What happened on May 19, 2004 when four girls and one boy were allegedly killed by Lao Army soldiers in the Xaysomboune Special Zone?

Are the Hmong in the mountains the subject of systematic genocide at the hands of the Lao government, or are they armed insurgents that pose a threat to the internal security of Laos?

Un-edited video taken by Va Char Yang of the five killed teenage Hmong will be shown.

On May 19, 2004 Ka Yeng Yang witnessed the murder of his girlfriend, Mao Lee, allegedly by communist Lao soldiers in the remote jungles of the Xaysomboune Special Zone. Ka Yeng lived his entire life in the jungles of Laos evading the ensuing LPDR military forces that continually hunt and chase his people. In June of this year he escaped Laos along with Va Char Yang to bring the latter's video documentation of the alleged killing, torture and rape of Mao Lee and three other teenage girls to the outside world. In the attack a boy, Tou Lor was also killed. Ka Yeng will speak to the life of the ethnic Hmong who hide in the mountains and jungles of Laos to escape the Lao authorities since 1975. He will testify to the events of May 19.

Nelson Rand is an independent journalist who spent three weeks in April and early May of this year in the jungles of the Xaysomboune Special Zone with the resistance groups. He lived as they lived and ate as they ate. The group he stayed with was the same that suffered the attack of May 19. He knows the families of those who were killed.  His photographs and video document the hardships faced by this group of former Secret War veterans and their families. Nelson, who will speak to the plight of these people, answer the question as to who they are, and establish the events seen in Va Char Yang's video took place in Laos shortly after his visit there.

Va Char Yang's story about the May 19th attack was the subject of an article in the September 20, 2004 Asian edition of Time Magazine as well as documentaries on BBC and CNN.

Laos has denied the allegations. The Lao Ambassador to Thailand has also been invited.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT)
Bangkok, Thailand