Update on SOA Watch Trials

Dear SOA Labor Caucus members,
I was doing support at the trials in Columbus last week and I want to
share a little of the intense and inspiring experience with you.

First, I learned that one of the defendants, Judy Ruland, from
Springfield MA, is a union sister, a member of UFCW; Judy received a
two month sentence and a $500 fine. To learn more about her and her
co-defendants, see the SOA Watch website, www.soaw.org. The website is
chockful of great information, including news articles on the
defendants, a photo slide show from the press conference on the steps of
the federal courthouse on the first day of the trial, press releases
from the trials, photos and descriptions of the defendants and more. Be
sure to visit the website!

Below is:
1. Press release on the trials, including list of all the sentences
2. Reflections on the trials from SOA Watch's Eric LeCompte

I've also attached a few of the court statements and a couple of
reflections from the defendants. It is quite long - and only represents
a small number of the statements made over the two days of trials - but
please take the time to read these powerful words.

Although each of the defendants was speaking truth to power in the
small courtroom as they addressed Judge Faircloth, they were also, at
the same time, speaking to all of us, their supporters in our movememt.
I hope you will help spread the word, so each of the defendant's actions
will send forth wider and wider ripples as we work to close the
SOA/WHINSEC.

In solidarity,
Rebecca


http://www.soaw.org/new/pressrelease.php?id=104

for immediate release
February 1, 2006

School of the Americas Watch
Contact: Christy Pardew, 202.903.7257, media(at)soaw.org

THIRTY-ONE NONVIOLENT ACTIVISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN COLUMBUS,
GEORGIA

Two Protestors over 80 years old Headed to Prison for Actions Opposing
Controversial U.S. Army Training School

COLUMBUS, GA - This week a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia sentenced
31 human rights activists to prison. Two of these individuals are over 80
years old; one is 19. The sentences come less than a week after a
military jury in Colorado decided not to jail an Army interrogator even though
they found him guilty of negligent homicide in the torture and killing of
an Iraqi detainee. The 32 defendants were charged with trespass after
peacefully walking onto the Fort Benning military base in protest of a
controversial Army training school located there, and each person faced
a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Those arrested were among 19,000 who gathered in November outside the
gates of Fort Benning to demand a dramatic shift in U.S. foreign
policy and the closure of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, now
called the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation(SOA/WHINSEC).
The demonstration was the 16th annual one organized by School of the
Americas Watch, a faith- and conscience-based organization working to
close the school.

"For eight years, I have been studying this issue and listening to
the stories of those most affected by the School of the Americas," said
Delmar Schwaller, an 81-year-old World War II veteran and active community
volunteer sentenced to two months in prison. "My prison sentence
doesn't change my feelings about my action. I know this was the right
thing to do."

The SOA/ WHINSEC made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released
training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion
and execution. Despite this admission and hundreds of documented human
rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent
investigation into the facility has ever taken place. New research
confirms that the school continues to support known human rights
abusers.
Despite having been investigated by the United Nations for ordering
the shooting of 16 indigenous peasants in El Salvador, Col. Francisco del
Cid Diaz returned to SOA/ WHINSEC in 2003.

Judge Faircloth is known for handing down stiff sentences to opponents
of the SOA/ WHINSEC. Since protests against the SOA/ WHINSEC began more
than a decade ago, 183 people have served a total of over 81 years in
prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to
close the school.

The movement to close the SOA/ WHINSEC continues to grow. In 2005,
Rep.Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced HR 1217, a bill to suspend operations
at WHINSEC and to investigate the development and use of the "torture
manuals." With a new Representative added yesterday, the bill
currently has 124 bipartisan co-sponsors.

"People speaking out for justice and accountability have been sentenced
to prison this week," said Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch,
"while the SOA and its graduates continue to operate outside a system of
real accountability."


== ADJUDICATED DEFENDANTS ==

SENTENCED TO ONE MONTH IN PRISON:
Anika Cunningham, 26, Bowling Green, Ohio (and $500 fine)

SENTENCED TO TWO MONTHS IN PRISON:
Joanne Cowan, 56, Boulder, Colorado (no fine)
Sam Foster, 70, Minneapolis, Minnesota ($500 fine)
Michael Gayman, 26, Davenport, Iowa ($500 fine)
Rita Hohenshell, 81, Des Moines, Iowa (no fine)
Dorothy Parker, 76, Chico, California (no fine)
Judith Ruland, 47, Springfield, Massachusetts ($500 fine)
Delmar Schwaller, 81, Appleton, Wisconsin (no fine)

SENTENCED TO THREE MONTHS IN PRISON:
Buddy Bell, 23, Chicago, Illinois ($500 fine)
Fred Brancel, 79, Madison, Wisconsin ($500 fine)
Robert Call, 72, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey (no fine)
Stephen Clemens, 55,Minneapolis, Minnesota ($500 fine)
Scott Dempsky, 30, Denmark, Wisconsin ($500 fine)
Joe DeRaymond, 55, Freemansburg, Pennsylvania ($500 fine)
Sarah Harper, 36, Emeryville, California ($500 fine)
Robin Lloyd, 67, Burlington, Vermont ($500 fine)
Linda Mashburn, 63, Brevard, North Carolina ($500 fine)
Gail Phares, 66, Raleigh, North Carolina (no fine)
Donte Smith, 19, Washington, DC ($500 fine)
Cheryl Sommers, 68, Berkeley, California ($500 fine)
David Sylvester, 54, Oakland, California ($1,000 fine)
Frank Woolever, 72, Syracuse, New York (no fine)

