During a two-day Appeals Court hearing that ended Wednesday, 14 of 19 convicted members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters recanted earlier confessions made to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and said they were fooled into joining the movement.
The 19 were appealing their sentences handed down in connection with a November 2000 attack on government buildings in Phnom Penh and grenade explosions in 2001 near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Funcinpec headquarters.
Cambodian-American Sao Chum Gilbert, who is serving 10 years in prison for his role in the 2000 attack, told the court that he knew the California-based CFF founder, Chhun Yasith, but that he was not a member of the anti-communist group.
Sao Chum Gilbert said he had helped Chhun Yasith install computer equipment in the US and accepted as payment an airline ticket to Cambodia, where he was also to help with computer installation. Sao Chum Gilbert said he did not know that his name was listed as a CFF member.
“If I knew, I would not have come,” he told the court.
Imprisoned for his role in the grenade attacks, Hang Bunthon accepted his guilt and implicated Keo Tak as an accomplice.
“I went with Keo Tak. He drove the motorcycle and threw the grenade near Funcinpec headquarters,” Hang Bunthon told the court.
However, Keo Tak denied he ever knew Hang Bunthon and asked: “How could I drive a motorcycle and throw a grenade?”
Others said they were cheated into signing their names as CFF members, believing they were joining an NGO called Santa.
Presiding Judge Saly Theara said he did not believe those who were now denying their confessions. He added that those who confessed may have their sentences reduced.
The court will announce its verdict on April 22, Saly Theara said.
Human rights workers have claimed that arrests made in the wake of the 2000 CFF attack targeted supporters of the opposition.
