The exiled activist of democracy Lao, Joseph Akaravong, recovers in hospital after an emergency surgery following a knife attack in the southwest of France by an unidentified aggressor, the activist and a human rights group said on Monday.
The French South West French Portal reported that a man in the thirties had been stabbed three times in his throat and torso around noon on Saturday in the center of the city of Pau, then transported to the hospital there. He said the attacker was still free.
On Monday, Akaravong published on Facebook a photo of his hospital bed, being strongly bandaged. He said that his attacker was a man who “dared not fight me face with his bare hands.”
Sud Ouest cited an anonymous witness saying: “I went to the window and I saw a couple who did not speak French, perhaps Asian tourists, shouting” Help, help! “The man had blood on his clothes and held his throat.”
The Manushya Foundation, a human rights group, said that Karavong had been transported to hospital in critical condition, but that its condition had stabilized. Although the identity of the aggressor remains uncertain, the group described the attack as an example of “transnational repression”.
The Lao Embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to an email asking for comments.
Akaravong is one of the most eminent public criticisms of the Communist Government of Laos who reigned for five decades and is intolerant to political dissent. He often publishes on social media on socio-economic conditions in Laos and comments criticizing the government.
The Foundation said that Karavong fled Laos in 2018 after criticizing the collapse of a saddle dam in the Hydropower Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy project in the province of Attapeeu who killed dozens of villagers. He obtained political asylum in France in March 2022, said the foundation.
In recent years, other Lao activists have disappeared or have been faced with violence within Laos and outside the country, generally in neighboring Thailand.
In August 2019, Od Sayavong, a 34 -year -old Thai lao activist, and his roommate disappeared in Bangkok. The Thai authorities pleaded ignorance in the case and their investigation stalled.
In May 2023, Kitiyano Bounsuan, a 56 -year -old Lao democracy activist who had received the UN refugee status, was shot in the province of Thailand Ubon Ratchathani.
Edited by Mat Pennington.