft x 24ft x 6.3ft housed 7 prisoners:

1. H.E Pheng Phongsavanh***
2. H.E. Touby Lyfoung***
3. Lt. Gen. Bounpone Markthepharack***
4. Lt. Gen. Phasouk Sor Ratsaphak****
5. Brig. Gen. Chaosinh Saysana
6. Brig. Gen. Atsaphangthong Pathammavong
7. Maj. Sivilay Phetsomphou****

The bigger jail cell 5m x 11m x 2.10m or 15ft x 33 ft x 6.3 ft housed 19 prisoners. These two jail cells were built similarly with the same style but no windows, and they were dark 24 hours/day. Prisoners were allowed to come outside only once a week for 15 minutes just to take a bath.

On the middle of November 1977, eleven more prisoners were brought into Prison B's area. These prisoners mostly belonged to the Lao Royal family. They were:

1. Chao Sysouphanh Thalangsy, younger brother of King Sisavang Vatthana
2. Chao Bouavone Vatthana, Houakhong Governor and Brother of King Sisavang Vatthana
3. Chao Thongsouk Vatthana, brother of King Sisavang Vatthana
4. Chao Sisanvangvatthana (Chao Keu), Son number 4th of King Sisavang Vatthana
5. Chao Manivong Khammao, Secretary for the Royal Lao Palace
6. Chao Souk Bouavong, former Samneua's Mayor during 1939-40, and Minister of Public Works and Transportation
7. H.E Bong Souvannavong, Former Royal Lao National Assembly in 1947 and President of Lao Houam Samphanh Political Party
8. Ret. Pol. Maj Gen. Lith Luenamachack, former Royal Lao National Police Director at the time of his arrested he was working for the Lao Red Cross in Vientiane.
9. Police Sgt. Bao Phommy Phanhvongsa, from Samneua, Houaphanh Province
10. Police Sgt. Bao Thong from Samneau, Houaphanh Province
11. Sgt. Phimpha, from Savannakhet Province and was personal driver of Mr. Boun Phommahasay former Lao People Army Commander.

Finally on November 24, 1977 at 5:00PM, the guards moved 11 prisoners from Prison A's area to Prison B's area, and it increased prisoners in the cell B from 19 to 30 in this dark cell. The next morning, prisoners saw King Sisavang Vatthana, the Queen, and the Crown Prince stood next to Prison Cell A.
The guards brought His Majesty, Her Majesty and the Crown Prince to prison A area since the night of November 24, 1977.

Life in this Gulag was harsh and prisoners were not allowed to talk to each other. The guards allowed only 5 prisoners to work. Col. Amkha
Khathakhanthamisay and Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanty were allowed to work as cooks. Bao Phommy Phanhvongsa, Bao Thong, and Mr. Phimpha were allowed to look for firewood for the kitchen. The rest of the prisoners in this camp were allowed outside only once a week, two people at a time on Saturday, just to take a bath.

Due to the physical and mental torture along with malnutrition, within two years 24 prisoners were dead and only 16 still survived, but more than half of the surviving prisoners could not even walk without help.

Two weeks after the death of King Sisavang Vatthana on April, 1980, the Queen, who was no longer able to walk, was sent to Female Prison Camp between Sop Hao and Mouang Poua on the way to Samneua.

Here is the list of the 24 deaths in Camp No. 7:

Deaths from August to December 1978:

1. Chao Bouavone Vatthana
2. Chao Sisavangvatthana (Chao Keu)
3. Lt. Gen. Ouane Rathikoune
4. Chao Thongsouk Vatthana
5. Brig. Gen. Kane Insixiengmay
6. Brig. Gen. Ly Liththiluesa
7. H.E. Bong Souvannavong
8. Chao Souk Bouavong

Deaths from February to October 1979:

1. Police Maj. Gen. Lith Luenamachack
2. Brig. Gen. Phasouk S. Ratsaphak
3. H.E. Pheng Phongsavanh
4. H.E. Soukanh Vilaysane
5. H.E Touby Lyfoung (murdered by the guard after taking a bath)
6. H.E. Itsara Donsasorith
7. Cpt. Sery Sayakham
8. Chao Manivong Khammao
9. Maj. Sivilay Phetsomphou.

Deaths from January to May, 1980:

1. Brig. Gen. Thongphanh Kanoksy
2. The Crown Prince Chao Vongsavang
3. Chao Souphanthalangsy
4. King Sisavang Vatthana
5. H.E. Khamchanh Pradith
6. Lt. Gen. Bounpone Makthepharak
7. H.E. Liene Pravongviengkham

An account of life, horror and misery as a war prisoner by the Communist regime in Laos

An account by Col Khamphanh Thammakhanty

"Get to the Trunk, Destroy the Roots"

by Khamphanh Thammakhanty

A practice by the Politburo of the Communist Party refers to when saying “Get to the Trunk” it means getting rid of the accused of anti-communist doctrine, the Party must systematically enforce the same policy to “Destroy the Roots” referring to the families, the kinships, or the clans, of the accused or suspected. It is by design another form of ethnic cleansing

Separated in Laos, reunited in Portland
5 September 2004
AMY MARTINEZ STARKE

Despite his relatively humble background - he was the son of a Mekong River salt trader, not a high-born noble - Khamphanh Thammakhanty rose to become a very successful senior intelligence officer in the Royal Lao Army. He was posted to the royal capital and had a very good life.

But Khamphanh (who became known as "Tom" in this country) was on the losing side after a leftist takeover of his country. And in 1975, with the royal government collapsing, overthrown by communist guerrillas, he was assigned to "re-education" camps and eventually transferred to a grim jungle gulag in Northeast Laos. All told, he spent 14 years incarcerated, along with those born into great privilege and saw the deaths of the royal family. He is thought to be the last known survivor of that royal incarceration camp.

Hated by the new government, Khamphanh and his fellow prisoners were kept on the point of starvation. Khamphanh scraped for every grain of rice and every root (rats and snakes when he could grab them, and parts of a dead horse that were still good to eat) and feared death every day. He saw people around him losing the will to live, then succumbing. But he stayed fit by starting a vegetable garden, gaining both exercise and fresh air, and living in the moment.

He worked hard and followed orders. "I was nobody," he said. "I knew I was lower than the dirt under their shoes." At night time, he chanted one long prayer; in the morning a shorter one. In 1989, he and three others, the only survivors of Camp No. 7, were suddenly free.

He was 46 when he was put into the camp and 60 when allowed to walk out, many of the best years of his life behind him.

Yet, in a most unlikely sense of circumstances, he was able to contact and recover his family. Although he had been reported killed, his wife, son, daughter and son-in-law, who had made a new life for themselves in Portland, had never given up hope. Khamphanh was reunited with them in Portland on Jan. 5, 1990.

He went on to work until age 70 as a welder's assistant at a Portland company for 10 years to get Social Security.

He never expressed bitterness at the loss of 14 years of his life, at least not in so many words. "If I have to die," he told his family after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2003, "I won't feel sorry. When I was in the camps, I wished I could see my family again, and I did. The last part of my life was good, and I saw that you have a good life, and that you live well in this society."

Khamphanh "Tom" Thammakhanty died Aug. 21, 2004, at 74.

"Digging Out the Roots"

Khamphanh grew up the eldest of eight, learning to speak French and Lao in the small landlocked country, a former French colony. He received a good education by his country's standards at the time, and at 18 became a rural teacher for four years. His parents spied the perfect woman for him, and Khamphanh saw her four or five times before he married her. They moved in with his family in suburban Vientiane in 1950. After their daughter was born, he was drafted as a lieutenant in 1953. His son was born four years later.

But in 1975, the Laotian communists proclaimed an end to the 600-year-old monarchy and established the people's republic. Khamphanh was among the former members of the Royal Lao Army as well as the deposed government - perhaps as many as 30,000 people - who were taken to re-education camps.

The long years in prison took a toll. After he came to Portland's Westmoreland neighbourhood to live with his daughter, it took a long time for him to feel he even had the right to open the refrigerator without asking for permission.

But eventually he started writing his story down by hand on a yellow notepad. To his great satisfaction, he completed and self-published the book in Lao, with a title that translates roughly as "Digging Out the Roots." It's selling in the Lao Diaspora and has even reached into Laos, where media are controlled. Tom, as he became known in the United States, went to Australia in February 2004 and met other prison survivors and signed copies of his book.

Eight months after he got here, he got a job at Gunderson Inc. as a welder's assistant making railcars. He never sought public assistance. His goals were to get a 401(k) and to qualify for Social Security, and he did both.

After he became a U.S. citizen, he joined the Democratic Party. He attended the Buddhist temple, Wat Lao Buddhathammaram, on Northeast 133rd Avenue. He became an active leader of the Lao community in the Northwest and nationally. He visited the sick. He went to every Lao funeral and almost every wedding. "We have to support each other," he said. In May 2000, Asian Reporter gave him an award for exemplary volunteerism.

Then an Australian writer, Christopher Kremmer, came to Portland to interview him for an English-language book, "Bamboo Palace: Discovering the Lost Dynasty of Laos," published by HarperCollins in Australia, and expected to be published here.

It was difficult and taxing for Tom to talk about what happened. He had shut out a lot of the emotion and a lot of the details.

But it was gratifying in the end. Not only was he free, but he had won: "Now the world will know the truth." He felt his 14 years in the United States were a gift.

He helped his sole grandchild learn to ride a bike, and later, to drive.

He did his daily morning exercise, tended the impatiens and the grass in the yard, and talked with the neighbour children, who called him "Neighbour Grandpa."
He kept up with Lao newsletters.

He enjoyed spicy beef larb, and Chinese seafood restaurants on Southeast 82nd or Powell Boulevard, and the bok choy, long beans, papayas, mangos, longan and
tamarind of his native country.

And he acquired a very American taste for the slot machines at Spirit Mountain and Chinook Winds casinos -- and played on the Fourth of July of this year.

His son-in-law's Mercedes was his lucky car. Let's go to the casino, he told them: "I have a good dream! I feel lucky!" And, sometimes he did get lucky.

LIST OF THE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE FROM ROYAL OF LAOS DURING 1975

(SOURCES FROM: SURVIVAL PRISONERS)

After the Royal of Laos and the Provisional Government of National Union (PGNU) were fallen to Vietnamese armed provocation to assist the communist Pathet Lao to take over Royal of Laos in May 1975, the high ranking official served in the Royal of Laos Government were arrested and sent to laboured Camp for torture and genocide, beginning on July 1975, and then the King , Queen, Crown Prince and the royal family members were arrested after forced to denounce the monarchy on December 2, 1975 they all were arrested and sent to detain in remote mountainous location in northern of Laos border link to north Vietnam, where they were killed and tortured to death.

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party Regime (LPRPR) laboured camps were ranked from Camp No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and No 7. separated in different mountainous locations, Camp No1 and No7 known as Death Camp, the camp were located as following:

1- THE TORTURE CAMP No.1
The tortured camp No 1 located at Ban Naka Neau, Sop Hao District, Chieng Khor City,
Houaphanh Province in the vicinity of VH 428-742.

2- THE TORTURE CAMP No.2-3
The tortured Camp No 2- 3 located at Ban Sop Pane, Sop Hao District, Chiengkhor City, Province of Houaphan in the vicinity of VH 456-712.

3- THE TORTURE CAMP No 4 and No 6
The Tortured camp No 4 and No 6 located at Nam Aed river bank, Ban Muong Aed, Chieng Khor city, Houaphan Province, Approximately 2km north of Ban Muong Aed.

4- THE TORTURE CAMP No.5-A
The torturd camp No 5-A located at Ban Sop Hao, Sop Hao District, Chieng Khor city, Province of Houaphan in the vicinity of VH 428-742.

5- THE TORED CAMP No.5-B
The tortured camp No 5-B located at Muong Sam Teu, the East linked to Vietnam border . The North and West linked to the city of Sam Neua, The southern linked to Xieng Khouang Province border line.

6- THE TORTUE CAMP No.7
The tortured camp No 7 located at Ban Sop Hao vicinity, Sop Hao District, Province of Haophan in the vicinity of VH 430- 742.

The province of Houaphan area composed of the density of forest and , jungle, surrounded by rocky mountain and high cliff with deep river bank and various poisonous wild life, and poisonous insects, different kinds of mosquito, and blood suckers wild life, contain diseases of malaria.

TORTURE CAMP No 1
The tortured Camp No1 was located at the north of Ban Naka in the foot of mountain with surrounded by mountains jungle and Forested area in VH 438 +443 and VH 739+744 approximately 1.5 KM north of Ban Sop Hao , VH 428+734 and 0.5 KM from Ban Naka Neua VH 443+735.

