Facebook / Ther Una
Authorities in Laos have arrested a popular young Lao musician and producer known for singing songs criticizing official corruption in the one-party communist state, sources in the country say.
Syphone Vongchinda, better known as Ther Una, was taken into custody last week in the Sepon district of Savannakhet province in southern Laos, according to a district police officer and his neighbors.
“According to reports, he was summoned and taken away by provincial police,” the district police officer told RFA’s Lao Service on July 27, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I don’t know why they arrested him, he said.
The Bali Post reports that Bali’s Provincial Police have named Brigadier First Class Ryanzo Christian Ellesy Napitupulu as the accused in a case involving multiple offenses, including rape and extortion of a female sex worker identified as MIS (21).
Police Commissioner of the Provincial Police, Dodi Ragmawan, confirmed Napitupulu is criminally charged on Monday, 21 December 2020.
Ragmawan would not, however, confirm if the accused officer had been taken into detention.
MIS, accompanied by Charlie Usfunan acting as her lawyer, reported Ryanzo Natitupulu to the Bali police for committing the crimes of rape and extortion. (
Pasal 368/269 and 285 of the Criminal Code – KUHP).
Authorities Shut Down Darknet Marketplace Sipulimarket, Seize Bitcoin
A major darknet marketplace, Sipulimarket, has been shut down and its assets, including bitcoin, were seized by Finnish Customs, in cooperation with Europol and the Polish police.
Darknet Marketplace Shut Down, Bitcoin Seized
Europol and Finnish Customs (Tulli) announced last week that they “have shut down the Sipulimarket dark web marketplace and seized all its content.” The operation was in close cooperation with the Polish Provincial Police Headquarters in Wroclaw (Komenda Wojewódzka Policji we Wroclawiu), Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and Eurojust.
Tulli’s press release explains:
Finnish Customs has seized the web server and contents of the Silpulimarket trade site in its entirety … Finnish Customs has also carried out a bitcoin seizure.