VANG PAO Part Ⅱ: Charges Dropped Against Vang Pao

(Wikipedia) -- On March 9th, 2009, Vang Pao's lawyers filed a motion seeking of dismiss the charges against him. His lawyers claimed that the charges were fabricated and had no bearing in court. Following this appearance, on April 6th, 2009, federal prosecutors denied all allegations of fabrications in the motion. That following month, on May 11th, 2009, Vang Pao returned to federal court in Sacramento, California with his lawyers to argue the motion. Judge Frank Damrell stated, after hearing the arguments for the motion, that there was not sufficient evidence from the defense to justify a dismissal. The next hearing is scheduled for October 2009.

- On September 18th, 2009.

(SACRAMENTO, California) -- Charges have been dropped against well-known Hmong leader Vang Pao in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Laos, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

"I was pleased that the government finally has recognized Gen. Vang Pao's innocence, as we he," said John Keker, attorney for Pao. "It's taken too long, but they finally got round to the right result."

However, a superseding indictment issued by a federal grand jury names two additional defendants in the case.

"In out measured judgment, and based on the totality of the evidence in the case and the circumstances regarding defendant Vang Pao, we believe that continued prosecution of this defendant in no longer warranted," U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown said in a prepare statement.

Supporters have rallied in Pao's defense outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento during each of his court appearances.

Twelve defendants, including 10 people charged earlier, were named in the new indictment that was unsealed Friday.

The two new defendants, Jerry and Thomas Yang of Stockton, were arrested Friday morning and made their initial appearance Friday in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

All of the name defendants, with the exception of Jerry and Thomas Yang, have been released from custody on bail and other conditions of supervision.

"Today's charging decisions are the culmination of a comprehensive investigation of the charged plot and review of all evidence that has been gathered," Brown said. The original arrests and charges in Summer 2007 were based principally on the then-known English-language evidence, including wiretap conversations and recorded conversations between defendants and an undercover agent. When it had become apparent that many of the defendants had immediate plans to travel to Thailand to execute the plot, arrests were made.

"Agent continued their investigation after the initial charges, including the receipt of additional evidence, the translation and review of voluminous foreign the wiretap and undercover investigation, and the review of some 30,000 documents both in English and foreign languages seized pursuant to search warrants at the time of arrest," Brown added. "This superseding indictment is the result of this continuing investigation."

The new indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to acquire and furnish military arms, munitions, materiel, personnel and money to insurgents in Laos to conduct military operations against the government.

The indictment outlines a series of meeting with an undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent and conversations among the defendants during which they allegedly outlined plans to buy and ship arms to insurgents in Laos for use against the current government and to get mercenaries to carry out bombing of government buildings in the Lao capital.