The Torture Camp No 1 divided into three quarters 1st quarter was sweet Jam farm. 2nd quarter was the Jail Administration. 3rd quarter was a Prison. The prison was divided into two separated prison cells . Prison No A and Prison No B, each prison consists of under ground cells The area of the prison approximately 70m x 200 m . The prisoners in these prison cells must put underground cells with legs stocked, urinating and bowl movement in the place, with small portion of foods and poor quality nutrition , no medical treatment or medical care when sickness. The prisoners were taken out for river bathed and exposed to the sun for 30 mn, once a week. The tortured camp No1 and No7 also known as death camp.

A) THE RESPONSIBLE PERSONNEL'S OF TORTURE CAMP No 1 ARE:

LPRP ARMED PERSONNELS

1- 1st/Lt Thao Ninh (General command)
2- 1st/Lt Phengxay (Political personnel)
3- Thao Thongsy (Armed personnel)
4- Nay Nouxay (Deputy Armed personnel)
5- Nay Nouthong ( Radio communication personnel)
20 -25 armed Security guard personnels equipped with ….
2 B40 Grenade Launchers
1 B41 Grenade Laucher
2 Machine guns
All armed guard personnel equipped with AK assaulted riffle

B) The prisoners of conscience detained tortured camp No 1 were as following:
1- PRISON CELL No 1-A-
1- H.E. Pheng Phongsavanh , Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of Interior, Minister of Interior of Royal of Laos government, Vientiane Peace Agreement Treaty Committee chairman in 1973. Arrested in May, 1975, Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, and hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs stocked on October 12, 1977. Tortured to death on March, 1979, his grave was buried at vicinity of HH 438-745 tortured camp No1, Ban Naka, Sophao district, Province Houaphanh.

2- H.E. Toubee Lyfuong
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Deputy Minister of the Post and Telecommunication, arrested in May 1975 during invited to the meeting in Sam Neua, Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured and hard labour locked underground cell with legs stocked on October 12, 1977. Killed by armed guard with gun shot during take out from under ground cell for river bathed, in April 1979, his grave was buried at vicinity VH, 438-745, Ban Naka, Sop Hao district, Houaphan Province

3- LT/Gen. Bounpone Markthepharack
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of national defense , Royal Lao army Supreme commandant in chief, arrested on July 22, 1975, sent to Sam Neua detention camp No5 for detaining, rearrested on October 12, 1977 and transferred to tortured camp No 1 in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured and hard labor, locked in underground cell with legs stocked Death underground cell in March, 1980, his grave was buried in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province VH 438-745.

4-- Maj/Gen. Phasouk S. Rajphack
Royal of Laos,. Royal Lao Ministry of national defence, armed forces Supreme Command, General chief of staff, arrested on July22, 1975, sent to Sam Neau detention camp No5, rearrested on October 12, 1977, transferred to tortured camp No1, Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, and hard labour locked in underground cell with legs stocked poor nutrition with small portion of food ration. Death underground cell in March, 1979, his grave buried in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neau, Sophao district. Houaphan Province, VH 438- 736.

11- Br/Gen. Tiao Sinh Xayasana,
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of national Defense, 1st Army Regional, Deputy Commandant in chief, arrested on July 22, 1975. sent to Sam Neua detention camp No5. Rearrested on October 12, 1977. transferred to tortured camp No1, Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao
district, province Houaphan. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured and hard labour, locked underground cell with legs stocked, poor nutrition with small portion of food ration. Forced self self imposed to bury alive in 1985.

12- Maj. Sivilay,
Royal of Laos, Ministry of National Defense, a former Pathet Lao communist member defected to Royal of Laos armed forces, arrested on July 22, 1975. sent to labor camp No6 tortured camp No1 Muong Aet Xiengkhor district, province Houaphan. Transferred to
detention camp No5 in 1976. Rearrested and transferred to tortured camp No, Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, province of Houaphan December 10, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, hard labour, tortured locked underground cell with legs stocked, poor nutrition with small portion of food ration, no medical care, Death underground cell in October, 1979, his grave buried in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province, VH 438-745.

PRISON A - CELL No. 2

1- H.E . Soukanh Vilaisane
Royal of Laos, Ministry of Justice, Deputy Minister of Justice, Vientiane Peace Agreement Treaty, committee member, arrested in May 1975, during invited to the meeting in Sam Neua, detained in labour campNo5 . Transferred to tortured camp No1, prison cell No 2 on October 12 1977. imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs stocked, poor nutrition with small portion of food ration a day, without medical care. Tortured to death in March 1979. his grave buried in the Vicinity of Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district Houaphan province, VH 438-745.

2- H.E Lian Pravongviengkham
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ambassador to Beijing, China , arrested in Vientiane in May 1975, during returning by executive order, sent to detain in Sam Neua detention campNo5 . Transferred to Torture Camp No 1 Prison cell No 2 on October 12, 1977. imposed to heavy punishment, hard labour, tortured , locked in underground cell, with inadequate food ration , poor nutrition, Death underground cell in May 1980 his grave was buried in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neau, Sop Hao district, province Houaphan, VH 438-745.

3- H.E Khamchanh Pradith
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ambassador to Australia, arrested in Vientiane in May 1975 , during
return by executive order, sent to detain in Sam Neua detention Camp. Transferred to tortured
camp No 1 prison cell No 2 on October 12, 1975. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard
labour, locked in underground cell after daily hard work , inadequate for ration poor nutrition
no medical attention. Death by hard work and tortured.

4- Lt/Gen. Oun Ratikhoun (Ret)
Royal of Laos, Ministry of national Defence, Army commandant in chief (ret) , National
Assembly member, arrested in Viengxay city during invited to the meeting in May 1975,
detained in Sam Neua detention camp No5 . Transferred to tortured camp No1 prison cell 2 on
October 12, 1977. Imposed to hard labor, tortured, locked in underground cell with legs stocked,
inadequate food ration poor nutrition . Tortued to death in October 1978, his grave was buried at
Ban Naka , Sop Hao distic , Province Houaphan at vicinity of VH439-745

5- Issara Donhsasorith
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of Public work, Director of High way construction
department, arrested in July 22, 1976, sent to Sam Neua detained in detention camp No5.
Transferred to tortured camp No 1 in Ban Naka Neua in October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy
punishment, hard labour, tortured, locked underground cell with legs stocked, inadequate food
ration, poor nutrition. Death under ground cell in June 1979. his grave was buried in the
vicinity of Ban Naka Neau, Sop Hao district, Houphan province, at VH 438-745

6- Lt/Gen. Bounleuth Sanichanh
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defence Department Auditor, Controller, arrested in
Vientiane on July 22, 1975 sent to detention camp No 5 B Sam Neua. Transferred to tortured
camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao, Province Houaphanh on October 12, 1977. Imposed
to heavy punishment, torture and hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs stocked .
Transferred to death camp No7 in Sop Hao in April 1980 where he was tortured to death in
August 1980, in prison cell No7, Sop Hao district, province Houaphan.

7- Brg/Gen. Bounchanh Savatphayphane
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defence Department. Director of Education Agency, arrested
on July22, 1975 in Vientiane sent to detention camp No 5B in Sam Neua. Transferred to
tortured camp No 1 on October 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, hard labour, tortured ,
locked in underground cell with legs stocked . Transferred to death camp No 7 in Ban Sop Hao
June 1980 where he was tortured to death one week later , after transferring to prison cell No7
in Sop Hao, province Houaphan.

8- Brg/Gene. Noupheth Daoheuang
Royal of Laos. Royal Lao 3rd Army Regional Commandant in chief, arrested in Vientiane on
July 22, 1975, sent to detention camp No5 B Sam Neua for detaining. Transferred to tortured
camp No1 on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour, locked in
underground cell with legs stocked. Transferred to death camp No7 Sop Hao on June 1980.
Tortured to death in June 1980, one week lather after transferring to prison cell No7 in Sop Hoa
distrist, province Houaphan his grave was buried in Sop Hao district vicinity of VH 423-740

9- Brg/Gen. Kane Insixiengmai
Royal of Laos, Ministry of National Defence , Director of Intelligence and Strategic department
arrested on July 22, 1975 in Vientiane sent to detention camp No 6 in Sam Neua for detaining.
Transfered to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy
punishment , hard labor, tortured, locked in underground cell with legs stoked. Tortured to death
on November 1978. his grave buried in vicinity of VH 438-745, Ban Naka Neau, Sop Hao district
province Houaphan.

10- Brg/Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defense Department , the cease fired Committee chairman
arrested in Vientiane on July 22, 1975 sent to detention camp No5B Sam Neua for detaining.
. Transferred to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy
punishment hard labor, torture, locked in underground cell with legs stocked, urinating and bowl
in place. Transferred to death camp No 7 in Sop Hao in April 1980. Locked underground cell
24hrs, with legs stocked, urinating and bowl in place. Tortured to death in June 1981, in prison
cell No7, Sop Hao district, province Houaphan.

11- Brig/Gen. Thao Ly Lithiluexa
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defence Ministry, Director of Central Intelligence and
Information Department, arrested on July 22, 1975 in Vientiane and sent to detention camp
No5B Sam Neua for detaining. Rearrested and transferred to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka
Neua on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, hard labour, locked in under
ground cell with legs stocked. Tortured to death in November 1978, his grave was buried in the
vicinity of Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao distric, province Houaphan, VH 438-745

12- Brig/Gen. Rattanabanleung Chunlamany
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defence Department, Military court Marshall , arrested on
July 22, 1975 sent to detention camp No5B in Sam Neua for detaining Transferred to tortured
camp No 1 Ban Naka Neau, Sop Hao city, Province Houaphan on October 12, 1977. Imposed to
heavy punishment, torture, hard labor, locked in underground cell with legs stocked. Forced
self imposed to bur alive in 1985.

13- Pol/Col. Kavin Keonakhone
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Police Department, a former Communist Pathet Lao member
defected to Royal Lao armed forces, in 1957, arrested on July 22, 1975 in Vientiane sent to
detention No5 B in Sam Neua for detaining. . Transferred to tortured camp No1, Ban Naka
Neua, Sop Hao District on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, hard labour,
tortured, locked in underground cell with legs stocked . Transferred to death camp No 7 in June
1980. Tortured to death one week later, after transferred to prison cell No7 in Sop Hao district
province Houaphan.

14- Col. Amkha Khatha Khanthamixay
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Defense Department, The Direction of Transmission and
Telecommunication Director, arrested on July 22, 1975 sent to detain in detention cam No 5A
Sam Neau. Transferred to tortured camp No 1 Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district on October
12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture , hard labor, locked in underground cell with legs
stocked. Transferred to death camp No 7 in Sop Hao in June 1980 . Tortured to death one week
later after transferring to prison cell No7, his grave was buried in the vicinity of VH 43 -VH 44,
left side of Nam Ma river bank.

15- Pol/Brg/Gen. Heng Saythavy
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Police Department , Sedone Provincial Police Department
Commandant in chief. The Provisional Government of National Union (PGNU) Political
council member, arrested on May 1975 in Sam Neua city during invited to the meeting ,
detained in detention camp No 5B. Transferred to tortured camp No 1 in Ban Naka Neua
Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labor, locked
underground cell with legs stocked. Transferred to death camp No7 in Sop Hao in June 1980
Tortured to death in June 1980, one week after transferred to prison cell No7 in Sop Hao district
province Houaphan.

16- Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanty
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao 1st Army Regional Deputy Chief of staff, Public relation Agency
Director, arrested on July 22, 1975. sent to detain in detention camp No 5B, Sam Neua,
Transferred to tortured camp No 1 Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977.
Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs stocked.
Transferred to death camp No 7 in Sop Hao in June 1980, where he was released by bribery
on May 31, 1989, Immigrated to the United States of America in 1990 to join the family .
Deceased in Portland Oregon, USA. In 2009

17- Br/Gen. Ath Saphangthong Pathammavong
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao 5th Army Regional deputy Commandant in chief, arrested, on July
22, 1975 in Vientiane sent to Sam Neua, detained in detention camp No 5B. Transferred to
tortured camp No1 Ban Naka, SopHao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy
punishment, hard labor, torture, locked in underground cell with legs stocked. Transferred to
death camp No7 in Sop Hao in June 1980. Tortured to death, one week later, there after
transferring to prison cell No7 Sop Hao district, province Houaphan, his grave was buried in
vicinity of VH 423-740.

18- Br/Gen. Thongphanh Kanoksy
Royal of Laos. Royal Lao Ministry of National Defence Spokesperson, arrested on July 22,
1975. sent to detention camp No 5A in Sam Neua for detaining. Ttransferred to tortured camp
No1 in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment,
hard labor and tortured, locked underground cell with legs stocked, cut off food and drink ,
Death underground cell in Jan 1980, his grave was buried in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neua,
Sop Hao district, province of Houaphan, VH 438-745.

