Vietnam critic says bombing was ‘symbolic’
BANGKOK — A Vietnamese-American accused of trying to bomb Vietnam’s embassy in Thailand said at the start of his trial yesterday that he had taken only “symbolic” actions on behalf of democracy.
Thai authorities accuse Vo Van Duc, 47, of placing a backpack containing explosives in front of Vietnam’s embassy and tossing a small bomb over its wall on June 19, 2001. Both devices failed to explode.
“The symbolic act — (with) which I am charged — I am confident will be viewed by those living in the free and democratic countries around the world as patriotic in the fight for a free and democratic Vietnam,” Duc said in a statement distributed to reporters.
Duc, a naturalized U.S. citizen who fled communist Vietnam in 1978, is a member of the California-based Government of Free Vietnam, an anti-communist group that Vietnam considers a terrorist organization. The communist government in Hanoi has called him a ringleader of the bombing plot.
He was arrested in the United States in October 2001 after returning from a trip to Bangkok.
A resident of Baldwin Park, Calif., Duc was charged in the United States with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. prosecutors decided to drop the charges after he agreed not to fight extradition to Thailand in December.
Duc faces charges of illegal possession of explosive devices, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and attempting to bomb an embassy.
Worasit Piriyawiboon, his lawyer, said Duc pleaded not guilty. Worasit also petitioned the Bangkok Criminal Court to drop the case, saying Duc should not be tried for the same offenses he was charged with in the United States.
The court said it would decide on Worasit’s motions at its next hearing on April 30.
The Associated Press - April 10, 2007.
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