Thierry Falise said the Lao government decided everything in advance and made up lies to bolster its case.
The European journalists and their pastor arrived in Bangkok Wednesday hours after being free. Lao officials said the men were released on humanitarian grounds and for the sake of good relations with France, Belgium, and the U.S.
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the Lao government's decision to release the men, but said their arrests were an example of what it called the "extreme measures" Laos takes to prevent independent reporting in the Communist nation, adding that the thre were punished simply for reporting on anti-Communist Hmong rebels.