13.3.2004

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 65/125

(2004/C 65 E/138)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2279/03

by Koenraad Dillen (NI) to the Council

(9 July 2003)

Subject: Sentencing of two journalists in Laos

Today, 30 June 2003, the media were shocked to learn that the independent Belgian journalist Thierry Falise, his French photographer, Vincent Reynaud, and their American interpreter, all three of whom were arrested in Laos on 4 June 2003, have been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for ‘illegal possession of arms’ and ‘obstruction of a public official’ after a show trial in which no legal principle was guaranteed.

Thierry Falise was preparing a report on the Hmong minority, who are resisting the totalitarian communist regime in Laos.

Has the Council condemned this?

Has the Council taken any diplomatic steps vis-à-vis the authorities in Vientiane? With what results? What pressure can the Council bring to bear to have this sentence lifted as quickly as possible?

Would it not be desirable to bring pressure to bear on the regime in Vientiane via the authorities in Beijing, bearing in mind that Laos particularly looks to China for support?

(17 November 2003)

The Council has been as worried as the Honourable MEP over the arrest and the subsequent sentencing to 15 years of imprisonment of the Belgian journalist Thierry Falise, the French photographer Vincent Reynaud and their American interpreter. The Council has, however, not taken official diplomatic action towards the Laotian government in order not to interfere in the then ongoing bilateral efforts of the French and Belgian governments, which were seeking the release of the journalists.

2.	The Council is satisfied to note that these bilateral efforts have been successful and that the journalists have been released in early July 2003.