19- Pol/Col. Khammouk Phengsy-Aroun
Royal of Laos Royal Lao National Police Department, a former Communist Pathet Lao
defected to Royal of Laos National Police. arrested in May 1975, sent to Sam Neua detention
camp No5 B for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No1 Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao
district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, hard labour, torture, locked
underground cell with legs stocked. Transferred to death camp N0 7 in Sop Hao in June 1980.
Totured to death in May 1981 in Prison cell No 7, Sop Hao district , Province Houaphan.

20- Capt. Sery Sayakham
Royal of Laos, Ministry of national Defence, army Officer, worked at army Ordnance and logistic department, arrested in Vientiane on July 22, 1975, sent to detention camp No5 B in Sam Neua for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured and hard labour locked in underground cell with legs stocked. Torture to death in July 1979 his grave was buried in VH 438-745, in the vicinity of Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, province Houaphan.

21- Col. Phom Phanthavong
Royal of Laos , Royal Lao 5th Army Regional , Sub Division Commandant in Chief, arrested on July 22, 1975 in Vientiane sent to detain in detention camp No5 B, transferred to torture camp no 1 in Ban Naka Neua on September 17, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture hard labour locked in underground cell with legs stocked . Release by bribery on May 31,1989.
immigrated to the United States of America in 1990 to join with family Now is living in Fresno, California as ordained Buddhist monk.

PRISON B b- CELL No.3

1- His Majesty The King Srisavang Wattana
Royal of Laos, Royal Palace, Luong Prabang, forced to denounce the Thrown on December 2, 1975, arrested, and sent to Sam Neua cave for detaining. Transferred to Tortured camp No.1 in Ban Naka Neua on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs stocked urinating and bowel in place, mal nutrition, no medical attention . Tortured to death on May, 13, 1980, his grave was buried in the vicinity of VH 438-745, Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province.

2- HRH Queen Khamphoui Wattana
Royal of Laos, Royal Palace, arrested on December 2, 1975, in Luong Prabang Royal Palace along with the King and others royal family members. sent to Sam Neua cave for detaining.
Transferred to tortured camp No1, in Ban Naka Neua on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour with mal nutrition. Transferred to death camp No7 in Sop Hao in April 1980 where she was tortured to death on December 12, 1981, her grave was buried close to King Srisavang Wttana, in vicinity of VH 438-745.

3- HRH Crown Prince Vongsavang Wattana
Royal of Laos, Royal Palace Luong Prabang, arrested December 2, 1975, along with the
King sent to Sam Neua cave for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No1 IN Ban Naka
Neua. On October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment , hard labour, and tortured, locked
under ground cell with legs stocked, urinating and bowel in place, mal nutrition without
medical care. Death under ground cell with leg stocked on Jan 1980. his grave was buried in
the vicinity of Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, Houaphan province, VH 438- 745.

4- H Royal Highness Prince Bouavone Wattana (King Srisavang Wattana's brother)
Royal of Laos, Houa Khong Provincial Governor, arrested in Houeixay May 1975 sent to
Sam Neua cave for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No5B on November 17, 1977.
Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, hard labour, locked in underground cell with leg stocked
poor nutrition quality with small portion of food , no medical attention . Tortured to death in
August 1978. his grave was buried in vicinity of VH, 348-745

5- HRH Prince Souphan Thalangsy (King Srisavangwattana's brother)
Royal of Laos, Royal palace Luong Prabang, Secretariat , arrested on December 2, 1975
sent to Sam Neua cave for detaining, transferred to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua on
October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour, locked in underground cell
with legs stocked poor quality nutrition with small portion of food ration Torture to death ...

6- HRH Prince Thongsouk Wattana (King's brother)
Royal of Laos, Royal Palcc Luong Prabang, Director of Royal palace diplomat, arrested
on December 2, 1975, sent to Sam Neau cave for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No1
Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao, on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured ,hard
labour locked in underground cell with legs stocked urinating and bowel in place. Tortured to
death in October 1978, his grave was buried at vicinity VH 439-745, Ban Naka, Sop Hao
distyrict, province Houaphan.

7- HR.H. Prince Keu Srisavang Wattana (King's 4th son)
Royal of Laos , Royal Palace Luong Prabang , arrested on December 2, 1975, sent to Sam
Neua cave along with the King, Queen for detaining. Transferred to tortured camp No1 Ban
Naka Neua, Sop Hao on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortureed, hard
labor, locked in underground cell with legs stocked urinating and bowel in place. Poor nutrition
with small food portion, no medical care. Tortured to death in September 1978. his grave was
buried at vicinity of VH,438-745, Ban Naka, Sop Hao district Houaphan province.

8- R.H. Prince Manivong Khammao
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Palace , General Secretariat of Royal Palace, Luong Prabang,
arrested on December 2, 1975, sent to Sam Neua cave for detaining, transferred to tortured
camp No1 Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977, Imposed to heavy
punishment, tortured, hard and labor, locked in underground cell with legs stocked , poor
nutrition with small portion of food ration a day, no medical care take out for river bathe 15mn
a week. Death underground cell on July 1979. his grave was buried at the vicinity of Nab Naka
Neua, Sop Hao district of Haophan VH 438-745

9- R.H. Prince Souk Bouavong
Royal of Laos, Ministry of Public work, former Minister of Public work, , former Houaphan
Provincial governor, arrested in Vientiane in May 1975, Jailed in Ban Samkhe Prison Vientiane
transferred to Sam Neua cave for detaining, transferred to tortured camp No1, Ban Naka Neua,
Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, hard labor.
Locked in underground cell with legs stocked urinating and bowel in place. Tortured to death in
December 1978, his grave was buried in the vicinity of VH 438-745 Ban Naka Neu, Sop Hao
district, Houaphan province.

10 - Hon. Bong Souvannavong
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao National Assembly member, Co-editor of Royal of Laos Constitution
in 1947, arrested in Vientiane in May 1975, Jailed in Ban Samkhe prison, transferred to Sam
Neua detention camp No 5 B in 1976, transferred to tortured camp No1, at Ban Naka Neua,
Sop Hao district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to Heavy punishment, tortured, hard labor ,
locked in underground cell with legs stocked bowel and urinating in place, poor nutrition.
Tortured to death in Nov, 1978 his grave buried in the vicinity of VH 438-745

11- Pol/Lt.Gen. Lith Luenammachack
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Ministry of Interior, National Police Department , Police Director
(Ret). President of Royal of Laos Red Cross Agency, arrested in Vientiane in Jan 1976. sent
to Sam Neua detention No5B. Transferred to tortured camp No1 in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao
district on October 12, 1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, tortured, hard labour, locked in
underground cell with legs stocked, bowel and urinating in place. Tortured to death in Feb 1979
his grave was buried in the vicinity of VH 438- 745, Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao district, province
Houaphan.

12- Pol/ staff Sgt . Phoumy Phanvongsa ( Resident of Sam Neua)
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Department of Police, arrested in July 22, 1975, detained in
detention camp No 5 B. transferred to tortured camp No 1, Ban Naka Neua on October 12,
1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labour, locked in underground cell with legs
stocked. Transfered death camp No 7 Sop Hao in April 1980 where he was tortured to death.

13- Pol/Master/Sgt ThaoThong
Royal of Laos, Royal Lao Police department, arrested in July 22, 1975, detained in detention
camp No 5 B. transferred to tortured camp No1, in Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao on October 12,
1977. Imposed to heavy punishment, torture, hard labor, locked in underground cell with legs
stocked. Tortured to death in prison.

14- Capl. Thao Phimpha
Royal of Laos, former personal driver to Mr. Boun Phommahaxay, the communist Patheth Lao
armed forces commandant in chief a 30 years revolutionary member, defected to Royal Lao
armed forces, arrested on July 22, 1975, detained in detention camp No 5B. Transferred to
tortured camp No 1 Ban Naka Neua, Sop Hao on October, 1977. Imposed to heavy,
punishment, torture, hard labor, locked underground cell with legs locked. Transferred to
death Camp No 7 Sop Hao in April 1980 where he was tortured to death..

15- Br/Gen. Lamngeun Prasavath (Retired)
Royal of Laos, Royal of Lao armed forces, arrested in Vientiane on July 22, 1975, sent to detention cave Moung Liat Sam Neua. Tortured to death in Muong Liat cave in Nov 1977

On June 1980 The tortured Camp No.1 was replaced to new administrators as following.

THE NEW ADMINISTRATION COMPOSED AS FOLLOWS:

1- Mr. Boun Nhai (General management)
2- Mr Nouthong (Political personnel)
3- Mr. Thongsy (Armed Guard forces)
4- Mr. Nouxay (Chief of Police)
5- Mr. Phengxay or Viengxay (Logistic and supply)

15 Armed guard personnel equipped with :
2- B40 Grenade Launcher
1- B41 Grenade Launcher
2- Russian made Machine guns
All personnels equipped with AK Assault riffle.
On Jun 1980 the tortured camp No1 replaced to new administration .

PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE DETENTION No 3

The prisoner detained in detention Camp No.3:

1- Maj. Bounchanh Heuanemisavath
2- Pol/Capt. Bounkham Sonethasack
3- Maj. Boun Leuang Inthasane
4- Pol/Major. Bounleuane Oudomsinh
5- Pol/Lt.Col. BounNhong Vongphachanh
6- Pol/Maj. Bounphet Pradichith
7- Maj. Bounsom Thamountha
8- Lt/Col. Bounsoun Khounsombath
9- Bounta Phetnhothin
10- Pol/Maj. Bounthanh Nhotsanga
11- aj. Bounthah Si-Athone
12-Lt/Col. Bounthanh Sirivong
13- Lt/Col. Bounthanh Sirisombath
14- 1Lt. Chane Chantha
15- 1Lt. Chandy
16- Maj. Chanthy Siphanthong
17- Lt/Col. Chanthavong Rajsavong
18- Maj. Deng Sengsavang
19- Maj. Deth Thongkhouha
20- 1Lt. Deune
21- Maj. Deo Vannavong
22- Lt/Col, Dor Thengthongsy
23- 1Lt. Hongkham Sayakham
24- Maj. Houmphanh Bounyasiri
25- Pol/Lt.Col. Houmphanh Chareunsy
26- Pol/Maj. Houmphanh Manikhong
27- Pol/Maj. Hounphanh Soukthavone
28- Lt/Col. Houmpheng Phounsavath
29- Lt/Col. Houmpheng Sisopha
30- Maj. Inpeng
31- Maj. Kenechanh Meksavanh
32- 1Lt. Kene Sy
33- Maj. Khambay Sirimanotham
34- Maj. Khamkhieng Thongsavath
35- Maj. Kham Monh Souvannaphalom
36- 1Lt. Khamphanh Rajvong
37- Maj. Khamphao Phoummavong
38- Lt/Col. Khamphao Phayboun
39- Pol/Maj. Khamphay Bounsavath
40- 1Lt. Khamphay Kaseumsouk
41- Maj. Pheng Vongsonephet
42- 1Lt. Phensy
43- Pheuy Bounyasiri
44- Pol/Maj. Phomma Phommathet
45- Maj. Phoumy Chanthalekha
46- Maj. Phoumy Inthavanh
47- 1Lt. Phia Sithong
48- Maj. Sangthong Sethasomphou
49- Lt/Col. Tiao Sing Rattana
50- Maj. Singkham
51- Maj. Siphan Salika
52-Lt/Col. Sisawath Phetsomphou
53- Lt/Col. Sivixay Sackpraseuth
54- Maj. Somchith Sayasane
55- Maj. Somdy Mixayboua
56- Pol/Maj. Somphou Monthoitay
57- Maj. Sopha Sengrath
58- Lt/Col. Chao Soukthivong
59- Lt/Col. Chao Souvanna Sethasomphou
60- 1Lt. Thongchanh Soukhaphonh
61- Lt/Col. Thongphanh Simasing
62- Pol/Maj. Thongsouk Phonphiboun
63- Maj. Vankham Phiasakha
64- Capt. Xiengchanh Thammayo
65- Maj. Xom
66- 1Lt. Khampheuy
67- 1Lt. Khamphone
68- Lt/Col. Khampong Thongpane
69- Maj. Khampoun Khammongkhoun
70- Lt/Col.Khamsay Singharath
71- Maj. Khamsene Keodara
72- Maj. Khamsop
73- Maj. Khamsy Thongvatsa
74- Maj. Khamtiene Keovilay
75-- Lt/Col. Khune
76- Maj. Ko Inthakoummane
77- Maj. Kongmy Sattasinh
78- Lt/Col. Lacthong Bounyavong
79- Maj. Lao Chomsavanh
80- Maj. Leum Sithixay
81- Maj. Leun Phetthasa
82- Maj. Mang Kham-Orne
83- Maj. Na thavath
84- 2Lt. Nane Inh
85- Maj. Nhane Khounthikoummane
86- Maj. No Sihamaya
87- Maj. Noi Mouangsida
88- Lt/Col. Ornchanh Sihamano
89- Maj. Ornchanh Soukkhaphonh
90- Lt/Col. Ornsy Khaysavang
91- Maj. Onh Rithiphong
92- Lt/Col. Ounheuane Chittaphong
93- Lt/Col. Ounheuane Oudommongkhoun
94- Maj. Ounheuane Sipraseuth
95- Maj. Ounkeo Thamphia
96- Maj. Ounneua Phengsavath
97- Lt/Col. Pane Siphanthong
98- Maj. Phailoth Xoumpholpackdy
99- Maj. Phanh Anolack
100- Maj. Phanh Chanthavatdy
101- 1Lt. Tioa Phanh Rasavong
102- Pol/Col. Phanh Vandasack
103- Pol/Maj. Phao Bounliyaphonh
104- 1Lt. Phay Kaseumsouk
105- Lt/Col. Phay Phengchanh
106- Lt/Col. Pheng Savatdymao
107- Maj. Phetthalangsy
108- Maj. Pheuy Mangkhala
109- Maj. Phouangphet Songvilay
110- Maj. Phouy Southidara
111- Maj. Phoui Chanthadara
112- Maj. Chao Rasamy Sayasane
113- Pol/Maj. Sengpha-Athith Sisamouth
114 - Maj. Sing Souriya
115-1Lt. Singkham Maikeo
116 -Maj. Tiao Sisavath Bounkhong
117- Maj. Sisouphanh Phengsavath
118- Lt/Col. Chao Somchanh Sayasane
119- Pol/Maj. Somdy Chanthavong
120 -NCO. Sommay Somchith
121 - Maj. Somsavath Souriyo
122 - Chao Souk Phanthanark
123- Maj. Souvanh Sithideth
124- Lt/Col. Chao Tan Soukthala
125- Capt. Thongdy
126- Maj. Thongphet Bounyavong
127 -Maj. Vanna Sisengvong
128- Maj. Vanh Thalangsy
129- Maj. Xiengmanh Sirisouk

