Cambodian policemen stand in front of Cambodian Freedom Fighters' (CFF) weapons and flags in Phnom Penh, in 2001Callahan said his client (Chhun Yasith) had founded the CFF after deciding that "speeches and diplomacy were not going to be enough" to unseat Hun Sen.LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A Cambodian man was found guilty by a US jury on Wednesday of fomenting a failed coup attempt in his native country in November 2000 and now faces a possible life sentence.
Chhun Yasith, 52, a California accountant who arrived in America in the 1980s after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" regime, was accused of drawing up plans for the overthrow of Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh from his modest office in Long Beach, southwest of Los Angeles.
"The planning and fundraising happened right here in the United States," prosecutor Lamar Baker told jurors earlier this month at the US District Court of Los Angeles. "It was like the labels say, 'Made in the USA.'"
After a two-week trial, he was found guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States and engaging in a military expedition against a nation with which the United States is at peace.
He was also found guilty of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country.
Chhun Yasith is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8.
Prosecutors said Chhun Yasith founded a group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) in 1998 and was elected president after traveling to Thailand to enlist the support former Cambodian military personnel.
The CFF planned a twin-pronged strategy to bring about revolution, prosecutors said. The group was ordered to carry out "popcorn" attacks on soft targets such as karaoke bars, nightclubs and coffee houses before launching an all-out assault to overthrow the government.
After one of the so-called "popcorn" attacks -- the July 2000 bombing of a nightclub in Cambodia that left two people dead and many injured -- Chhun Yasith sent a fax to members "bragging about hospitals filling up with victims," Baker said.
Chhun Yasith selected a total of 291 targets for their ill-fated coup, codenamed "Operation Volcano."
Despite being warned by senior CFF advisors that the rebel forces were not big enough to challenge the Cambodian army and police, Chhun Yasith -- based in Thailand -- pressed ahead with the coup attempt, which took place on November 24, 2000.
Dozens of armed men stormed into Phnom Penh firing AK-47 rifles and rockets at government buildings, leaving at least four people dead, before the rebellion was quelled.
More than 100 people were jailed for the attack, which left Hun Sen unscathed.
Chhun Yasith was tried in absentia in Phnom Penh in June 2001 and convicted of conspiracy, terrorism and membership of an illegal armed group.
During the US trial, Chhun Yasith's attorney, Richard Callahan, argued that his client's "only goal was to bring democracy to his homeland."
"It was misguided and naive in its execution but it was not misguided and naive in its intent," Callahan said, saying his client had launched a "noble effort to save Cambodia" from the "tyrannical regime of Hun Sen."
Callahan said his client had founded the CFF after deciding that "speeches and diplomacy were not going to be enough" to unseat Hun Sen.
In a December 2000 interview with the Cambodia's English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper, Chhun Yasith said the attack was a failed coup bid and vowed to strike again to topple the government.
"We were prepared to transform Cambodia into a country like the US," Chuun Yasith told the newspaper. "We had a constitution that would've turned Cambodia into a republic," he added.
Chhun Yasith and his wife, Sras Pech, 42, face another trial on July on charges of running a fraudulent tax-preparation business in Long Beach.
7 comments:
Chhun Ya sith's case is just the trick of ah Hun sen ah youns in Cambodia
Once again, the U.S. interests come first. In exchange for oil exploration rights, Chhun Yasith is prosecuted to please Hun Sen. And, the FBI and the U.S. Government also keep their mouth shut over the March 1997 grenade attack on peaceful demonstrators in front of the National Assembly.
The U.S. would be prepared to go to war, based on phony accusations, to protect its interests. Iraq (weapon of mass destruction that never existed) and Afghanistan (the 911 attacks were stage-managed by the CIA as an excuse to invade and occupy that country) are just a few examples. Iran will be next. In the old days, the U.S. also supported death squads and drug cartels in South America. So much for freedom and democracy.
If the U.S. had been serious about freedom and democracy the Hun Sen Regime would have ceased to exist since the 1997 Coup.
yes, you're absolutely right, I agree with you.
what was he thinking? this is not how anyone demand changes, especially by using force. i don't think so!
1229am,
Ask Dick in Bush for advice in Iraq and Afghanistan,if gun barrels can't change anything?
Ask Hu Jintao on Tibet and Taiwan threats.
What do you have for breakfast,I like to have some too.
Man what are you saying?
It is very unfortunate that Citizen Yasith is not able to accomplish what he has set out to do in the name of freedom and democracy. By utilizing force to compel a regime that is significantly important to the US because of exploitation (oil) for the US interests, thus Citizen Yasith would ultimately stand alone in the midst of fighting against tyrranical regime.
US is the industrialize nation, therefore, oil is far too critical for the US. Chevron has already begin its drilling in the offshore of Cambodia and more wells to come.
Sometimes the eyes that see become blind in the case of Citizen Yasith. In 1997 granades were thrown and one of the American citizens was injured, hence, it provoked the FBI to seek what has caused the provocation. Results were found, but power and money come before Citizen Yasith. Now, the FBI and the Bush Administration will not prosecute those who have harm the US citizen...not to mention Citizen Yasith who was and still a Cambodian in the eye of US Foreign Policy even if Citizen Yasith is a US Citizen by naturalization.
Is it fair for the Bush Admin to act the way they did? Only power and money will provoke such administration to speak out against the tyrranical regime, in this case, Oil companies which exploited in the offshore drilling in Cambodia have the capacity to shut even the FBI and the Bush Administration.
Citizen Yasith will soon become another statistic in the finding of justice for all and sacrifice his soul for the greatest cause of Freedom and Democracy.
I thank you...
ST
Chhun Yasith did not do anything wrong under any American law! The fact that AH HUN SEN demanded that Chhun Yasith must be convicted as a terrorist which is one way to eliminate any competitor from competing with him in politic and of course the new trend of the war on terror around the world will give AH HUN SEN another excuse to work with Uncle Sam and secure his position as a world leader and AH HUN SEN couldn’t ask for more! The concept that only AH HUN SEN can fight the war on terror is very laughable!
I felt this is the same old politic as usual! I mean if the American FBI can't even convict AH HUN SEN for the 1997 grenade attacked on American citizen and what does that say about American judicial system!
This whole show of putting Chhun Yasith on trial for terrorist act is to cover up real American national interest in Cambodia! It could be oil and mineral, it could be engagement against China, it could be military build up in Southeast Asia, and it could be...
By the way a lot of the evidence against Chhun Yasith is manufacture by AH HUN SEN government!
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