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C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000561 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PREL LA
SUBJECT: MURDER OF HMONG MAN IN SAISOMBOUN -- ANOTHER CASE 
OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLING? 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affairs Kristen Bauer, reason 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The murder of a Hmong farmer outside of Muang 
Cha, the capital of the former Saisomboun Special Zone, on 
June 8 appears to have been an example of local police 
eliminating a perceived security threat. Unusually, the 
government has gone out of its way to report that the motive 
for the murder was likely a "business dispute." This case 
highlights that Lao security forces are not against taking 
matters into their own hands when they identify potential 
security threats, especially involving the ethnic Hmong.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (C) According to a number of Hmong sources, on June 8 a 
Hmong farmer in the former Saisomboun Special Zone, 34 
year-old Xiong Pao Xiong, was shot and killed and his 6-year 
old son wounded when two policemen confronted them outside 
Muang Cha.  Several Hmong in contact with Xiong Pao Xiong's 
family members told us that he was a cousin of insurgent 
leader Wa Meng Lo, who was captured by Lao soldiers in late 
May along with his family in the Phoubia area of Saisomboun. 
Xiong Pao Xiong reportedly made several visits to Wa Meng Lo 
in prison after his capture, perhaps arousing the suspicion 
of local police. 
 
¶3. (C) According to these same sources, on June 8, just after 
police had interviewed him at home over the location of his 
brother, Xiong Pao Xiong and his two sons, ages 6 and 11, 
drove to the family's rice fields outside of Muang Cha. 
Witnesses reported that as Xiong was leaving his vehicle, two 
policemen pulled up in separate unmarked cars, walked up to 
Xiong and shot him in the head. One of the policeman then 
shot the 6-year old boy, who was still sitting in the car. 
The older boy jumped out of the passenger side of the vehicle 
and ran away. The policemen returned to their cars and drove 
off. 
 
¶4. (C) Several farmers who witnessed the shooting ran to the 
scene and contacted Xiong's wife and cousins in Muang Cha. 
Although Xiong was dead, his son was still alive and several 
cousins who arrived at the scene a short time later took him 
to the hospital in Muang Cha.  Family members said staff at 
the hospital refused to admit him. As a result, the family 
had to transport the severely injured boy to Vientiane, three 
hours away. Surgeons at Vientiane's Mahosot Hospital operated 
on the boy, whose lung had been pierced by a bullet, saving 
his life. 
 
¶5. (C) We were able to confirm most details of this story 
with doctors at the Mahosot Hospital and with UNICEF staff, 
who learned of the shooting and kept close tabs on the boy 
during his stay in the hospital. We and others in the UN and 
diplomatic community who followed the case did not raise it 
with the GoL out of fear the authorities would retaliate 
against Xiong Pao Xiong's family.  Unusually, however, on 
June 21 the Lao press reported the shooting in some detail, 
saying the killers were "unknown assailants" who shot Xiong 
Pao Xiong and his son as they were walking to their fields. 
Press articles went on to say police found $2,000 at the 
scene, that the killers had taken an AK-47 from Xiong's car, 
and that police believed the motive for the murder was a 
business dispute or "illegal trading." 
 
¶6. (C) Comment: Murders in Laos are by no means uncommon, but 
rarely are they reported in the press. Xiong Pao Xiong's 
death has generated an unusual level of interest within the 
Hmong community, in large part because witnesses at the scene 
identified police as the killers. The Hmong we have spoken 
with assumed police killed him because of his connections to 
insurgent leader Wa Meng Lo.  It appears that the government, 
recognizing the presumption that police killed Xiong, decided 
to put out their own version of events in order to throw the 
public off the track. Our own read of the incident is that 
this was most likely an extrajudicial killing conducted by 
Saisomboun police to eliminate someone they regarded as too 
close to the insurgency.  Taken with other similar incidents 
in the past several years targeting ethnic Hmong, it reveals 
the Lao authorities retain a high degree of suspicion toward 
the Hmong community and are not above resorting to murder to 
eliminate those they see as threats to security.  End 
comment. 
BAUER