THE PRISONERS DETAINED IN DETENTION CAMP No 4:

1- Pol/Maj. Ei Thepnava
2- Maj. Alom Keopaseuth
3- Mr. Ang Khammavongsa
4- Mr. Angkham Manivong
5- Maj. Attachanh
6- Lt/Col. Banh Manivong
7- Lt/Col. Ba-Oth Phakhinh
8- Maj. Bene
9- Lt/Col. Beuy Luongsouphom
10- Maj. Bou
11- Maj. Bounkeua Kongsayasack
12- Lt/Co. Boualau Vorarath
13- Mr. Bouapha Sihanath
14- Pol/Maj. Bouaphanh
15- Lt/Col. Bon Detvongsa
16- Maj. Bouathet Phothisene
17- Maj. Bouathong
18- Mr. Bounchanh
19- Lt/Col. Boun Eua Sayakham
20- Lt/Col. Bounhome Phandanouvong.
21- Lt/Col. Bounkouang Insixiengmai
22- Mr. Boun Leui
23- Lt/Col. Bounlith Manikham
24- Pol/Maj. Bounlouane Nouankhamchanh
25- Pol/Maj. Bounmy Chanthavong
26- Lt/Col. Bounmy Boupha Taxay
27- Maj. Bounmy Phengkhamphath
28- Lt/Col. Bounnhang Insixiengmai
29- Maj. Boun Nhor
30- Maj. Boun Nhou
31- Pol/Maj. Boun Nhouat
32- Pol/Maj. Boun Oua Soukhasen
33- Maj. Boun Oum
34- Maj. Bounphama Thanasouk
35- Pol/Maj. Bounpheng
36- Pol/Maj. Bounpheng Phanphila
37- Mr. Bounpheng S.Pabmixay
38- Maj. Bounpheng Sharath
39- Maj. Bounpheng Sivoraphonh
40- Pol/Col. Bounpheng Thatsaphone
41- Mr. Boun Some
42- Maj. Bounsong Phouninh
43-Lt/Col. Bounsouane Simoukda
44-Lt/Col. Bounsoung
45- Mr. Boun Thai
46- Lt/Col. Bounthanh
47- Dir. Bounthanh
48- Lt/Col. Bounthanh
49- Maj. Boun Theung
50- Mr. Bountheung Keuthla
51- Lt/Col. Bountheung Oudom
52- Lt/Col. Bountheung Phanvongsa
53- Mr. Bountheung K. Phengyavong
54- Lt/Col. Bounthone
55- Maj. Bountiem Souriyavong
56- Lt/Col. Bounxieng Soymany
57- Pol/Maj. Boutdy
58- Pol/Maj. Channy Phengdara
59- Pol/Maj. Inpeng Vongphouthone
60-Maj. Inta Phixayavong
61- Dir. Kayphet Chantharathip
62- Mr. Kaysone Thepmany
63- Maj. Keng
64- Maj. Kenethong
65- Lt/Col. Keng Pathammavong
66- Pol/Maj. Keo
67- Maj. Keo Phavongxay
68- Maj. Keua
69- Maj. Keuth
70- Maj.
71- Pol/Maj. Khaisy S.Salakham
72- Maj. Khambeng Pathammavong
73- Maj. Khamboth Nakhiengchanh
74- Maj. Khambou Sananikhone
75- Maj. Khamchanh Sisounonh
76- Maj. Khamdy
77- Lt/Col. Khamphong Keomany
78- Maj. Khamkeuth Sayarath
79- Maj. Khamkhiene Vongchanh
80- Lt/Col. Khamky Khounsombath
81- Maj. Khamla Bounlutay
82- Mr. Khamleck Phanvongsa
83- Maj. Khamliene Sanaviseth
84- Maj. Khamlome Xoumpholpackdy
85- Pol/Maj. Kham Mao
86- Maj. Kham Mone
87- Pol/Maj. Khammone Chanthavong
88- Maj. Khammone Dejvongsa
89- Maj. Kham Moune
90- Pol/Maj. Kham My
91- Lt/Col. Khamboth Luongrath
92- Mr. Kham Oune
93- Mr. Kham Phanh
95- Pol/Maj. Khamphanh Chanthalath
96- Mr. Khamphanh Sayasith
91- Pol.Lt/Col. Khamphanh Vongsamphanh
92- Maj. Khamphath Singharath
93- Pol.Lt/Col. Khamphay
94- Lt/Col. Khamphet Moukdarat
95- Pol/Maj. Kongpheng Vongdara
96- Maj. Kongsinh Phetsomphou
97- Maj. Kongsinh Soumpholpackdy
98- Lt/Col. Kong Ty
99- Maj. Kongty Sinnakhone
100- Dir. Kossadary Phimmasone
101- Maj. Koum Vongsanith
102- Maj. La Kaosana
103- Pol/Maj. La Keoninh
104- Maj. La Phommaphavanh
105- Maj. Luck Thepmany
106- Pol/Maj. Lackthay Bounyavong
107- Mr. Lamlakhone Insixiengmai
108- Lt/Col. Lamngeun Southonevichith
109- Mr. Lamthong Hangla
110- Pol/Maj. Langsy Vannavongkot
111- Lt/Col. Lanh Rajphangthong
112- Maj. Leuth Thavone
113- Maj. Lay
114- Maj. Leck Bourommavong
115- Maj. Leck Sengsourichanh
116- Maj. Leuane
117- Maj. Lith Panyanouvong
118- Lt/Col. Lithi Luangnikhone
119- Maj. Lom Phouangphet
120- Maj. Louane Nouankhamchanh
121- Maj. Lovantheuang
122- Maj. Mahachay Chommouang
123- Mr. Mit Nirandone
124- Lt/Col. Mark
125- Maj. Manh Sourinhosack
126- Maj. Mok Somphithak
127- Pol/Maj. Mone Singvilay
128- Maj. Moune
129- Maj. My
130- Lt/Col. Nhanh Manivong
131- Mr. Nhet Khounsamnane
132- Maj. Ngone Sayarath
133- Pol.Lt/Col. Somkhit Vanivath
134- Pol/Maj. Somlith Phanthavong
135- Lt/Col. Somlith Vannarath
136- Mr. Somlith Youansamouth
137- Lt/Col. Sommay Phanthavong
138- Mr. Somnuk Vongsavanh
139- Maj. Somphanh Mahathirath
140- Pol/Maj. Sompheng S.Phabmixay
141- Maj. Somphone
142- Mr. Somvang Vilaivanh
143- Mr. Sone
144- Maj. Sopha Vongphachanh
145- Pol/Maj. Soubanh Arounsavath
146- Pol/Maj. Soubinh
147- Pol/Maj. Soui Phimmasane
148- Lt/Col. Souk Lathamone
149- Maj. Souk Oudomphong
151- Lt/Col. Soulika
152- Pol/Maj. Soulinh Souvannasing
153- Mr. Souphath
154- Maj. Souphat
155- Lt/Col. Souphot
156- Lt/Col. Sourika
157- Pol/Maj. Sourinh Souvannasing
158- Maj. Soutchay
159- Maj. South Sounantha
160- Pol/Maj. Southanh
161- Maj. Souvanh Philavong
162- Pol/Maj. Souvanthong Thammavongsa
163- Pol/Maj. Souvath Thongdara
164- Maj. Sy
165- Pol/Maj. Sychanh Phiathep
166- Maj. Sy Moune
167- Maj. Ta Thaodara
168- Gov. Tan-Avong Vorabouth
169- Pol/Maj. Tan Malaithong
170- Lt/Col. Tan Phathanak
171- Maj. Tao
172- Lt/Col. Taxay Sopha
173- Maj. Thai.
174- Lt/Col. Pheng Oudomvilay
175- Maj. Pheng Phetsakhone
176- Maj. Pheng Thasaphone
177- Lt/Col. Phengsy Phouminh
178- Pol/Maj. Phet Silaso
179- Maj. Phila Boutdara
180- Maj. Phila Silavong
181- Mr. Phimpha Thepsimuang
182- Lt/Col. Phim Pho.
183- Lt/Col. Pho Phoukhongsy
184- Pol/Maj. Phokham Phengkhamrack
185- Maj. Phomma Daovannavong
186- Pol/Maj. Phomma Kiettisack
187- Mr. Phomma Thepsimuong
188- Maj. Phone Inthasoroth
189- Pol/Maj. Phone Phaly
190- Pol/Maj. Phone Phavannorath
191- Pol/Maj. Phoui Oulavanh
192- Maj. Phoui Opalavanh
193- Mr. Phoumi Phommachack
194- Pol/Maj. Phouvinh Chanthavongsa
195- Maj. Phouvieng
196- Mr. Phoxay Rasachack
197- Lt/Col. Piem Chantharath
198- Lt/Col. Piane Sirinounchanh
199- Dir. Prachith Sourisack
200- Lt/Col. Praseuth
201- Gov. Praseuth Boungnavong
202- Lt/Col. Prasith Bouavong
203- Mr. Prasith Senelaluk
204- Pol/Maj. Praveth Sourisack
205- Pol/Maj. Rangsy Vannavongkot
206- Maj. Se Inthiphab
207- Pol/Maj. Saly Khamvongsa
208- Pol/Maj. Same
209- Maj. Samane Vilaisack
210- Pol/Maj. Sanga Thammavongsa
211- Maj. Savay Chanthepha
212- Maj. Somkham Sirattakoun
213- Pol.Lt./Col. Somkhit Avanilath
214-Pol/Maj. Somlith Phannavong
215- Lt/Col. Somlith Vannarath
216- Mr. Somlith Youansamouth
217- Lt/Col. Sommay Phanthavong
218- Mr. Somnuk Vongsavanh
219- Maj. Somphanh Mahathirath
220- Pol/Maj. Sompheng S.Phabmixay
221- Maj. Somphone
222- Mr. Somvang Vilaivanh
223- Mr. Sone
224- Maj. Sopha Vongphacahnh
225- Pol/Maj. Soubanh Arounsavath
226- Pol/Maj. Soubinh
227- Pol/Maj/ Soui Phimmasane
228- Lt/Col. Souk Lathamone
229- Lt/Col. Soulenh Phetsomphou
230- Lt/Col. Soulika
231- Pol/Maj. Soulinh Souvannasing
232- Mr. Souphat
233- Maj. Souphat
234- Lt/Col. Souphot
235- Lt/Col. Sourika
236- Pol/Maj. Sourinh Souvannasing
237- Maj. Southchay
238- Maj. Sout Sounantha
239- Pol/Maj. Southanh
240- Maj. Souvanh Philavong
241- Pol/Maj. Souvanthong Thammavongsa.
242- Pol/Maj. Souvath Thongdara
243- Maj. Sy
244- Pol/Maj. Sychanh Phiathep
245- Maj. Sy Moune
246- Maj. Ta Thaodara
247- Gov. Tan-Avong Vorabout
248- Pol/Maj. Tan Malaithong
249- Lt/Col. Tanh Phathanark
250- Maj. Tao
251- Lt/Col. Tasxay Sopha
252- Maj. Thai
253- Mr. Xieng Siharath
254- Maj. Xiengkongsy Bounlutai
255- Maj. Kheuane Phantharath
256- Mr. Khoune
257- Col. Ackhasone Manotham
258- Maj. Alom Misomphane
259- Lt/col. Angkham Senesanith
260- Lt/Col. Anouvong
261- Dir. Baliene Khamdaranikhone
262- Pol/Maj. Banouvong Sisavanh
