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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
There are four categories of persons held in
confinement. Aside
from common criminals, there are political, social, and
ideological
deviants. The crimes of the three latter groups are often
vaguely
defined, their arrests arbitrary, and their length of
confinement
ambiguous.
The LPDR established four different types of detention
centers:
prisons, reeducation centers or seminar camps,
rehabilitation
camps, and remolding centers. Social deviants or common
criminals
were considered less threatening to the regime than
persons accused
of political crimes, who were considered potential
counterrevolutionaries. Social deviants were confined in
rehabilitation camps. According to MacAlister Brown and
Joseph J.
Zasloff, prisons were primarily for common criminals, but
political
prisoners also were held there for short periods, usually
six to
twelve months. Ideologically suspect persons were sent to
remolding
centers. Reeducation centers were for those deemed
politically
risky, usually former RLG officials. Political prisoners
usually
served three- to five-year terms or longer. As at the
prisons,
inmates worked hard under rugged conditions and had
limited
supplies of food. Oddly, there was little political
indoctrination.
Bribery in order to secure food and medicine was reported.
In 1986 Brown and Zasloff also reported that prisoners
were not
tried but were incarcerated simply by administrative fiat.
Former
inmates said that they were arrested, informed by the
security
officials that they had been charged with crimes, and then
sent off
to camps for indeterminate periods. Typically, prisoners
were told
one day prior to their release to prepare for departure.
The status of the detention centers also is vague. In
1984
Vientiane declared that all reeducation centers had been
closed. At
that time, Amnesty International estimated 6,000 to 7,000
political
prisoners held in these centers. The government
acknowledged that
there were some former inmates in remote areas but claimed
that
their confinement was voluntary. In the late 1980s, the
government
closed some of the reeducation centers and released most
of the
detainees.
In 1989 Laos took steps to reduce the number of
political
prisoners, many of whom had been held since 1975. Several
hundred
detainees, including many high-ranking officials and
officers from
the former United States-backed RLG and Royal Lao Army,
were
released from reeducation centers in the northeastern
province of
Houaphan. Released prisoners reported that hundreds of
individuals
remained in custody in as many as eight camps--including
at least
six generals and former high-ranking members of the RLG.
These
individuals reportedly performed manual labor such as log
cutting,
repairing roads, and building irrigation systems. In 1993
Amnesty
International reported human rights violations in the
continued
detention of three "prisoners of conscience" detained
since 1975--
but not sentenced until 1992--as well as those held under
restrictions or, according to international standards, the
subjects
of unfair trials.
As of 1993, reports indicated that some high-ranking
officials
of the RLG and military remained in state custody. Those
accused of
hostility to the regime were subject to arrest and
confinement for
long periods of time. Prison conditions were harsh, and
prisoners
were routinely denied family visitation and proper medical
care.
Data as of July 1994
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