Cambodia: Court Sentences 6 Cambodian Men Over Terrorist Plot

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: 6 Cambodian men were jailed for up to 12 years for plotting to bomb a crowded festival in the capital last year as part of a broader plan to overthrow the government, a judge said Friday (Aug 10th).

Judge Kim Ravy of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said the plan to plant bombs among the crowd at the traditional water festival in Phnom Penh last October was foiled when authorities arrested the 6 men.

He said the bombings were part of a plot to remove the government. It was unclear how close the plan came to being realized.

The judge said he sentenced 4 men, who appeared in court Thursday (Aug 9th), to 6 years' jail. 2 other men were convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years and 12 years in prison, he said.

Tieng Vuthea, a Cambodian lawyer representing the four men at Thursday's hearing, said the charges against his clients were groundless and that he will appeal the ruling.

Earlier this month, in an apparently unrelated case, a Cambodian court charged two men with terrorism over a failed plot to blow up a controversial monument in the heart of the capital.

Police arrested the two on July 30th, a day after explosive disposal experts defused bombs planted at Phnom Penh's Cambodia-Vietnam friendship monument. Critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government say the monument shows too much closeness to neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia's traditional enemy.

The most violent terrorist incident to shake the Cambodian capital in recent years occurred on Nov 24th, 2000, when attackers with grenades and machine guns mounted pre-dawn assaults on government buildings in Phnom Penh. The rebels were easily overwhelmed by government forces, and 6 attackers and a civilian bystander were killed.

The attack was allegedly organized by a California-based group called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who are opposed to Hun Sen's regime. Dozens of its followers were tried and convicted over the incident, receiving sentences ranging from 3 years to life in prison. (AP. )