263- Maj. Belo Phomsavatdy
264- Maj. Benh
265- Maj. Bida
266- Maj. Boua Sichamphone
267- Maj. Boualay Muonghane
268- Maj. Boualoy Muonghane
269- Lt/Col. Bouapha Taxay
270- Maj. Bouaphanh Phonethip
271- Dir. Bosaykham Bouasy
272- Lt/Col. Bouathong Chemdasack
273- Maj. Bouathong Vongsathiene
274- Maj. Bounchom Xouykeomixay
275- Maj. Bounfeng Thirakoun
276- Lt/Col. Bounkhong Phommachack
277- Pol/Maj. Chansom S.Sengsirivanh
278- Lt/Col. Chansamouth
279- Lt/Col. Chansouk
280- Pol/Maj. Chansouk Douangvongsa
281- Maj. Chantho
282- Maj. Chanthakhath Sivoravong
283- Dir. Chiengchanpheng Sinhbandith
284- Lt/Col. Chindavong
285- Maj. Chit
286- Pol/Maj. Chommuong Mahaxay
287- Lt/Col. Choum
288- Maj. Chiam
289- Lt/Col. Daovong Kinpathoum
290- Lt/Col. Daovong Phanpathoum
291- Lt/Col Dai Vinavong
292- Pol/Maj. Done Keopaseuth
293- Maj. Done Rattanavong
294- Maj. Dy Sengsouvanh
295- Maj. Eun Phothirath
296- Maj. Fongsamouth
297- Maj. Hatsady Luonglath
298- Lt/Col. Hem D. Phaisouvanh
299- Mr. Heuang Choundara
300- Lt/Col. Heuang Insixiengmai
301- Lt/Col. Hom Rasaphonh
302- Maj. Hom Savatdy
303- Pol/ Maj. Hoat Southalath
304 - Lt/Col. Houan
305- Maj. Houm Somrasamy
306- Lt/Col. Houi Pholsena
307- Houmpheng Phongsavanh
308- Maj. Houmpheng Souksavath
309- Pol.Lt/Col. Infeng Sengkinyavong
310- Maj. Inh
311- Lt/Col. Inpeng
312- Maj. Inpeng
313- Mr. Chantha Insixiengmai
314- Pol.Lt/Col. Chanpheng Chittaphong
315- Dir. Khampinh Phandamaly
316- Maj. Khamphou Sackpraseuth
317- Mr. Khamphoui
318- Pol/Maj. Khamphoui Somchanthavong
319- Mr. Khamphoui Phanthavong
320- Maj. Khamphouth
321- Maj. Khamphy
322- Pol/Maj. Khamsene Thammabanvong
323- Pol/Maj. Khanseng S. Phabmixay
324- Mr. Khamsing Khammanivong
325- Maj. Khamsone
326- Mr. Khamsone Noudaranouvong
327- Pol/Maj. Khamsop
328- Maj. Khamsouk S.Phabmixay
329- Mr. Khamsy Luongkhoth
330- Maj. Khamsy Soukhaseum
331- Maj. Khamta Sirimanotham
332- Maj. Khamtan Malaithong
333- Mr. Khamtan Lithamalay
334- Mr. Khamtan Phengsaya
335- Pol/Maj. Khamtan Naovarangsy
336- Pol/Maj. Khamteum Sanoubane
337- Maj. Khamthong Chanphianamvong
338- Lt/Col. Khamtoui Phachansithi
339- Maj. Khamxi Soukhaseum
340- Dir. Khanthong Thammavong
341- Maj. Khao
342- Mr. Khamxay Phoumivong
343- Maj. Khaisy Sisanakham
344- Maj. Ken Anouvong
345- Maj. Ken Sangboutsady
346- Mr. Ken Souriyavong
347- Lt/Col. Khom Prasavath
348- Lt/Col. Khoune Phavorabouth
349- Maj. Khounmy Rajsombath
350- Pol.Lt/Col. Kingkeo Souksavath
351- Maj. Kisouy
352- Maj. Kongkham Sirivongxay
353- Pol/Maj. Kongmoune
354- Pol.Lt/Col. Kongmoune Thanavady
355- Pol/Maj. Kongpheng
356- Nhot Koumphol
357- Nhot Chanthaphonh
358- Noth
359- Nilanh Sirisane
360- No Sayasane
361- Noi Sihavong
362- Nou Souvannavong
363- Nouane
364- Nouanedeng Silaphone
365- Noudam
366- Maj. Noukay Xoumpholpackdy
367- Noukiem
368- One Vongsa
369- Onechanh Thamvong
370- Lt/Col. Oneta Homsombath
371- Oun Soukaseum
372- Oubonh S.Sanavongsa
373- Lt/Col. Oudom Bountheung
374- Lt/Col. Oudom Thanadabouth
375- Lt/Col. Oudom Vongkingkeo
376- Maj. Oui Boulom
377- Maj. Ouma Thepharack
378- Maj. Oupatham Luongrath
379- Lt/Col. Outama
380- Maj. Outy Khamvongsa
381- Maj. Pahonh Soundara
382- Maj. Pane Nikhaysouk
383- Maj. Pane Thiphasouk
384- Maj. Panh BouNyassith
385- Maj. Patha.
386- Col. Pha Nounenelady
387- Col. Pha. Praeuth
388- Maj. Phane Inthasolith
389- Maj. Phao Southiphong
390- Lt/Col. Phay Mixayphonh
391- Lt/Col. Pheng Boualay
392- Maj. Pheng Bouapha
393- Maj. Pheng Lathanithone
394- Maj. Tham Sananikone
395- Mr. Thanh Phomsavanh
396- Pol/Maj. Thanom Khamvath
397- Pol/Maj. Thavisath Songvilay
398- Mr. Te Intharatvongsy
399- Lt/Col. Teung Phanvongsa
400- Lt/Col. Teung Siharath
450- Maj. Thone Rattanasavanh
451- Maj. Thonechanh Luongrath
452- Mr. Thong.
453- Maj. Thong Dam
454- Maj. Thongdy Vongmahatham
455- Lt/Col. Thongdam Daranouvong
456- Pol/Maj. Thongkhanh Soydara
457- Maj. Thongma
458- Mr. Thongphanh Vannasy
460- Maj. Thongphat Siharath
461- Lt/Col. Thongthep Chantharatry
462- Mr. Thongthip S.Phabmixay
463- Pol/Maj. Thongvanh Panya.
464- Lt/Col. Thot Nhouyvanitsavong
465- Pol.Lt/Col. Thoune Panyanouvong
466- Pol/Maj. Thoune
467- Maj. Thoun Phomahaxay
468- Maj. Tiam
469- Pol/Maj. Tom
470- Mr. Toulong Lyfuong
471- Pol/Maj. Triem Souriyavong
472- Pol/Maj. Ty Sengkhane
473- Lt/Col. Vandy
474- Pol/Maj. Vandy Chittarath
475- Pol/Maj. Vang Xoumpholpackdy
476- Maj. Vansy S.Phabmixay
477- Maj. Vantheuang Phondokham
478- Pol/Maj. Vanna.
479- Pol/Maj. Vansong Souksayvanh
480- Pol/Maj. Vanthong Sivankham
481- Dir. Vetsouvanh Kamkasomphou
482- Mr. Vixay
483- Maj. Savey Saysavanh
484- Pol/Maj. Saykham Southammavong
485- Lt/Col. Saysamone Naovarath
486- Lt/Col. Seng Ngaoluongrath
487- Lt/Col. Sengkeo Kingsada
488- Dr. Seo Manivong Insixiengmai
489- Maj. Seumphan Mahathirath
490- Maj. Seumphanh Phommavong
491- Maj. Somsack Nachampasack
492- Maj. Siosavath Sirimanotham
493- Maj. Sideun Douangdara
494- Pol/Maj. Sika
495- Pol/Maj. Signa Rasphonh
496- Maj. Sila Phaxay
497- Gov. Silome Nachampasack
498- Simek Sihavong
499- Maj. Simone Antuane
500- Maj. Simoune Kingkittisack
501- Maj. Singkham.
502- Pol/Maj. Singthong
503- Mr. Sing To
504- Maj. Si Nong
505- Lt/Col. Sinong Mingmalichanh
506- Pol/Maj. Sisavanh Bannavong
507- Maj. Siphay Chaipha
508- Maj. Sisavath
509- Maj. Sisavey Saisavanh
510- Lt/Col. Sisoumang
511- Lt/Col. Sisouphanh
512- Dir. Sisouphanh Manorath
513- Dir. Tiao Sy Souphanouvong
514- Maj. Sisouphit Kittirath
515- Maj. Sisouvanh Siphay
516- Lt/Col. Sith Saysy
517- Maj. Sombath S.Phabmixay
518- Pol. Lt/Col. Somboun Salinthone
519- Pol/Maj. Somchine Bandith
520- Maj. Somchith Soulivong
521- Maj. Somchit Vixaysouk
522- Maj. Tham Sananikone
523- Mr. Thanh Phomsavanh
524- Pol/Maj. Thanom Khamvath
525- Pol/Maj. Thavixath Songvilay
526- Mr. The Intharasavongsy
527- Lt/Col. Theung Phanthavongsa
528- Lt/Col. Theung Siharath
529- Maj. Thone Rattanasavanh
530- Maj. Thonechanh Luangrath
531- Mr. Thong.
532- Maj. Thong Dam
533- Maj. Thongdy Vongmahatham
534- Lt/Col. Thongkham Daranouvong
535- Pol/Maj. Thongkhanh Soydara
536- Maj. Thong Na
537- Mr. Thongphanh Vannasy
538- Maj. Thong Phat
229- Lt/Col. Soulenh Phetsomphou
230- Lt/Col. Soulika
231- Pol/Maj. Soulinh Souvannasing
232- Mr. Souphat
233- Maj. Souphat
234- Lt/Col. Souphot
235- Lt/Col. Sourika
546- Maj. Thoun Phommahaxay
547- Maj. Tiam
548- Pol/Maj. Tom
549- Toulong Lyfuong
550- Pol/Maj. Triem Souriyavong
551- Pol/Maj. Ty Sengkhane
552- Lt/Col. Vandy
553- Pol/Maj. Vandy Chittarath
554- Pol/Maj. Vang Xoumpholpackdy
555- Maj. Vansy S.Phabmixay
556- Maj. Vantheuang Mondorkham
557- Pol/Maj. Vanh Na
558- Pol/Maj. Vanhsong Souphayvanh
559- Pol/Maj. Vanthong Sivankham
560- Dir. Vetsouvanh Kamkasomphou
561- Mr. Vixay
562- Maj. Xeuam Rajphangthong
563- Lt/Col. Xieng Matouchanh
563- Pol/Maj. Chanpheng
564- Maj. Khoune Vongsa
565- Maj. Done Sihavong

THE PRISONERS DETAINED IN DETENTION No 5A AND No 5B

The detention camp No5A located in the mountain valley at Ban Sop Hao the vicinity of VH 428 – 742 at the right side of Nam Sam river bank in between Chieng khor city, Province Houaphan surrounded by mountain range, with thick forest and jungle.

