By Associated Press
Bangkok, Thailand — A Vietnamese American man accused of hijacking a small plane reversed his plea on lesser charges to “not guilty” on May 22, a state prosecutor said.
Ly Tong, 54, had pleaded “not guilty” April 24 to the charge of hijacking a Thai plane, which he used to drop anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City during then-President Bill Clinton’s visit last year. The hijacking charge carries a maximum penalty of death.
Tong, a former South Vietnamese air force pilot, had originally pleaded guilty to two other charges: flying an aircraft out of Thailand without permission, which carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence; and traveling outside Thailand illegally, which carries a maximum two-year jail term.
In his second hearing, he reversed those pleas to “not guilty” after appointing a new lawyer, said Surasak Plansilp, public attorney for the provincial court in Rayong, east of Bangkok, where the trial is being held.
Tong, a well-known activist in the Vietnamese American community in the United States, was jailed in a “re-education camp” after the 1975 Communist takeover. He emigrated to the United States in 1984 after escaping from Vietnam, and lived in New Orleans. He has the nickname “Black Eagle,” taken from the fighter squadron in which he once served.
Tong hijacked a Vietnam Airlines jet in September 1992 from Thailand and dropped 50,000 anti-government leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City. He served six years in a Vietnamese prison before being released. Last year he dropped leaflets over Havana, urging Cubans to overthrow “the old dinosaur Fidel Castro.”
Vietnam has branded Tong a “dangerous international terrorist.”
Last month, Vietnam’s Defense Minister Pham Van Tra said that he had been censured by the ruling Communist Party because of Tong’s flight last year. |
