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Drug trial of pregnant British woman opens in Laos
A trial opened on Wednesday against a pregnant British woman on heroin trafficking charges in a case that has raised questions about how she managed to conceive while behind bars.
- AP
- Published: 10:59 June 3, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- A Laos officer escorts Briton Samantha Orobator at Vientiane capital court in Laos on Wednesday.
Vientiane: A trial opened on Wednesday against a pregnant British woman on heroin trafficking charges in a case that has raised questions about how she managed to conceive while behind bars.
Samantha Orobator, 20, was arrested last August, but her case didn't draw international attention until news of her pregnancy became public in early May amid concerns that she could be executed by firing squad if found guilty.
The Laos government days later confirmed that under the country's criminal law, a pregnant woman cannot receive the death penalty, but officials delayed her scheduled trial date in May because of questions about how she became pregnant.
Orobator arrived in court wearing a blue prison outfit and smiling to reporters. She was escorted by female prison guards but was not in handcuffs or ankle chains. Security around the courthouse was tight.
Police said they found 680 grammes of heroin in 68 capsules on Orobator's body when she was arrested at Vientiane airport on her way to Australia. The British legal charity Reprieve says the drugs were found in Orobator's luggage. The Nigerian-born Orobator has said she is innocent.
According to Lao officials, Orobator initially told authorities she was pregnant by her boyfriend in England, but tests after she was arrested showed no signs of pregnancy. It was not until March 2 that a hospital test showed she was pregnant, verified by a second test April 4, police said. That meant she must have gotten pregnant while in prison, they said.
Orobator's mother recently said her daughter had not been raped by prison officials or fellow prisoners, as some media had reported, while a local newspaper on Tuesday quoted police as saying Orobator told authorities she secretly obtained sperm from a fellow prisoner to impregnate herself to avoid the death penalty.
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