Los Angeles Newspaper group
COURTS: The Long Beach accountant could go to prison for life for the attacks on Cambodia.
By Greg Risling, The Associated Press
04/16/2008
LOS ANGELES - An accountant was convicted Wednesday of orchestrating a failed attempt to overthrow the Cambodian government with a handful of rebel fighters who attacked government buildings in the country's capital in 2000.
Jurors deliberated for about two days before returning their verdict against Yasith Chhun, 52, of Long Beach.
Chhun, a U.S. citizen of Cambodian descent, was convicted of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country, 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 faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 8.
An e-mail message left with Chhun's attorney, Richard Callahan, was not immediately returned.
The Cambodian government welcomed the ruling.
"This is what we have longed to see. This also sends a message that if somebody wants a regime change, they must do so through ballots, not through arms," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Chhun headed a group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, which was opposed to the ruling party in the Southeast Asian country. The group accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of being a dictator and helping rig elections so he could stay in power.
Prosecutors said Chhun planned for two years to topple the Cambodian government. He traveled to the region to assemble a rebel force and held fundraisers at the Queen Mary in May 2000 to raise money for the operation.
Interviewed by the Press-Telegram in June 2001, Chhun spoke freely and fearlessly about what he termed "Operation Volcano," the name given to the attack.
He detailed, matter of factly, his mission to bring American-style "freedom, justice and democracy" to his former country. He bragged about the publicity he had received, and he chatted about his ambitious rebellion as if it were a board game.
"It's like playing chess," he said, laughing. "Put (the pieces) where the horse is and where the king is."
The "king" Chhun referred to was Hun Sen, a former communist who staged his own bloody coup in 1997 and then called an election a year later under pressure from international leaders.
Hun Sen won the election, but many continue to believe he is a corrupt, dictatorial leader masquerading as a liberator. He has been accused of doing little to save the country's 17 million people from poverty, disease, crime and oppression.
Prosecutors also believe Chhun was behind a February 1999 bombing of a bar in Cambodia that injured several people.
"Operation Volcano" was launched on Thanksgiving 2000 at the direction of Chhun, who was across the border in Thailand. Only about 200 rebel troops showed up to fight, and they were quickly subdued after attacking various government buildings in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Phen.
Three of Chhun's troops died, and several police and military officers were injured.
Some Cambodian-Americans who live in Long Beach, home to the country's largest Cambodian community, said they weren't surprised by the verdict.
"People are very ambivalent about this. I don't think they support him," said Chhang Song, an adviser to the Cambodian government. "They support him only in that he was caught in a tragic situation. Nobody believed that he would be able to overthrow the government."
Chhun is among a group of so-called freedom fighters who have been arrested and charged in recent years with plotting to overthrow governments in Southeast Asia. Last year, 11 men were arrested and accused of attempting to oust leaders of the communist government in Laos.
In opening statements, Callahan argued that his client was trying only to bring democracy to Cambodia.
Hun Sen had been part of the communist-backed Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975-79 and is accused of atrocities that resulted in the deaths of some 1.7million people in the notorious "killing fields."
COURTS: The Long Beach accountant could go to prison for life for the attacks on Cambodia.
By Greg Risling, The Associated Press
04/16/2008
LOS ANGELES - An accountant was convicted Wednesday of orchestrating a failed attempt to overthrow the Cambodian government with a handful of rebel fighters who attacked government buildings in the country's capital in 2000.
Jurors deliberated for about two days before returning their verdict against Yasith Chhun, 52, of Long Beach.
Chhun, a U.S. citizen of Cambodian descent, was convicted of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country, 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 faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 8.
An e-mail message left with Chhun's attorney, Richard Callahan, was not immediately returned.
The Cambodian government welcomed the ruling.
"This is what we have longed to see. This also sends a message that if somebody wants a regime change, they must do so through ballots, not through arms," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.
Chhun headed a group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, which was opposed to the ruling party in the Southeast Asian country. The group accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of being a dictator and helping rig elections so he could stay in power.
Prosecutors said Chhun planned for two years to topple the Cambodian government. He traveled to the region to assemble a rebel force and held fundraisers at the Queen Mary in May 2000 to raise money for the operation.
Interviewed by the Press-Telegram in June 2001, Chhun spoke freely and fearlessly about what he termed "Operation Volcano," the name given to the attack.
He detailed, matter of factly, his mission to bring American-style "freedom, justice and democracy" to his former country. He bragged about the publicity he had received, and he chatted about his ambitious rebellion as if it were a board game.
"It's like playing chess," he said, laughing. "Put (the pieces) where the horse is and where the king is."
The "king" Chhun referred to was Hun Sen, a former communist who staged his own bloody coup in 1997 and then called an election a year later under pressure from international leaders.
Hun Sen won the election, but many continue to believe he is a corrupt, dictatorial leader masquerading as a liberator. He has been accused of doing little to save the country's 17 million people from poverty, disease, crime and oppression.
Prosecutors also believe Chhun was behind a February 1999 bombing of a bar in Cambodia that injured several people.
"Operation Volcano" was launched on Thanksgiving 2000 at the direction of Chhun, who was across the border in Thailand. Only about 200 rebel troops showed up to fight, and they were quickly subdued after attacking various government buildings in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Phen.
Three of Chhun's troops died, and several police and military officers were injured.
Some Cambodian-Americans who live in Long Beach, home to the country's largest Cambodian community, said they weren't surprised by the verdict.
"People are very ambivalent about this. I don't think they support him," said Chhang Song, an adviser to the Cambodian government. "They support him only in that he was caught in a tragic situation. Nobody believed that he would be able to overthrow the government."
Chhun is among a group of so-called freedom fighters who have been arrested and charged in recent years with plotting to overthrow governments in Southeast Asia. Last year, 11 men were arrested and accused of attempting to oust leaders of the communist government in Laos.
In opening statements, Callahan argued that his client was trying only to bring democracy to Cambodia.
Hun Sen had been part of the communist-backed Khmer Rouge, which ruled from 1975-79 and is accused of atrocities that resulted in the deaths of some 1.7million people in the notorious "killing fields."
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