Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on December 2, 2025 (December 2, 1975 – December 2, 2025), the Lao National Amnesty Committee announced an amnesty, pardoning a total of 2,858 prisoners, including 59 foreign nationals. The amnesty announcement was recently released by Lieutenant General Vilay Lakhamphong, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Amnesty Committee.
This amnesty specified specific measures for prisoners in different circumstances: Among domestic prisoners, 362 were women; 42 life-sentence prisoners (including 3 women) and 4 foreign life-sentence prisoners had their sentences reduced to 20 years; 2,622 ordinary prisoners (including 329 women) and 57 foreign prisoners (including 6 women) received amnesty or sentence reduction; 236 prisoners (including 33 women) and 2 foreign prisoners (including 1 woman) were directly pardoned and released; and 40 prisoners (including 5 women) had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
This amnesty also gave special consideration to 28 prisoners aged 70 and above nationwide, including 8 women. In terms of charges, 24 were involved in drug-related crimes (7 women), and 4 were involved in general criminal offenses (1 woman). The specific outcomes were as follows: 23 people were pardoned, 8 women received sentence reductions (involving 22 drug offenders and 1 general criminal offender); 5 elderly prisoners were released directly, including 2 drug offenders and 3 general criminal offenders.
