Defense wants to question U.S. agent

SACRAMENTO, June 26 (UPI) -- Lawyers for 11 people accused of trying to overthrow the government of Laos have asked a federal judge to allow them to question a U.S. government agent.

The agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms posed as an arms dealer during the investigation. Prosecutors have not released his identity.

U.S. District Judge Frank Damrell did not rule on the motion at Monday's hearing in Sacramento, Calif., The Sacramento Bee reported. He scheduled bail hearings for seven defendants denied release by federal magistrates. Four already had hearings schedule.

Ten members of the Hmong community in California and a former U.S. Army officer are being held without bail on charges of conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act by planning to overthrow the Communist government in Laos. The defendants include Gen. Vang Pao, 77, who worked with the CIA leading a Hmong army from 1961 to 1975.

About 2,000 people, including some who had traveled from as far away as France, demonstrated outside the courthouse. Six busloads came from Fresno, where many Hmong live.

The Hmong, an ethnically distinct group living in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, collaborated with U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.