Teen Bella Culley faces a lifetime’s misery in a Georgian prison after being charged with drugs smuggling. However, it is worth examining a case in Laos which bears some similarities as both women were pregnant.
British national Samantha Orobator, in her early 20s, was arrested in Laos in August 2008 for drugs smuggling, found guilty and sentenced to life prison in Phonthong prison. The case, like Bella’s, attracted a lot of media attention especially as she claimed she was pregnant which (in theory) saved her from a death sentence. The circumstances of Samantha’s pregnancy were never clarified but seem to have occurred post-arrest. Laos (unlike Georgia) did not have a female only center for women prisoners.
In August 2009, Samantha was repatriated to the UK to complete her sentence there. Some months later, the High Court in London set a minimum time of 18 months which was subsequently confirmed by the English and Welsh parole board. She was freed. It was argued that the shorter sentence was in line with UK precedent for the specifics of the offence at that time. Technically however, Samantha remained subject to a life sentence if a further offence occurred.
Clearly the Laotian authorities were relieved to be rid of the case which was very bad from a publicity point of view. The same may be true of Georgia, an east European country anxious to develop international tourism. There were various extenuating circumstances, for example that Samantha’s Laotian trial took only three hours. Her defence that she was an unwilling drugs mule after her passport was stolen by two Nigerian men, who also threatened to beat her up, was not considered by the court.
Obviously, Bella’s case is different in some respects and many of the details are still unknown pending trial, for example precisely what type of illegal drugs were seized. However, the state-appointed defence attorney in Tbilisi has already stated that “Bella is a child in my opinion”. British consular officials are set to visit Bella in prison. The stakes could not be higher.