The prisoners detained in this camp were as following:

1- Col Amkha Khanthamixay
2- Pol/Col. Aroun Boupha
3- Brg./Gen. Athsaphangthong Pathammavong
4- Maj. Baccam Kouay
5- Maj. Baccam Vien
6- Col. Banouvong, Panya
7- Pol/Col. Bolibane Vongsarasinh
8- Pol/Col. Bo Luangrath
9- Gov. Bouahome Souvandy
10- Col. Bouakeo Bounnam
11- Co. Bouakeo Nhoymany
12- Maj. Boualy Sopha
13- Pol/Col. Bouaphanh Southavilay
14- Gov. Bouathip Thongpane
15- Brg./Gen. Bounchanh Savatphayphane
16- col. Bounchanh Thammavong
17- Pol/Col. Bounkane Saycocie
18- Lt/Gen. Bounleuth Sanichanh
19- Col. Bounleuth Philavong
20- Col. Bounlouane Doaheuang
21- Lt/Col. Bounlue Nammathao
22- Brg/Gen. Bounma Vongphachanh
23- Pol/Col. Bounmy Mounivong
24- Pol/Col. Bounmy Siharath
25- Col. Bounnao Thirakoun
26- Lt/Gen. Bounpone
27- Col. Houmpheng Sounthone
28- Col. Bounphou Sanichanh
29- Pol/Col. Bountem Phanthavong
30- Lt/Col. Bounthan Keophanboua
31- Col. Bounthan Oudomphong
32- Maj/Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth
33- Col. Bounthavy Phouisangiem
34- Col. Bounxou Bouakhasith
35- Capt. Bounyasith Markthepharack
36- Col. Bounyaveth
37- Pol/Col. Bounxou Silalack
38- Col. Champa Pheng Pasack
39- Pol/Col. Changvath Vilaihong
40- Chanh Siharath
81- AMB. Khamchanh Pradith
82- Col. Khamdeng Boulom
83- Col. Khamdeng S. Praseuth
84- PMC. Khamfanh Nouane Savanh
85- Col. Khamphong Phommata
86- Lt/Col. Khamheuang Sounanthavong
87- Col. Khamkeung Naxepone
88- Dir. Khamkhieng Souvanlasy
89- Col. Khamko
90- Col. Khamlane Chanthiyasack
91- Maj/Gen Khamlome Thongphanh
92- Pol/Col. Khamluong Nokham
93- Col. Khammanh Koumphol
94- Col. Khammay V. Bouxasinh
95- Col. Khammeth Luongviseth
96- Pol/Col. Khammouk Phengsyaroun
97- Dir. Kham Ouane Rattanavong
98- Col. Khamphanh Bounsavath
99- Col. Khamphanh Phoummavong
100- Dir. Khamphanh Phraxaysithideth
101- Gov. Khamphan Pradith
102- Col. Khamphanh Raxaseuk
103- Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanthy
104- Col. Khamphanh Oulavanh
105- Pol/Maj. Khamphao Thongkham
106- Col. Khamphathboua
107- Col. Khamphay Rajvongthong
108- Col. Khamphay Sayasith
109- Pol/Col. Khampheng S. Phabmixay
110- Col. Khamphet Douangdara
111- Pol/Col. Khamphone
112- Pol/Col. Khamphou Sengdeuanpheng
113- Pol/Col. Khamphoui Bounsavath
114- Pol/Col. Khamphoui Luongrath
115- Pol/Col. Khamsene Keomanideth
116- Col. Khamphiou Phanouvong
117- Pol/Col. Khamsene Phimmachanh
118-Pol/Col. Nakhonekham Bouphanouvong
119- Maj. Phasouk S.Rajphack
120- Col. Phai Malavong
121- Nhonh Phmvongsa
122- Col. Nhouat Kongdara
123- Pol/Col. Nikhom Linthong
124- Pol/Capt. Niphonh Thavone Kham
125- Brg/Gen. Nouphet Daoheuang
126- Okham Anoulack
127- One Phakhounthong
128- Pol/Col. Pheuy Chittaphong
177-Pol/Col. Onechanh Keosavang
178- Pol/Col. Onesy Southidara
179- Col. Onh Bouphaxayxonh
180- Pol/Maj. Onh Mahasena
181- Col. Op Soukkhaseum
182- Pol/Col. Ouane Dara
183- Pol/Col. Ouane Phanphengsy
184- Lt/Gen. Ouane Ratikoun
185- MPC. Oudai Souvannavong
186- Col. Oudom Phanthavong
187- Pol/Col. Oudom Sourintha
188- Col. Oudone Maniboth
189- Col. Ounheuane Cittasy
190- Pol/Col. Ounheuane Sinbandith
191- Col. Outama Thongsithavong
192- Col. Padap
193- Pol/Maj Pakaykeo S.Phabmixay
194- Dir. Pane Rajsavong
195- Maj. Pangthong Chokbengboun
196- Col. Pany
197- Pol/Maj. Paphot Phommathep
198- Pol/Col. Pasong Sommay
199- Civ. Pha Phonxaya
200- Maj. Pha Praseuth
201- Dir. Phack Savanh
202- Col. Phanh Nola
203- Maj/Gen. Tiao Sayavong
204- Col. Phao Southi
205- Capt Sery Sayakham
206- Col. Seumsack Chatouxay
207- Pol/Col. Sichanh Chitdamrong
208- Col. Sichanh Kayavong
209- Col. Sichanh Thammavong
210- Col. Sida Sinamonty
211- MPC. Siharath Phasouk
212- Col. Sing Chanthakoummane
213- Lt/Col. Sing Rajsaphangthong
214- Pol/Col. Sing Vetmany
215- Maj. Singkapo anaouhouang
216- Col. Singkeo Sinhbandith
217- Brg/Gen. Tiao Sinh Xaysana
218- Col. Tiao Sinthanavong Chindavong
219- Col. Sisamouth Sananikhone
220- Col. Sisavath Mekdarasouk
221- Col. Sisavath Vongkhamheuang
222- Col. Sisoumang Kounlavouth
223- Min. Sisoumang Sisaleumsack
224- Col. Sisouphanh Vannachit
225- Pol/Col. Tiao Sisouvanh Chanthavong

255- Col. Sith Southichack
256- Pol/Col. Sitho Inthavong
257- Pol. Col. Sitheua Bongnasith
258- Col. Sithonh Vongphachanh
259- Maj. Sivilay Phichith
260- Pol/Gen. Som Rajphangthong
261- Pol/Col. Somboun Ounkeo
262- Col. Somboun Kennavong
263- Col. Somboun Thammavongsa
264- Col. Somboun Visaysouk
265- Pol/Gen. Somchine Phouthakhanthy
265. Pol/Col. Somdy Somsavath
266- Pol/Gen. Somnuk Thongphanith
267- Pol/Col. Somphet Vongsouvanh
268- Col. Somphone Phommachanh
269- Col. Somphong Soukkhaseum
270- Pol/Col. Somsouk Banouvong
271- Col. Song Douangphachanh
272- Pol/Col. Souy Inthavong
273- Col. Acksone Manotham
274- Lt/Col. Bounchanh
275- Pol/Col. Bounthong Senekhamyong
276- Pol/Col. Lakeo Mahasena
277- Col. Noukeo Thirakoun
278- Pol/Col. Phomma Sayasane
279- Col. Sinouane Sourisack
280- Col. Soulang Phetsomphou
281- Col. Than Soumpholpackdy
282- Pol/Col. Thavisith Kousonh
283- Dir. Thongkhan Vongsipasong
284- Pol/Col. Touy Thanabouth
285- Col. Bou Phetvihane
286- Pol/Col. Pha Nouanelady
287- Pol/ Col. Chanpheng Philaphonh
288- Col. Chanpheng Phongsavath
289- Pol/ Col. Chanpheng Sadettan
290- Pol/Col. Cahnpheng Xoumpholpackdy
291- Dir. Chansamonh Voravong
292- Pol/Gen.. Chanthala Sihachack
292- Pol/Col. Dao Phachareun
293- Col. Doak Luongkoumphol
294. Col. Douangpy Phanakhone
295- Pol/ Col. Eng
296- Pol/Maj. Feuy
297- Pol/ Col. Fone Phakaysone
298- Pol/Col Heng Saythavy
299- Col. Heuang Intravong
300- Col. Home Niravong
301- Col. Hongkeo Sadettan
302- Col. Hongkham Sadettan
303- Col. Houmphan Kingsada
304- Brg/Gen. Houmphan Norasing
305- Col. Houmpheng Bounlyaphol
306- Pol/Col. Houmpheng Souksavath
307- Pol/Col. Houn Rattananongsy
308- Col. Inpanh Luongrath
309- Pol/Col. Inpanh Savankham
310- Col. Inpeng Thammavongsa.
311- Pol.Lt/Col. Insadet Rajaphanthong
312- Dir. Issara Donsasorith
313- Maj/Gen. Kane Insixiengmai
314- Col. Kan Keohavong
315- Dir. Kathong Donsasorith
316- Pol/col. Kavin Keonakhone
317- Col. Kene Phonvidone
318- Lt/Col. Keuth Sirivongxay
319- Pol/Gen. Kolakan Kamkaxomphou
320- Pol/Gen. Kome Nhoybouathong
321- Pol/Gen. Kongsengsourichanh
322- Col. Kongkeo Songvilay
323- Col. Kongsana Koumpholpackdy
324- Col. Khambouane Phommabouth
325- Col. Khamchanh Phanouvong
326- Col. Khamsene Sayavong
327- Pol/Gen. Khamseng Vorasane
328- Pol/Col. Khamsavang Chanthiyasack
329- Dir. Khamsing Ngonevolarath
330- Pol/Col. Khamsouane Boutchantharath
331- Pol/Col. Khammouang Sihalathavong
332- Col. Khamsouk S. Rajsaphack
333- Pol/Col. Khamsouk Virachith
334- Dir. Khamtan Kanhalikham
335- Col. Khamtanh Thirakoun
336- Dir. Khamtou Boulom
337- Col. Khamveui
338- Khamxay Phommavong
339- Col. Khankham Bouphasavanh
340- Pol/Col. Khattha Khanthamixay
341- Col. Kheuang Pathammavong
342- Pol/Col. Khamxay Baphavanh
343- Pol/Col. Ky Senesouvanh
344- Col. Lamkeo Oupraxay
345- Col. Lammathou Bouphanouvong
346- Pol/Col. Leuth Phet-Asa
347- Liemmalaithong Xoumpholpackdy
348- AMB. Liem Pravongviengkham
349- Col. Liep Outhay
350- Lt/Col. Loth Khovinh
351- Pol/Col. Loth Khounsaphaothong
352- Pol/Col. Loth Siluxa
353- Pol/Col. Luk Pasathong
354- Brg/Gen. Ly Lithiluxa
355- Col. Maloun Phommavong
356- Col. Mang Indara
357- Col. Manh Opma
358- Col. Maikhamphanh Bandasck
359- Pol.Col. Ming Manivong
360- Col. Mork Kouvongsavanh
361- Maj/Gen. Tiao.Monivong Kindavong
362- Col. Mounthala Chanthaluesy
363- Pol/Col. Ngeunsamrith Donsasorith
364- Pol/Col. Nhay Sengsavanh
365- Pol/Col. Nhonh Korajpou
366- Pol/Col. Phay Soukhavong
367- Min. Pheng Phongsavanh
368- Pol/Col. Pheng Misomphane
369- Col. Phanh Inthavong
370- Col. Phengkeo
371- Pol/Col. Pheo Phongsavanh
372- Phet Phoukhongsy
373- Brg/Gen. Peuy Mixayphonh.
374- Col. Phimpha Rattanakosonh
375- Pol/Col. Phimpha Sinbandith
376- Pol/Col. Phimphone Panyanouvong
377- Lt/Col. Phom Bounluethay
378- Col. Phom Phanthavong.
379- Pol/Col. Phokhay Vilaihong.
380- Pol/Col. Phomma Sokhanthong
381- Pol/Col. Phomma Soukkhaseum
382- Pol/Col. Phonethip Chindavong
383- Col. Phong Prasanesack Insixiengmai
384- Dir. Phoui Phouthasack
385- Col. Phoui Siriphong
386- Pol/ Phoui Souksavath
387- Col. Phoukhong SAYSANITH
388- Pol/Col. Poun Sananikone
389- Col. Phouthasene Phanekham
390- Pol/Gen. Phouvang Saysithideth
391- Col. Praseuth Khamphoui
392- Col. Praseuth Mounsourisack
393- Col. Praseuth Soundara
394- Maj/Gen.Ratanabanleung Chunlamountry
395- Col. Salao Signavong
396- Lt/Col. Salath Rasasack
397-Col. Samlane S.Ratsaphack
398- Dir. Samrith Rajphong
399- Lt/Col. Savath Chanthavong.
400- Pol/Gen. Phao Abhay
401- Brg/Gen. Tiao Souvannarath
402- Min. Soukanh Vilaisane
403- Col. Soukank Phrachansiri
404- Col. Souk Dary
405- Pol/Col. Sounthone Douangchack
406- Col. Sounthone Keomanikhoth
407- Pol/Col. Sounthone Soundara
408- Col. Souphannavong Bouavong.
409- Lt/Gen. Sourith Donsasorith
410- Lt/Col. Southep Vongphet
411- MPC. Souvanh Sananikhom
412- Col. Souvanh Signavong
413- Col. Souvanphansy Mouanghane
414- Pol/Col. Souphan Rattanasamai
415- Pol/Gen. Souvanny Phomphackdy
416- Col. Tan Luongrath
417- Col. Thanom Phakhinh
418- Pol/Col. Thanomsack Xeuanxom
419- Col. Thone Khomsarasinh
420- Col. Thongphanh Chanthamalinh
421- Brg/Gen. Thongphanh Kanoksy
422- Col. Thongphanh Soukkhaseum
423- Col. Thongsy Souphab
424- Min. Toube Lyfoung
425 Col. Toun
426- Gov. Thuk Chokbengboun
427- Col. Vanh Sisouvong
428- Pol/Col. Vansy
429- Brg/Gen. Tiao Vannaseng Sayasane
430- MPC. Vannavong Lesscure
431- Col. Vannivong Soumpholpacdy
432- Dir. Vannothone S. Thongsithavong
433- Col. Vanthong Chittananonh
434- Pol/Col. Vatthaboun Boupharath
435- MPC. Viboun Abhay
436- Col. Viengkhoun Nokeo
437- Maj. Viengthong Viravouth
438- Col. Vikone Vilavanh
439- Dir. William Praxayavong
440- Col. Visith Khamphounvong
441- Col. Ying Saniranh
442- Col. Boualoy Kingkithisack
443- Pol.Lt/Col. Bounnhong Vongphachanh
444- Pol/Col. Kone Somchith
445- Col. Manh Kounphol
446- Pol/Col. Ouan Sadettan
447- Pol/Capt. Seuy Sithivong
448- Lt/Col. Sivixay Phetsomphou
449- Pol/Col. Khamkeung Mahathirath
450- Col. Thavinh Oudanonh
451- Gov. Thavone Nachampasack
452-Pol/maj. Thongsouk Litsathirath
453- Pol/Col. Vorachith Vongthongthap
454- Col. Pinh Thirakoun
455- Maj- Somnuk Thong Phanith

DETENTION CAMP No 4 and No 6

The tortured camp No 6 was located in right side of river bank between Muang Aet and Ban Nakham approximately 6 KM north of Muong Ait surrounded by the high mountain with three surrounded security guard that consisted of one company of local armed forces. Province armed personnel guarded inside camp. The check points were set up every road and trail and camped in every mountain peak by the city militia personnel and conducted patrol day and night.

