Day 64:
The People's Court

April 3, 1998 Friday Evening 11 P.M.

Dear Family,

We ran into a friend from Vientiane this afternoon, a long term businessman with connections in the Lao government at many levels. He was sorry for the Christians still in jail but also concerned that the situation is having a terrible impact on the international image of Laos. He feels that the development of Laos has been set back 10 years. Even his group of foreigners that worship at the Vientiane international church were investigated after our arrest. He was glad to see us but doesn't answer our email as it is too dangerous (phone tapping is legal). He is also on the board of his government's aid program for Laos and they are concerned about the impact upon the international aid community.

The rumor he heard in Vientiane was that the government was going to blame everything on the Americans. They would picture the Laotian Christians as innocent victims of an American scheme to propagate a foreigner's religion. We'll try not to bore you with 27 email pages of court transcripts, but I believe you will enjoy a few glimpses of the official court record. This is an unofficial translation from the official court records in the Lao language (the dashes are where I skipped material).


THE CITY OF VIENTIANE
PEOPLE'S LOWER COURT

COURT'S EXAMINATION

After examining the documents, and evidence in the case, along with the results of the investigation in the court's meeting it is noted that : On March 10, 1993 Mr. Kenneth Nieman Fox, an American Citizen entered the Lao PDR in the name of Partners in Progress Organization from America.

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With this project, Mr. Kenneth used the project to influence and support proselytizing and expansion of the Christian religion without permission.

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The form and method of proselytizing that he used with the Lao people especially with Mr. Sy Yilatchay begin from October 3, 1993. In this involvement, Mr. Kenneth appointed Mr. Sy Yilatchay to be the leader to recruit some Lao people to convert to the Church religion. When using Mr. Sy's house as a meeting place for evangelism, each meeting would have from 30-60 people. The evangelizing was done by Mr. Kenneth, Mr. Jerry, Mr. Udorn, and other people. When it was already established, they then expanded a step at a time in the area of Vientiane Municipality.

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After establishing in each location and province, the people that went to listen to the evangelism about believing in religion steadily increased. In the belief of this religion, Mr. Kenneth, and Mr. Jerry also made appointments with representatives both internally and internationally. For example Thai, America, India, and Philippines in order to train leaders at three large Bible gatherings.

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NOTED: Mr. Sy Yilatchai (defendant) confessed that since 1991 he studied the Christian religion from his son, Khamman, age 35, who had come back from the refugee camp in Nongsaeng, Thailand (he came as a refugee). There were eight members then.

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In the investigation and in the court room, Mr. Sy Yilatchay confessed that he used his own house as a meeting place for evangelism and he invited members from different areas and different provinces to come to each meeting. True.

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NOTED: Mr. Bounlerth Yilatchay, (defendant), confessed that he entered the Christian religion in 1991 and at that time he was a student at DonDok. In the beginning of entering the religion, his older brother, Khamman was the one who encouraged him. Mr. Khamman came back from being a refugee.

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NOTED: Mr. Kongmany Soukaseum (defendant), he confessed.......They used this as a front, but the fact is they were evangelizing for their religion. They used the teaching of English as a disguise from their real activities to keep the officials from noticing.

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NOTED: Mr. Gaet Inthavong (defendant) confessed: Became a member of the Christian religion in 1990 from the influence of his father. (Khamlek, his father who is in America) is the head of the village of Nabon, district of Phonghong. When I became involved with the foreigners, especially American and Thai, the activity of the movement was to use the water project as a front, but they were really meeting for evangelism.

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NOTED: Mr. Galgaruensuk (defendant) confessed that: I entered the Christian religion since I was a refugee in the Napo refugee camp in Thailand. I had the function and the salary receiving 200 baht. In October of 1991 I entered Lao as a returning refugee. In January of 1993 he began to recruit members to enter the religion and 13 entered who were from the Village of Nomkiang. I used my house as a meeting place.

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NOTED: Mrs. Khamphin Suliyaathen (defendant) confessed that: She became a member in February of 1997. After she became a member, she studied the Bible and attended at several places until October of 1997 she then opened her house to a Bible class and used her own money for the expenses. Presently I've invited members from Phongkeng to attend and foreigners also come. The meeting is in my own house. We have them on Thursday and Saturday. There are usually ten members and the Bible teacher is an American and the workers from the water project.

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NOTED: Miss Duangmanee Yilatchay (defendant) confessed that: She became a Christian in 1990. In 1997 she became involved with foreigners (American). They appointed her to teach the small children ages 5-11. She alternated every other month with Mrs. Phongsawang (the wife of Mr. Bounlerth). She attended four large Bible gatherings. Other than this, she was involved in Bible teaching to the small children at Nabon in Vientiane Province.

NOTED: Mrs. Khampho Semmawong (defendant) confessed that: She entered the religion in 1996. In 1997 she entered a religious meeting in a foreigners home in Donmiang village and in the house of Mr. Sy in Phongkeng village in November of 1997. Mrs. Khompo invited people to listen in her own house and used her own house for the religious meetings scheduled on Tuesday. The teacher was Mr. Khamsaweang and Mr. Gaet.

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This organization for evangelism did not receive permission from the Lao PDR authorities which judges that they broke the law of the Lao PDR.

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NOTED: The defendants recruited people from every level of society in Vientiane Municipality and various provinces. For example: Vientiane Province, Khammuan Province, Savannakhet Province, Borikhamsai Province and other provinces in order to set up Bible classes and believe in God without permission. They used examples that were disrespectful of the leaders of the Lao PDR.

NOTED: Up until this point concerning the defendants activity, the group of defendants have confessed that they set up religious meetings without authority from the various officials. They did this by evangelism and this activity of the defendants is a criminal violation of Article 66 of the Lao Constitution.

NOTED: Mrs. Khampin, Mrs. Viengkham and Mrs. Khampho (defendants) recruited members to come listen to the Bible in their own houses and each of these occasions they were responsible for the meeting. They invited people from other places to come listen to foreign teachers. In addition to this, the defendants involved other groups and attended four large gatherings. Therefore this activity is a violation of Article 66 which forbids gatherings to create social turmoil.

NOTED: Mr. Kenneth Nieman Fox, Mr. Jerry Canfield, Mrs. Margaret Canfield, Mrs. Anne Phommasone and Mr. Udorn Inthong, were the leaders in inviting foreigners and Lao people to gatherings without permission which is a violation of Article 66 of the Lao PDR. They entered Lao PDR to work with Clean Water, but the truth is they came to do other work which was not authorized. These foreigners have been judged and deported according to the laws of the Lao PDR on February 4, 1998 as personna non grata.


Sixty-four days of waiting, praying, planning, teaching, worrying, writing and thinking about the past, present and future. I love Jerry Canfield's reply today to a recent message, "please let him know that this matter is not over until the Christians have sufficient recognition that they can assemble for worship. The first priority is release of the 10, but until they can assemble for worship, we can not let up." To Him who does above and beyond what we can ask or think, we commit the present and future of the Laos 10 and the Church of Christ in Lao PDR.

Love you for loving them,
Ken & Jean Fox
Udorn, Thailand

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