01/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - Speaking through the voice of the spokesperson for External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, the European Commission expressed its concern for the 15-year prison sentence imposed in Laos on two Europeans: Belgian journalist Thierry Falise and the French photographer and cameraman, Vincent Reynaud. The latter were making a report on the Hmong, a people (MEP Olivier Dupuis recalled before the sentence was passed) that has suffered fierce repression for years now in Laos (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5). Naw Karl Mua, an American national of Hmong origin, who accompanied them, was also sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.