BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two senior European diplomats flew to Laos on Friday to meet and press for the release of five activists arrested during a pro-democracy protest in the capital Vientiane last week, diplomatic sources said.
European Commission Ambassador to Indochina and Malaysia Klauspeter Schmallenbach and Italian Ambassador to Thailand Stefano Starace Janfolla met the activists at the immigration office in Vientiane, an Italian Embassy spokesman told Reuters.
"They visited the arrested people at 2 o'clock (0700 GMT) and they were in good health," he said.
Three Italians, one Belgian and one Russian were arrested in front of the presidential palace in the city on October 26 in possession of banners, flags and leaflets calling for democracy and the release of Laotian political prisoners.
The Brussels-based human rights group Transnational Radical Party (TRP) has said the activists were acting on its behalf.
The group includes Belgian Olivier Dupuis, who is a member of the European Parliament and the general secretary of the TRP.
The other four detainees were identified as Italians Massimo Lensi, Silvia Manzi and Bruno Mellano, and Russian Nikolai Kramov.
A source at the European Commission delegation in Bangkok said the envoys hoped the activists would be released soon.
"They (the two ambassadors) have gone to Vientiane to try and solve the situation," said the source, who declined to be identified.
THIRD ATTEMPT
"They'd like these people to be released, but it is also very important that they have access to these people."
The Italian spokesman said the European Commission ambassador had held a meeting with other European diplomats in Vientiane to come up with a "strategic approach" on the activists release.
Asked when the detainees would be released, the spokesman said: "We don't know."
He said the two ambassadors would stay in Vientiane for a few days to press for the release. Friday's visit was the third attempt by European envoys to gain the release of the activists.
The Belgian ambassador to Thailand and the Italian charge d'affaires in Bangkok both visited Vientiane earlier this week but failed to gain access to the detainees.
The European Commission said in a statement in Brussels on Wednesday that Commission President Romano Prodi had instructed its delegation in Bangkok to "intervene immediately with the Laotian authorities in order to obtain the immediate release" of the detainees.
Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad told a news conference in Malaysia on Tuesday that the activists would be dealt with speedily. He accused them of blatant interference in Laos' domestic affairs.
Landlocked Laos is one of the world's poorest nations. It has been run by a one-party system since communist guerrillas defeated a U.S.-backed government and took power in 1975.
Human rights group Amnesty International's 2001 annual report said freedom of expression, association and religion were severely restricted in the country, adding that tight controls on information prevented adequate monitoring of conditions.