The Camp was administered and responsibility of the communist Lao People Revolutionary guard Personnel as following …
Camp organization consist of the the Political and armed personnel.

A) THE COMMUNIST LAO PEOPLE REVOLUTIONARY ARMED GUARD PERSONNEL AND POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY

1- Thao Ky Thoummala Commander
2- Thao Sommay (Political personnel)
3- Thao Tan Saty (Member)
4- Thao Kham Phong ( Court Marshall )
5- Thao Thongsing (Armed guard personnel)
6- Thao Thongsamouth ( Armed guard personnel)
7- Thao Somvang ( Political Advisor)

One company armed Security guard personnel equipped with:

4 Grenade launcher B 40
2 Grenade Launcher B41
2 Machine guns
Every guard personnel equipped with AK Assaulted riffle

B) THE PRISONERS OF WAR LABOUR CAMP No.6

The prisoners were organized into group of 30 and responsible by the assigned prisoners to take in charge of each group. There were the prisoners detained for hard labour in detention camp No 6.
There were as following:

1- Brg/Gen. Bounma Vongprachanh
2--Brg/Khamlom Thongphanh
3- Col. Khamphay Rajvonthong
4- Lt/Col. Khamphay Phanouvong
5- Lt/Col. Noukeo
6- Lt/Col. Ketsanakanh
7- Maj. Sa
8- Col. Khamphane Assistance
9- Lt./Col. Oune Phenephom
10- Lt/Col. Vane
11- Maj. Bouaphanh
12- Maj. Phoui Sananikhone,
13- Capt. Chat Soumpholpackdy
14-Maj.Chounmany Rajasack
15- Maj. Douangchan Siharath
16- Civ. Douangsy Nouanephanthakoun
17-Capt. Dee Sisomvang
17- Lt/Col. Eunh Traymany
18- Maj. Heuxong
19- Maj. Hongkham Mekdarasouk
20- Civ. Houmphanh Simmasing
21- Lt/Col. Houmpheng Vongpradith
22- Maj. Intong Inthivong
23- Maj. Intong Thiravong
24- Capt. Keo Manisoth
25-Civ. Keoviengkhoth
26- Lt/Col.Khamlue Koumpholpackdy
27- Maj. Khambay Phothirath
28- Lt/Co. Khamchanh Chanmany
29- Maj. Khamphong Sananikone
30 Lt/Col. Khamracksone
31- Lt/Col. Khamhuong Phounsavath
32- Maj. Khamkhong Samountry
33- Lt/Co, Khamkone Phetsombandith
34- Lt/Col. Khamla Boutdara
35- Civ. Khamlay
36- Maj. Khammanh Sipanya
37- Maj. Khammay Baochanh
38- Capt. Khammuong Phothirath
39- Lt/Col. Khammouane Douangprachanh
40- Dir. Khampha Sackda
41- Lt/Col. Khamphay Thongkham
42- Lt/Col. Khamphone Simouang
43- Lt/Col. Khamphou A-Bhay
44- Gov. Khamphoui Douangphouxay
45- Maj. Khamphouth
46- Maj. Khampiene
47- Maj. Khamsamongdy Saycocie
48- Lt/Col. Khamsay Kiettavong
49- Maj. Khamsing Pathammavong
50- Lt/Col. Khamsom Inthavong
51-.Lt/Col. Khanthanom Soulivong
52- Capt. Khamvene Phanthavong
53- Lt/Col. Khamtou Sackda
54- Lt/Col. Khanthaly Sisouvong
55- Lt/Col. Khaykham Komkaysone
56- Khenetoui Sphabmixay
57- Lt/Col. Khen Khile
58- Maj Kheuap Khonesavanh
59- Capt. Khom Bounyasith
60- Capt Khoun Lakhonekahm
61- Lt/Col. Kongkeo Thirakoul
62- Maj. Koukahm Douangdara
63- Col. Kynonh
64- Maj. La Thirakol
65- Maj. Lam Rattanasamai
66- Dir. Lamphoune Khamvongsa
67- Leuthavone Douangsavanh
68- Capt. Lom Sisomphone.
69-Dir. Lyteck Biavue
70- Maj. Mang Chansamouth
71- Lt/Col.Manh Sisounthone
72- LT/cOL. Maisouk Khamluethay
73- Maj. Mouapao
75- Nak Sananikone
76- Lt/COL. Neng Yingyang
77- Maj. Ngone Ngaolouangrath
78- Maj. Nhombane Souriphoumy
79- Noy Manivong
80- Lt/Col. Nou Dabandonh
81- Dir. Nouanethong
82- O Soumpholpackdy
83- Maj. One Norasing
84- LT/cOL. Onechanh Phongsavath
85- Lt/Col.Ouane Phenephom
86- Dir. Oudone Kongxayaphack
87- Lt/Col. Ounkham Maovilay
88- Dir. Oute Khamvongsa
89- Lt/col. Pany Somvong
90- Capt Phanpheng Dara
91- Maj. Sa Keophoxay
92- Lt/Col. Sarabe Issaraphab
93- Gov. Saly Boutsadachanh
94- Maj. Samay Phongsa
95- Maj. Samly Khamphoui
96- Lt/Col. Smphanh Phonephetrath
97- 2nd/Lt. Sangouane Khamsomphou
98- Maj. Sangouane Vorachack
99- Maj Saveuy Sananikhom
100- Maj. Syasamone Noudaranouvong
101- Maj. Seng Paomanivong
102- Civ.Seng Sourivong
103- Capt Sengkeo Leuthsongkham
104- Lt/Col. Sengphpachanh Nakhammouane
105- Lt/Col. Seumkham Prichittavong
106- Maj. Seuth Sengphachanh
107- Maj. Sichanthavong Kindavong
108- Lt/Col. Siheuane Sourichack
109- Gov. Siloloth Nachampasack
110- Lt/Col. Sing Saysetha
111-Maj. Sing Sisamouth
112- Civ. Singkhamxay Choummanivong
113- Maj Singnoi Ketkeo
114- Lt/Col. Singthong Inthavong
115- Siphan Khanthara
116- Siphan Chanthalanonh
117- Maj. Sisouphouy Kittirath
118- Gov. Sisouvah
119- Maj. Sisouvah Keophomma
120- Lt/Col. Sith Nachampasack
121- Lt/Col. Sith Kingkittisack
122- Maj. Sithanh Khammanivong
121- Civ. Sithonh Phonpradith
122- Maj. Sithuk Bouthasay
123- Capt. Soam Kounlavong
124- Lt/Col. Sombath Singharath
125- Lt/Col. Somboun Vilaisarn
126- Lt/Col. Somboune Phannouvong
127- Civ. Somlith Pouanesamouth
128- Capt Somnuk Thai-Outharath
129- Civ. Somphao Chanthavichith
130- Maj. Sinouane Sonesacksith
131- Capt. Tack Sirivong
132- Capt Tanh Rasavanh
133- Somthuk Thongphanith
134- 1st/lT. Somvang Insixiengmai
135- Maj. Sonephet Vongnarath
136- Lt/Col. Songkane Phiathep
137- Maj. Sopha Sithisaribouth
138- Lt/Col. Souban Sthiphanh
139- Civ. Soubae Southivongnorrath
140- Civ- Soukane Kongvongxay
141- Civ. Soukanh Vignavong
142- Maj. Soukaseum S. Sanavongsa
143- Dir. Soukpraseuth Sithimolada
144- Lt/col. Soulath Thilakoun
145- Maj. Sourinheuang Korajpou
146- Civ. Soulivanh Philavanh
147- Lt/Col. Souloth Kithikhoun
148- Capt. Sounay Kenmy
149- Maj. Sounthone Phommasourinh
150- Lt/Col. Sounthone Vongpradith
151- Maj. Souphanh Sisounthone
152- Lt/Col. Souphat Phetchareun
153- Lt/Col. Souphoth Sengsourichanh
154- Lt/Col. Souvanny Siboriboun
155- 1st/Lt. Soutanh
156- Lt/Col. Southaboun Boupharath
167- Maj. Southchay Bouthkasana
168- 1st/Lt. Vane Sipraseuth
169- Lt/Col. Vanpheng Phanouvong.
170- Lt/Col. Vansy Srivannarath
171- Maj. Vanna
172- Civ. Vanthong
173- Maj. Wtthana Nokham
174- Capt. Vene Phanthavong
175- Civ. Vong Sengphaket
176- Lt/Col. Vone Vorabouth
177- Lt/Col. Vong Souli Panya
178- Capt Nouthack
179- Brg/Gen Kane Insixiengmai
180- Col. Phengkeo
181- Col. Houmpheng Souksavath
182- Lt/Col. Noy Manivong.
183- Lt/Col Somsakoun
184- Maj. Seuthnoy
185- Col. Prasuth Soundara Chief of group
186- Lt/Col Doumone Domonebilavanh
187- Lt/Col Poun Sananikone
188- Maj. Khamphou Mathavongsy
189- Maj. Oudom Phanthavong.
190- Gov. Chanthy Phismai
191- Lt/Col. Chouangchanh Annahmany
192-Maj. Douangcahnh Sanouvong.
193- Maj. Douangdy Hemmavanh
194- Maj. Douangsy Oudomsouk.
195- Lt/Col. Eng Amphavannasouk
196- Col. Fongsamouth Arounpadith
197- Maj. Home
198- Dir. Hongsa Chanthavong.
199- Capt Houmpheng Pradichith
200- Maj. E Trayouran
201- Civ. Inthy Kosanouvong.
202- Civ. Keng Vethana
203-Civ. Keo Phommahaxay
204- 1st/Lt Ket.
205- Cic. Khambay Darabouth
206- Maj. Khambou Insixiengmai
207- Maj. Khamchan Vongkabkeo
208- Maj. Khamphong Saythavy
209-1st/Lt. Khamhou Prachanpheng
210 Maj. Khamkeo Vongphasouk
211- Lt/Col. Khamkip Phommachanh
212- Maj. Khamkong Lanephuthakoun
213- Maj. Khamla Souvannakhoth
214- Civ. Khamlay Khanthavixay
215- Lt/Col. Khammao Phommaseng
216- Maj. Khammoune Liamphommasane
217- Lt/Col. Khammy Vorachith
218- Maj. Khampane Vorabouth
219- Maj. Khamphanh Chanmiyavong
220- Dir. Khamphone Kounthapanya
221- Lt/Col. Khamphong Sourinhosack
222- Lt/Col. Khamphong Philavanh
223- Gov. Khamphoui Souydarai
224- Maj. Khamphou Baobounmy
225- Lt/Col. Khampoun Phanthavong
226- Capt. Khamsamouth
227- Maj. Khamseng S.Phabmixay
228- Dir. Khamsouk Singharath
229- Maj. Khamthong Chanphianammavong
230- Lt/Col. Khamtoun Luongrath
231- Lt/Col. Khamvong Chanthalasy
232- Lt/Col. Khang Thinavongsy
233- Lt/Col. Khaophone Simavong.
234- Maj. Khene Sangboutsady
235- Maj. Khenemai Baochanh
236- Lt/Col. Khom Prasavath
237-Lt/Col. Kheuap Koumphol
238- Lt/Col. Khouang Sounthavong
239- Lt/Col. Koun Phouvanh
240- Lt/col. Kongsinh Keorajvongxay
241- Gov. Koukahm Vixayvong
242- Civ. La Dariphone.
243- Capt La Viengxay
244- Lt/Col. Langsanh Souvannakhoth
245- Lt/Col. Lynou
246- Dir. Linh Sourinho
247- Lt/Col. Lytheng
248- Maj. Mahosoth Borihane
249- Lt/Col. Manh Ounalom
250- Maj. Manh Souriyosack
251- Lt/Col. Meuy Boriboun
252- 1st/Lt. Muong Phothirath
253- Maj. Nenekeo Manivong
254- Lt/Col. Ngamdy Siharath\
255- Maj. Ngone Sayarath
256- Lt/Col. Nim Teso
257- Gov. Noysay Chanphianammavong
258- Maj. Nouanedy Douangxay
259- Lt/Col. Noukone Pheymasith
260- Maj. One Khamphilom
261- Civ. Onechanh Dara
262- Maj. Onechanh Thammavongsa.
263- Maj. Oudom Sisomxuane
264- Lt/Col. Ounheuane Phounsavath
265- Capt Ouphonh Silalack
266- Maj. Pane Mikaysouk
267- Lt/Col. Phanh Aryavong
268- Civ. Phanthourath
269- Civ. Phao Panyathang
270- Lt/Col. Phao Rattanakone
271- Capt Phath Philavanh
272- Capt. Phatssone Ouanesenesy
273- Maj. Phay Banouvong.
274- Lt/Col. Pheng Phakhinh
275- Maj. Pheng Phomphavanh
276- Maj. Pheng Sendara
277- Lt/Col. Pheng Sirichantho
278- Lt/Col. Pheng Thathniphone
279- Lt/Col. Thongdy Thanaphet
280- Maj. Phet Soundara
281- Maj. Phengphath Sananikone
282- Maj. Phetsanakah Daranouvong
283- Lt/Col Phoy Soydara
284- Maj. Phomma Bounkham
285- Civ. -Phomma Sayarath
286- Lt/Col. Phomma Simmalaichanh
287- Lt/Col. Phommathath
288- Lt/col. Phone Phoutkesone
289- Lt/Col. Phommadeth Thoummachithto
290- Maj. Phou Baobounmy
291- Lt/Col. Phoui Sananikone
292- Lt/Col. Phouk Thonglivong
293- Lt/Col. Phoukhong Kakamsomphou
294- Lt/Col. Phoumy Nouanelahong
295- Lt/Col. Phoumy Sourivong
296- Civ. Phouphane Khamphaphongphane
297- Maj. Phouphet Phommachanh
298- Dir. Phouthone Virasack
299- Col. Phoutha Chandara
300- Lt/Col. Phouvieng Chansima
301- Dir. Phouvong Vilaithong
302- Lt/Col. Phy Phamuong
303- Civ. Pieng Kounnarath
304- Maj. Piengkham Siharath
305- Capt- Pine Sayarath
306- Maj. Pramai Philavanh
307- Maj. Prasop Sihaphom
308- Lt/Col. Somphamith Sountharath
309- Maj. Somsakoun Soundara
310- Maj. Somsanouck Phannouphonh
311- Maj. Somsy Vandisirisack
312- Nco. Thao Manivong
313- Lt/Col. Thaviseuth Songvilay
314- Maj. Thit Nantha
315- Maj. Thone Vilalay
316- Maj. Thongchanh Phengsavanh
317- Lt/Col. Thongcheua Phothivongsa
318- Lt/Col. Thongkhamchanh Phommasy
319- Maj. Thongkhoune Phengnarath
320- Lt/Col. Thongphanh Phatthasinh
321- Maj. Thongsa Thavivanh
322- Maj. Thong Thavone
323- Maj. Thongthep Mouksavanh
324- Maj. Thongthep Senesack.
325- Lt/Col. Thongthep Vilaphanh
326- Maj. Thongsa Khanthiyavong
327- Maj. Thongvanh Douang Phathmalay
328- Lt/Col. Thongvanh Manivong
329- Maj. Thongvanh Panya
330- Lt/Col. Thothsakanh Kosonh
331-Maj. Tong Paosong
332- Maj. Toune Norinh
334- Lt/Col. Toui Phongsa
335- Civ. Tue Laisoulivong
336- Lt/Co. Va Syarath
337- Maj. Vandy Vongdara
338- Lt/Col. Southanou Phoumivong
339- Maj. Southta Sonesithideth
340- Lt/Col. Souvanh Borihane
341- Lt /Col. Souvanh Sourinho
342- Lt/Col. Souvanh Sirivong
343- Lt/Col. Souvankham Douangsithi
344- Lt/Col. Souvanno Thavinnhane
345- Maj. Sy Simmala
346- Civ. Siphong Chunmanivong
347- Maj. Silay Phommala
348- Lt/Col. Khampiem Chantharath
349- Lt/Col. Oune Thongthep

