Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: USA. "Cospirazione" pacifista alla sbarra

National Catholic Reporter
June 17, 2005
Antiwar protesters face federal conspiracy charges
By CLAIRE SCHAEFFER-DUFFY
The U.S. federal government is prosecuting four Catholic
peace activists from Ithaca, N.Y., after a state court jury
refused to convict them last year for their antiwar protest
at a local U.S. military recruiting station. The federal
charges made against the activists include "conspiracy to
impede an officer of the United States," a crime punishable
by up to six years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
"The federal government is clearly trying to make an example
of these people and to intimidate future nonviolent
protestors by charging these folks with conspiracy," said
Bill Quigley, a law professor at Loyola University, New
Orleans, and an advising attorney for the activists.
On March 17, 2003, in protest of the impending U.S. invasion
of Iraq, Danny Burns, Peter DeMott, and sisters Clare and
Teresa Grady poured small bottles of their own blood on the
walls, floor and an American Flag in the foyer of a military
recruiting center in Lansing, N.Y.
Charged with criminal mischief, the activists, who have been
dubbed the St. Patrick's Four, spent four days in jail and
in April 2004 were tried at the Tompkins County Courthouse.
During their weeklong trial, the defendants, all of whom
have children, said they carried out their protest as
Catholics and parents who wanted to warn members of the
military and potential recruits about the illegality and
immorality of the war in Iraq.
"As parents, we know the love of our children and hold
deeply the belief that we are all God's children. It is
never OK to kill another of God's children and it is
especially grievous to send one's children, our children to
another land to kill other children," said Clare Grady, a
mother of two.
The jury voted 9 to 3 in favor of acquittal, leading some to
conclude the case of the St. Patrick's Four was closed. But
in February, a federal grand jury charged the four
activists, all of whom were arrested during a previous
demonstration at the Lansing recruiting station, with two
counts of criminal trespass, destruction of government
property and conspiring to induce "by force, intimidation
and threat, officers of the United States to leave the place
where their duties as officers of the United States are
required to be performed."
Last month, Thomas J. McAvoy, senior U.S. district judge for
northern New York, rejected the defendants' motion for
dismissal and set a trial for Sept. 19 in Binghamton, N.Y.
In his May 8 decision, McAvoy also ruled the defendants
would not be allowed to cite international law as a
justification for their actions at the recruiting station.
"This court offers no opinion on the war in Iraq as it is
entirely irrelevant to this matter. Assuming an illegal war,
it does not provide a justification for violating the
criminal laws of the United States," he wrote.
It is not clear who requested federal prosecution for the
St. Patrick's Four. McAvoy denied the defendants request for
"a copy of all communications" between state and federal
prosecutors. The office of Ithaca District Attorney George
M. Dentes, who closed the case at the state level, said it
could not comment on a trial that was not in their jurisdiction.
Claire Schaeffer-Duffy is a freelance writer living in
Worcester, Mass.

of the United States are required to be performed."
Vero anche questo.  Di certo non e' stato qualcosa di improvviso.  O
sono vampiri che vanno in giro con bottiglie di sangue?
*grin*
Che quindi siano puniti per i loro reati.
-Stefano