Official confirmation has come of the killing of a Protestant Evangelical official in Laos in suspicious circumstances, nearly two weeks after the murder took place.

|TOP|The reasons behind the killing of Pastor Aroun Voraphom, as well as any other details, remain sketchy, with the event only first being reported by an overseas Laotian organisation, reports AsiaNews.

Spokesperson for the Laotian Foreign Ministry, Yong Chantalangsy, said in Vientiene that “the nature of the crime appears clear”.

“It was perpetrated to steal money,” said the spokesperson.

The police inquiry also concluded money or possibly personal reasons as the motive behind the killing.

“I don’t think it is about religion,” said Chantalangsy.

The opposition to the ruling Communist regime, the Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR), however, suspects that religion is behind the killing of the pastor in Pakading, Bolikhamsai province.

|AD|The LMHR stated in a press release that “the pastor was struck several times with a knife in the heart area, and his throat was cut” following a religious service he had just conducted with local Christians.

“His face was swollen and bore the marks of having been beaten,” the statement added.

The LMHR has demanded that “the authorities of the LPDR [Lao People's Democratic Republic] put an end to the repression campaign led against religious and ethnic minorities in Laos”. It has also called for “an impartial and independent investigation” into the killing.

The statement released by LMHR also noted that Pastor Aroun Voraphom had already been arrested in 1996 and detained for more than a year in a Vientiane prison for his religious activities.

No statement has been released by the Laotian government as yet on the claims made by the LMHR.