3- THE PRISONERS ASSIGNED TO THE CAMP No.7

The Prison camp No 7 was located in the mountain foot in Sop Hao at Nam Ma river bank Distric Ban Sop Hao VH 430+ 742 Xiengkho city, province of Houaphan.

After the change administration in tortured camp No.1 in early June 1980, 15 prisoners were transferred to Camp No.7:

1- Brg/Gen. Bounchanh Savathphayphane
2- Pol/Col. Khammouk Phengsi-Aloun
3- Brg/ Gen. Athsaphangthong Pathammavong
4- Pol/Brg.Gen. Heng Saythavy
5- Lt/Gen. Bounleuth Sanichanh
6- Col. Amkha Khatha Khanthamixay
7- Pol/Sgt. Phoumy Phanvongsa
8- Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanthy
9- Corp.. Phimpha
10- Brg/Gen. Tiao Sinh Saysana
11- Brg/Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth.
12- Brg/Gen. Nouphet Daoheuang
13- Pol/Sgt. Tao Thong
14- Brg/Gen. Southabanleuang
15- Pol/Col. Kavinh Keonakone

The prisoners were forced to travel by foot although they were too sick to walk by foot, forced to be carried by their inmates who still could walk. The prisoners were divided into groups:

Group No.1

The group No1 prisoners were the prisoners that severe illness unable to walk:

1- Brg/Gen. Bounchanh Svathphayphane, he was carried by Col. Amkha Khaatha Khanthamixay, Thao Phoumy Phanvongsa,
2- Pol/Col. Khammouk Phengsy-Aloun, he was carried by Col. Khamphanh Thammakahanthy, Pol/Sgt. Thao Thong, accompanied by Mr. Nouthong with 4 armed personnel.

Group No.2

1- Brg/Gen. Athsaphangthong, he was carried by Corporal Thao Phimpha
2- Pol/Col. Heng Saythavy, he was carried by Brg/Gen. Tiao Sinh Saysana tied together
3- Lt/Gen. Bounleuth Sanicahnh, he was carried by Brg/Gen. Southabanleung tied together
4- Brg/Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth, assisted to walk by Brg/Gen. Nouphet Daoheuang

Pol/Col. Kavin Keonakhone , accompanied by Mr. Boun Nhay and Nouxay with 5 armed guard personnel. The prisoners transferred from tortured camp No 1 to Death Camp no 7 were all died by tortured and forced to self imposed to buried alive, only one was survived and released by bribery. He was a Col. Khamphanh Thammakhanthy the Author of Death Camp book he was released by bribery in 1989 and immigrated to the USA.

I- The list of genocide Prisoners of Conscious in Death Camp No.1 and No7 Sop Hao:

RESOURCES FROM FORMER PRISONERS.

1- H.E Min.. Pheng Phongsavanh
2- H.E. Min. Toube Lyfong
3- H.E. Min. Soukanh Vilaisane
4- H.E Amb. Liane Pavongviengkham
5- H.E. Amb. Khamchanh Pradith
6- Pol/Gen. Heng Saythavy
7- Dir. Issara Donsasorith
8- Pol/Gen. Khamla
9- Pol/Col. Kavinh Keonakhone
10- Pol/Col. KhamMouk Phengsy-Aroun
11- Lt/Gen.(Ret) Ouane Ratikoun
12- Lt/Gen. Bounpone Markthepharack
13- Maj/Gen. Phasouk S. Rajphack
14- Brg/Gen. Kane Insixiengmai
15- Brg/Gen. Thao Ly Lithiluxa
16- Brg/Gen. Thongphanh Kanocksy
17- Brg/Gen. Ath Saphangthong
18- Brg/Gen. Nouphet Daoheuang.
19- Brg/Gen. Bounthieng Venevongsoth
20- Lt/Gen. Bounleuth Sanichanh
21- Maj/Gen. Lamngeun Prasavath
22- Brig/Gen. Tiao Sinh Sayasana
23- Brg/Gen. Bounchanh Savatphayphane
24- Lt/Gen. Rattanabanleung Chunlamany
25- Col. Amkha Khanthamixay
26- Lt/Col. Chun Simmaly
27- Pol/Gen. Lith Lunammathao

These 27 prisoners were Tortured to Death, some were forced to be Buried Alive.

II- The names of genocide prisoners of conscious in tortured camp No.5 Sam:

1- Lt/Gen. Sourith Donsasorith
2- Pol/Col. Changvath Vilaihong
3- Lt/Col. Boun Chanh
4- Lt/Col. Somboun
5- Col. Mai Khamphanh
6- Col. Khamdeng Bourom
7- Hon. Khamtou Sackda
8- Col. Praseuth Soundara
9- Lt/Col. Tock Vanh
10- Tiao Manivong Khammao

III- The names of Genocide Prisoners of Conscious in Tortured Camp No.4 Houikhot Moung Home:

1-Hon. Bounpheng Siharath
2- Hon. Soubae Xoumpholpackdy
3- Pol/Col. Pha Nouanephady
4- Hon. Somkhith
5- Maj. Noudam
6- Hon. Somlith
7- Hon. Ly Nou
8- Maj. Khampheng
9- Maj. Somnuk Siharath

IV- The names of Genocide Prisoners of Conscious in Torture Camp No.6 Muong Aet Chiengkhor

1- Maj. Bounleuth
2- Gov. Sisouvanh
3- Pol/Maj. Noulam
4- Mis Vanna
5- Mr. Xang
6- Pol/Maj. Pheng Phakhinh
7- Col. Nhot Luangrath
8- Maj. La Thirakul
9- Maj. Kham Fong
10- Maj. Bounthoth Nhuyvanitsavong
11- Lt/Col. Boun Keua Sayakham
12- Mr. Paoxong
13- Maj. Thao Done
14- Maj. Khambou Sananikone
15- Maj. Soubanh
16- Mr. Lyteck

V- The name of Genocide prisoners of Conscious in tortured Camp Sop Pane, Muong Poua.

1- Col. Bounleuth Philavong
2- Pol/Maj. Somdy
3- Pol/Col. Vandy
4- Maj. Somdy
5- Lt/Col. Phouang Philavanh
6- Maj. Bouasy Champhone
7- Mr. Phonethip
8- Hon. Samrith Rajvong
9- Col. Somsack Chatouxay
10- Lt/Col. Ming Manivong
11- Pol/Gen. Ounheuane Sinbandith
12- Col. Sisamouth Sananikone
13- Brg/Gen. Bounma Vong Prachanh

VI- The names of genocide prisoners of Conscious in Muong Sam Neua (Viengxay):

1- Maj. Ounheuane
2- Pol/Lt.Col. Somlith Phanthavong
3- Mr. Paseuth Senelamluk
4- Maj. Sithuk
5- Maj. Som Thuk
6- Maj. Bounchanh
7- Lt/Col. Som Boun

There much more genocide prisoners during detained in Communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party Regime (LPRPR) from 1975 up to now. Today, it have been over three decades since Royal of Laos has fallen into Lao PDR and LPRPR one party rules people of Laos
still live with fear horror, and despair. The man slaughter campaign against it citizen has been practiced by the government Agents and Secret Police.

1	Ouday Vilaysuk	Lao Male	detained 7 May 1984
2	Noi Chanthi In-Atkham	Lao-Thai female	detained 18 Mar 1990
3	Bounmy Phong Xiong	Lao/Hmong male	detained 27 Sep 1992
4	Norneng Sae Yang	Lao-Hmong male	detained 24 Jan 1996
5	Kaiseng Thammalat	Lao male	detained -1994
6	Sen Xiong Yang	Lao-Hmong male	detained 28 Oct 1994
7	Xienthi Inthachak	Lao male	detained 6 Sep 1996
8	Bounchan Chanthavong	Lao male	detained 5 Sep 1995
9	Suthep Saisin	Lao-Thai male	detained 12 Jan 1995
10	Bunlieng Phinmalai	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996
11	Bunlam Douangchanthongthip	Lao male	detained 25 Dec 1996
12	Khamkhueng Keoduangphen	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996
13	Boualai Nouantavong	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996
14	Dam Khundala	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996
15	Chanthorn Keomani	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996
16	Dom Phongmani	Lao male	detained 24 Dec 1996