COLUMBUS, GEORGIA - May 29 - Last week (in the United States), Federal Magistrate Faircloth announced a July 8 court date for 43 human rights activists charged with trespass for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in Columbus, Georgia.
The 43 were among 10,000 people who gathered last November to call for the closure of the notorious school. The defendants peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning, site of the school. They face up to six months in federal prison and $5,000 in fines.
Judge Faircloth is known for giving the maximum of six months to opponents of the SOA/WHISC. Seventy-one people have served a total of over forty years in prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the school.
Last year 26 people were prosecuted, including Dorothy Hennessey, an 88 year-old Franciscan nun who was sentenced to six months in federal prison. http://commondreams.org/headlines02/0115-01.htm
“Those who speak out for justice are facing harsh prison sentences while SOA-trained torturers and assassins are operating with impunity,” said SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois.
The 43 were among 10,000 people who gathered last November to call for the closure of the notorious school. The defendants peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning, site of the school. They face up to six months in federal prison and $5,000 in fines.
Judge Faircloth is known for giving the maximum of six months to opponents of the SOA/WHISC. Seventy-one people have served a total of over forty years in prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the school.
Last year 26 people were prosecuted, including Dorothy Hennessey, an 88 year-old Franciscan nun who was sentenced to six months in federal prison. http://commondreams.org/headlines02/0115-01.htm
“Those who speak out for justice are facing harsh prison sentences while SOA-trained torturers and assassins are operating with impunity,” said SOA Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois.