VIENTIANE: Anousa ‘Jack’ Luangsuphom, 25, a fierce critic of the Laos government, was shot dead in a late-night attack in the capital.
He was shot point-blank in the chest and face while sitting at a coffee shop. Anousa was running a Facebook page, ‘the Kub Kluen Duay Keyboard (Driven By Keyboard), where people fearlessly expressed criticism of the Communist authorities, according to the BBC.
Rights groups have condemned the government for not announcing a probe into the brazen “cold-blooded murder.”
The attack was captured on security cameras. Footage shows a man with a gun in his hand dressed in a black cap and a brown long-sleeved shirt entering the cafe and firing twice at Anousa, who was sitting on the floor, before fleeing. He died while being shifted to the hospital.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the young activist was “one of the few people in Laos who openly and regularly expressed views that were critical of the government.” Elaine Pearson, the organisation’s Asia director, said, “(this) sends a loud and clear message that no one in Laos is safe who criticises the government.”
The Lao government’s “apparent apathy” towards pursuing justice for the activist’s murder was also denounced by HRW. Critiques have not yet received a response from the government. Local media have covered the killing of Luangsuphom.
According to HRW, attacks against political activists, human rights advocates, and government critics have frequently gone unanswered by the Lao government.
It mentioned the “enforced disappearance” of activist Sombath Somphone, whose whereabouts are still a mystery more than 10 years after his arrest in Vientiane.
The issue of Od Sayavong, a Lao activist residing in Bangkok who has been missing since August 2019, was also brought up by HRW.
Government representatives have denied knowing anything about the two disappearances. In communist-run Laos, one of Asia’s poorest nations, there is limited space for political opposition or dissident voices. According to the US political advocacy group Freedom House, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party controls this landlocked nation between Thailand and China. It is a one-party state where “authorities use legal restrictions and intimidation tactics against state critics.”
