Mother's fear for her son in Asian prison
2011-07-14
A LOCAL magistrate is fighting the legal battle of her life to have her son released from a Laos prison. Anne-Marie Immelman, a senior magistrate at Paarl Regional Court, last heard from her 19-year-old son Arno two weeks ago before he vanished without a trace. Arno has been in South-east Asia since April, where he underwent a course in Thailand to teach English to Thai schoolchildren. He matriculated at Paarl Boy’s High School last year and is taking a gap year before continuing his studies at the University of Cape Town. According to Immelman, Arno was regularly in contact with her. “He had to cross the Thai border into Laos each month to renew his visa. On 29 July I had a phone call from him and he was with a group of young people, in a pub in Vientiane (the capital of Laos). “He was very happy and had settled into his teaching job very well.” But that was the last word that Immelman heard from her son. “When I didn’t hear from him again after he was supposed to return to Thailand, I became agitated. By the Sunday evening I tried to call him and there was no reply. “Eventually I got hold of a friend of his on Facebook and he informed me that Arno had been arrested by the authorities is Laos.” According to the friend, Arno was arrested after he had been found asleep with a young woman in the Cambodian ambassadors residence in Vientiane. Ever since then, Immelman has had sleepless nights and has still not been allowed to speak to her son. The South African embassy in Bangkok was contacted, but they too could not tell her where her son was. “Arno has not been charged with anything and each time the police promise me that I can speak to him, only to again break their promises. “They won’t even tell me in which prison he is being held. “The Cambodian authorities, on whose property Arno was found, have indicated that they will not be prosecuting him. “I have studied the Laos penal code and according to this, Arno should have appeared before a prosecutor within 24 hours of having been arrested. But this procedure has not been followed. “According to my judicial background, my son is being held unlawfully.” Anna Makoka, an attaché at the South African embassy in Bangkok was this week permitted to speak to Arno. According to her he is well. Currently Immelman’s bags are packed in case she is summoned to Laos for negotiations to secure Arno’s release. On the social networking site Facebook, a profile has been set up - FREE ARNO IMMELMAN to campaign for his release. At the time of going to print, no charges had been laid against Arno. Laos is a landlocked socialist country in South-east Asia, bordered by the countries Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
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