Daniel Pedersen

The Courier Mail

August 11, 2001

By Daniel Pedersen

JAILED Australians Kerry and Kay Danes may soon be released from a Lao jail.

They were sentenced on June 28 this year to seven years’ jail for theft of sapphires from a mine for which Mr Danes provided security.

They were also fined $260,000 — and ordered to pay the Lao Government $2 million in compensation.

At a meeting in the northern Thai town of Chiang Rai on Thursday night, a senior Lao official said the Government was prepared to release the couple and a release should by no means be viewed as a pardon.

He said the release would only be to smooth bilateral relations between Laos and Australia — a major aid donor to the communist country.

Australia has applied much diplomatic pressure in its bid to secure the Danes release.

The official said it was up to Australia how the release was handled, but it must be made clear that their release, if it eventuated, would not constitute a formal pardon.

Both the fine and the compensation would have to be paid as a prerequisite to their freedom.

The Danes were arrested in the capital, Vientiane, on December 23 last year.

Mr Danes was managing Lao Securicor, a division of Hong Kong-based Jardine Securicor.

Lao authorities allege he and Mrs Danes were responsible for the theft of sapphires from a gem mine in the northern province of Bokeo, in the heart of the Golden Triangle of heroin infamy.

The Danes say they are innocent and their lawyer, Sydney-based Ted Tzovaras, says they were caught in the middle of an international battle for control of the mine.

The officer said Lao and Australian officials talked about the possible release two weeks ago during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Hanoi, when Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer met his Lao counterpart Somsavad Lengsavad.

ENDS