California man found guilty in Cambodian coup bid

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The head of a California-based Cambodian resistance movement was found guilty on Wednesday of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2000 against Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.

Yasith Chhun, 52, an accountant from Long Beach and the self-styled president of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, could face life in prison without parole when he is sentenced on September 8, U.S. prosecutors said.

Chhun, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was convicted by a federal court jury in Los Angeles on four federal counts against him -- conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to 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 country with which the United States is at peace.

Prosecutors said at the two-week trial that Chhun held meetings with former Khmer Rouge members in Thailand, organized fund-raisers aboard the Queen Mary in Southern California and planned the "Operation Volcano" plot in November 2000 that ended in three deaths and an unknown number of injuries.

Chhun's lawyer, Richard Callahan, said his client's only goal was to "to bring democracy to his homeland" and said he never intended to kill or injure anyone.

Callahan portrayed Chhun and his followers as naive but "desperately concerned about the people of Cambodia and their future."

Chhun was arrested at his Long Beach home in June 2005 after returning in the wake of the failed coup. U.S. prosecutors say he orchestrated the 2000 assault on Cambodian government buildings from a safe base in Thailand.

According to Cambodian media reports at the time, a heavily armed group attacked a police station and several government buildings in Phnom Penh in the predawn hours of November 24, leaving at least four dead and more than a dozen wounded.

The Cambodian Freedom Fighters claimed responsibility for the shootout and dozens of suspected members were arrested in Cambodia. Three are already serving life sentences in Cambodian prisons. Some of Chhun's co-conspirators gave taped testimony to the trial.

Hun Sen, an ex-Khmer Rouge fighter who defected to Vietnam in the late 1970s, has been in charge of Cambodia for more than 20 years.

Callahan said Chhun founded the Cambodian Freedom Fighters in a "noble effort" to save the impoverished nation from the rule of Hun Sen after deciding that speeches and diplomacy would not be enough to unseat the premier.

In December, United Nations human rights envoy Yash Gai criticized Cambodia for failing to protect the rights of the poor, saying land was being seized by large businesses with government connections.

Last year, the World Bank urged Cambodia to fight corruption and improve education and health care.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Eric Walsh)