ASIA/LAOS – The Christians convicted of illegal practice of medicine have appealed against the sentence

Savannakhet (Agenzia Fides) - The five Christian church leaders in Laos (Pastors Kaithong, Puphet, Muk, Hasadee and Tiang) sentenced to prison as illegal doctors for praying for healing for a Christian woman who later died, will appeal against the sentence. This was reported to Agenzia Fides by the NGO "Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom" (HRWLRF). The five, who lead various local evangelical Christian communities, were accused of having given the woman, Ms. Chan, a drug that caused her death.
In August 2014, the public prosecutor’s office in Savannakhet had established that the five had not committed any crime. However, in February 2015 the People´s Court of Savannakhet Province considered them guilty of "illegal practice of medicine" (see Fides 16/02/2015), while the five said they made no use of medicine, all the five Christians did was to pray to God to heal the woman. The five have been temporarily released. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 04/05/2015)