Evangelist was imprisoned for treason

Mr Tongchan (also known as Mr Boon Chanh), was released from prison on 2 February 2012 after being given a fifteen-year sentence for treason. He is now reunited with his wife and is readjusting to life at home. 

Mr Tongchan, a former government official, is the only survivor among three Christian men imprisoned in 1999 on charges apparently connected to their religious and evangelistic activities. His fifteen-year sentence was, at the time, thought to be the heaviest ever given in Laos due to religious activities. After initially enduring difficult prison conditions, he was moved to a wooden house to raise pigs. When his dental health deteriorated, CSW secured a grant from the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund (POCAF) to provide him with false teeth.

Belief in Jesus was considered 'disloyal' 

Mr Tongchan was arrested in June 1999. Although no transcript of his original court hearing has ever been made available, a number of details have emerged from sources close to him.  Apparently, no evidence of treason was brought, and when Mr Tongchan and his co-defendants questioned this, they were informed by the judge that they had not yet committed this crime but it was believed that they intended to do so. 

The perceived intention that the men intended to commit treason was problematic as Lao law prohibits both starting and implementing treason. The men were also reportedly informed that their treason consisted in believing in Jesus, because no loyal Lao citizen would believe in such a foreign religion.

Ill-treated during his detention

During the first three days Mr Tongchan was denied food and was told that, as he was a puppet of the Americans, he would have to wait for the Americans to come to feed him.  After three days, officials said to him, 'It looks as if America is not coming, so we brothers must feed you'. He was told by officials that Christians were out to overthrow the government, that they were traitors, that Christianity was a religion out to deceive and destroy Laos, and that Christianity was a plot to undermine the government.

CSW asked UN Special Rapporteur to raise case on Laos visit

Although CSW has been aware of Mr Tongchan's case for some years, it is only now as we celebrate his freedom that we can tell of his ordeal.  In 2009, CSW had urged the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief to raise his case on her visit to Laos, and she was given assurances that he would be released. The international community was also active on his behalf.