N.Irish jury acquits men in Raytheon break-in case
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  By Anne Cadwallader\nBELFAST, June 11 (Reuters) - A jury in Northern Ireland on\nWednesday acquitted five of six men who defended a 2006 break-in\nat U.S. defence contractor Raytheon <RTN.N> on the grounds they\nwere trying to prevent war crimes. The six defendants entered the company's office in the\nBritish province in August 2006 and threw computers and files\nout of the windows, causing 20,000 pounds ($39,210) in damage at\nthe maker of Tomahawk and Patriot missiles.\nThe men, who had been charged with criminal damage and\naffray, were cleared on Wednesday by a jury on all counts apart\nfrom a sixth defendant, Eamon McCann, who was found guilty of\ntaking computer discs and given a 12 month suspended sentence.\nThe defence argued their action was taken to prevent war\ncrimes in Lebanon by Israeli Defence Forces using Raytheon\nmissile systems and to save civilian lives during Israel's\n34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas.\n"They believed Raytheon was aiding and abetting the\ncommission of war crimes, having seen how Raytheon's lethal\ntechnology was being used to destroy the homes and lives of\ninnocents in Lebanon," said Richard Harvey, lead counsel for one\nof the defendants.\nRaytheon has said its operations in the British province of\nNorthern Ireland are limited to software development for civil\naviation systems and not the manufacture of weapons.\nThe prosecution argued the men had a right to legitimate\nprotest, but had "engaged in an orgy of wanton destruction".\n(Writing by Andras Gergely)\n((andras.gergely@reuters.com; 35315001518; Reuters Messaging:\nandras.gergely.reuters.com@reuters.net))\n($1=.5101 Pound)\nKeywords: RAYTHEON/COURT