LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge Tuesday convicted four young Armenian terrorists of conspiring to blow up the Turkish consulate in Philadelphia as retribution for the mass slaughter of Armenians during World War I.
U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer denied a prosecution request to rovoke the men's bail and have them jailed pending sentencing Nov. 11, however.
Viken Yacoubian, 24, Viken Hovsepian, 24, Karnig Sarkissian, 31 and Steven Dadaian, 22, were convicted of plotting to blow up the Philadelphia office of the honorary Turkish consul general in October 1982.
Their attorneys did not deny the allegations, but argued that hatred of the Turks was so ingrained in their upbringing that they were driven to commit the act. Testimony was presented by relatives and psychologists.
Pfaelzer said she was impressed by the defense arguments and the thumbnail-history of the Armenian genocide presented in court, but was bound by the law to find the defendants guilty.
'Don't think that that testimony was given in vain,' she addded, 'because obviously I will have to take it into account during sentencing.'
Assistant U.S. Attorney Terree Bowers, noting that each man could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $25,000, asked that their bail of $500,000 apiece be revoked and warned they might make another terrorist attempt on Turkish officials before they are sentenced.
'Their hatred of the Turks may even have been increased now that they have been convicted,' he said.
The motion drew a loud groan from the defendant's friends and relatives, and Pfaelzer chastised prosecutors for the request.
The three-count indictment alleged the men -- believed to be members of the underground Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide -- planned to plant five sticks of dynamite outside the consulate building.
The Justice Commandos has claimed responsibility for bombings of Turkish government buildings and the assassination of Turkish officials in vengeance for what it claims was the intentional slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks. The Turkish government denies the claims.
The men were arrested after a joint investigation by the FBI and Los Angeles area authorities. The investigation began in response to a string of bombings in Southern California since 1980.
Another defendant, Dikran Berberian, 30, is awaiting trial on the same charges.
