BELGIUM: FAMILY OF BELGIAN JOURNALIST THIERRY FALISE RELEASED AND DEPORTED FROM LAOS SPEAK OF THEIR JOY AT HEARING HIS VOICE

Record ID: 647543

  • Title: BELGIUM: FAMILY OF BELGIAN JOURNALIST THIERRY FALISE RELEASED AND DEPORTED FROM LAOS SPEAK OF THEIR JOY AT HEARING HIS VOICE
  • Date: 9th July 2003
  • Summary: (U6) CHARLEROI, BELGIUM (JULY 9, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. CLOSE UP OF BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH OF THIERRY FALISE ZOOM OUT TO FALISE'S MOTHER AND SISTER LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPH 0.10 2. FALISE'S SISTER, BEATRICE 0.14 3. SV: MOTHER, FRANCOISE FALISE, LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPH 0.20 4. WIDE OF MOTHER AND SISTER AT TABLE 0.25 5. PHOTOGRAPH OF FALISE WITH HIS WIFE AND SON 0.31 6. SV: FALISE'S SISTER, BEATRICE, HOLDING PHOTOGRAPH 0.35 7. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) FALISE'S SISTER, BEATRICE, SAYING: "I had the opportunity to talk to him for the fist time at 1304 exactly. He said 'I am free', he spoke from the heart and then he spoke to mum and dad and then he said he would call back two hours later to give more details, and that's what he did." 0.54 8. WIDE OF MOTHER AND DAUGHTER AT TABLE 0.59 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) FALISE'S MOTHER FRANCOISE SAYING: "But today, we will try to relax a bit, because the pressure since the 4th of June has been very heavy. We did not lose hope but sometimes it was very hard to go on." 1.15 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) FALISE'S SISTER, BEATRICE, SAYING: "Very happy, very happy, it's the end of the struggle, it's the end of a long wait, this phone call was magical today, it's really what we've been waiting for." 1.25 11. SV: FRANCOISE AND BEATRICE FELISE LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS 1.32 12. ZOOM INTO CLOSE UP OF PHOTOGRAPH OF THIERRY FALISE 1.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHARLEROI, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Reuters ID: LVA477FFZILE4PY3C9E9XLUZ7VKG
  • Story Text: The family of a Belgian journalist released and
    deported from Laos after being sentenced last week to 15
    years' jail have told of their joy and relief at hearing his
    voice from his home in Thailand.


    Belgian Thierry Falise arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday
    (July 9) with Frenchman Vincent Reynaud and their translator
    Naw Karl Mua, an American pastor of Laotian origin. The three
    were arrested last month while reporting on an ethnic Hmong
    rebellion in northern Laos, after a firefight between Hmong
    rebels and villagers during which one man was believed to have
    been killed.

    All six were charged with involvement in the man's death,
    possession of explosives, obstructing an official in the
    course of his duties, and possession of drugs and war weapons.

    The three Laotians were jailed for 20 years.

    The announcement of Falize's release was met with relief
    by his relatives in the Belgian town of Charleroi.

    "I had the opportunity to talk to him for the fist time at
    1304 exactly. He said 'I am free', he spoke from the heart,"
    Falise's sister, Beatrice, said after talking to her brother.

    Francoise Falise, Thierry's mother, said: "Today, we will
    try to relax a bit, because the pressure since the 4th of June
    has been very heavy. We did not lose hope but sometimes it was
    very hard to go on."
    The two-hour trial of the three men on Monday last week
    prompted a wave of condemnation from governments around the
    world.

    The Laotian foreign ministry told Reuters Vientiane had
    decided to release the men after negotiations with their home
    countries. It said the three paid a fine of 1,000 U.S. dollars
    each and a combined 8,000 U.S. dollars in compensation to the
    family of the dead man.

    Falise and Reynaud were working on an article about a
    conflict in the north of the country between a group of ethnic
    Hmong fighters and soldiers from the Laotian and Vietnamese
    armies. Laos denies the fighting and has been highly sensitive
    about media coverage of the issue.

    Recent articles by Western journalists say the Laotian
    government wants to wipe out the Hmong group, which sided with
    the United States in the 1960s and 1970s to fight communist
    rebels who eventually took control of the country in 1975.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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