France has expressed “consternation” after a 62-year-old Frenchman was executed in China for drug trafficking, despite diplomatic efforts to secure a pardon on humanitarian grounds. Chan Thao Phoumy, a Frenchman born in Laos, was sentenced to death in 2010 and executed in Guangzhou, southern China. France’s Foreign Ministry announced the execution on Saturday, April 4, 2026.“Despite the efforts of the French authorities, including efforts to obtain a pardon on humanitarian grounds for our compatriot,” the ministry said in a statement. France strongly reaffirmed its opposition to the death penalty “everywhere and in all circumstances” and renewed its call for its universal abolition.
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