A human-rights group says two Lao dissidents imprisoned for 14 years each are now in France. Amnesty International says Feng Sakchittaphong and Latsami Khamphoui, who both have close family connections in France, arrived in the country Thursday.
The Vientiane government announced last month that the dissidents had completed their 14-year prison terms (in October). They were detained in 1990 on national security charges, including libel, slander and making preparations for a rebellion.
Amnesty International says they advocated peaceful economic and political reform in Laos. The rights group said the dissidents were held under extremely harsh conditions at a Lao prison camp in the country's remote northeast.
Sadly, fellow prisoner of conscience Thongsouk Saysangkhi died in prison in 1998 before he could be released.
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