Click here for Lao version/ຄລິກບ່ອນນີ້ເພື່ອອ່ານພາສາລາວ
Reacting to Samantha Orobator's lawyer's argument to a British court that her trial in Laos lacked justice, Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs' spokesman Kenthong Nouanthasing said the lawyer's argument was pure fabrication created to use as a ground for Samantha's release from imprisonment.
Samantha Orobator's lawyer had argued that his client's trial by a Lao People's court last year was a denial of justice. The British woman, who was pregnant, was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of a drug crime, and later extradited to Great Britain. The lawyer further claimed that, while being imprisoned in Laos, she was pressured into pleading guilty to the crime and had no chance to defend herself freely and fairly.
In response to the lawyer's claim, Mr. Kenthong Nouanthasing contended that the lawyer's argument was a fabrication aiming to create a bad image for Laos' judicial procedure, so that he could use it as a ground to convince the British High Court to release Samantha. Kenthong stressed that if the British High Court did rule in favor of Samantha Orobator's lawyer, it would jeopardize the extradition treaty signed by the two countries.
The Lao spokesman also revealed that a male British prisoner is currently being held in a Lao prison on similar charges and waiting to be tried, and that if the British High Court made a decision to free Samantha, that would enable Laos to reject any future request by Great Britain to repatriate prisoners held in different criminal cases in Laos.
Samantha Orobator, a former medical student, had admitted to self-impregnating with sperm from a fellow British inmate while being imprisoned in Vientiane so that she could escape the death penalty. She was extradited to Great Britain in August of last year. Ruling on her appeal last January, the British High Court commuted her life imprisonment sentence to just 18 months.