"The six families, consisting of 25 people, were driven out of their homes in Ko Hai village, in Khamkeut district, Borikhamxay province, because they would not revert to their ancestral faith. Most residents in the village and neighbouring towns practice traditional religion.
"Local sources state that local authorities never accepted the decision of the six families to embrace Christianity and sought every way to have "them revert back to animism".
"Witnesses report that village leaders had two men from Hmong families arrested in July and held for at least a month, because they refused to renounce their Christian faith.
"Once the men were released, the authorities tried to force them to return to animism, but the Christians refused and were forced to leave their homes.
"Between late August and mid-September, local authorities evicted the Christians and seized their homes; however, the story only emerged recently as a result of anonymous complaints by locals..."