SENTENCED TO 162 DAYS IN PRISON:
Fr. Louis Vitale, 73, San Francisco, California (no fine) *already
serving sentence

SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS IN PRISON:
Ken Crowley, Washington, DC ($1,000 fine)
Jane Hosking, 37, Luck, Wisconsin ($1,000 fine)
John LaForge, 41, Luck, Wisconsin ($1,000 fine)
Sr. Mary Dennis Lentsch, 69, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (no fine)
Edward "Naed" Smith, 38, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (no fine)
Fr. Jerome Zawada, 68,Cedar Lake, Indiana (no fine)

SENTENCED TO 12 MONTHS PROBATION:
Jamie Walters, 41, Columbia, Missouri ($1,000 fine)

SENTENCED TO TIME SERVED (after 72 days in county jail):
Priscilla Treska, 66, Cleveland, Ohio (no fine)

CONVICTED LAST WEEK, AWAITING SENTENCING:
Charles Carney, 47, Kansas City, Kansas

CONVICTED IN NOVEMBER AT ARRAIGNMENT, ALREADY SERVING SENTENCES:
Christine Gaunt, Grinnell, Iowa
Don Nelson, Summertown, Tennessee

== DEFENDANTS AWAITING TRIAL ==

Jonathan Robert, Georgia
Liam O'Rielly, 22, Portland, Maine

-----------------------------------------
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1 UPDATE:

Liam O'Rielly pled guilty to destruction of government property and
was sentenced to 90 days in prison and a $250 fine. He will
self-report to prison.

Jonathon Robert also pled guilty to destruction of government property.
He awaits sentencing and remains in custody pending resolution of other
outstanding charges.

Charles Carney still awaits sentencing.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reflections on the trials from SOA Watch's Eric LeCompte

Dear Friends,
I returned to DC this past Thursday night after 10 intense and
emotion-filled days in Columbus supporting those going on trial. It
was hard to see so many good people given such harsh sentences.

Since the November Vigil, 36 friends were charged in federal court for
taking our vigil onto Ft. Benning, the home of the notorious School of
Assassins. Despite their powerful testimony and evidence indicting the
school, all of the defendants were found guilty. In total thirty-three
people have been sentenced to prison; one person was sentenced to
probation and two await sentencing.

In addition, the Judge and the legal system threw us more curve balls
this year. One was that our lawyers were required to pay "Pro Hac Vice"
fees. All lawyers not licensed in Georgia (which are all of our lawyers
except Bill Conwell) were required to pay a 100 dollar fee for each defendant
they represented. This put a terrible burden on the defendants, the
lawyers and SOA Watch. And yet - there were crueler actions taken by
the Judge this year.

In past years after defendants were sentenced to prison they had an
interview with the probation office. Even though for us it takes place
after the sentence is imposed, it is called a pre-sentencing
nvestigation or PSI. The PSI is important because it sends information to their
designated prison before they report. The information allows our
friends to move into the general population right away, get phone access
shortly after arrival, allow close family members be put on the visitor's
list, avoid taking GED classes and have a medical and prescription history
at the site of incarceration.

This year the judge decided not to order the above and unfortunately
we have already seen the effects. Don Nelson, who was a part of our
action, plead guilty right away in November, was sentenced and reported to
prison on January 17. When he reported he was not allowed into general
population. In fact he was thrown into the "whole" for six days. This
is solitary confinement in the moldy basement of the jail that floods when
it rains, as it did when our friend Don reported. After that he was moved
to the "shoe" for six days, which is a holding cell that you are not
allowed out of until your information comes to the jail. Finally, after these
12 days, on the warden's discretion, Don was released into general
population. Neither Don's wife nor our legal team has been allowed to
talk with him and he has not been given phone access. The prison tells us
this is because his PSI information has not come and the probation office
in Georgia said they are not sending it.

We are concerned that those who will report in the coming weeks may
face similar fates. Currently, Bob Phares and Audrey Stewart -of our legal
team- are attempting to find a solution before our friends report.

The last concern still weighing on me post trial is the case of Ken
Crowley. Columbus police at the vigil took Ken, the delegations
coordinator for Witness for Peace and a former prisoner of conscience,
into custody after military police allegedly saw him lifting the Fort
Benning fence as people crawled under. The Columbus police delivered
him to the military police who charged him with "aiding and abetting." The
close relationship of civilian police and the military is in itself
concerning, but the charge and what happened to Ken is where my
concern currently focuses.

Ken was found guilty and received 6 months in federal prison and a
received a 1000 fine. The way the law reads, someone can be found
guilty of "aiding and abetting" if they some way support the action. A person
does not need to be present at the action to receive this charge. Ken
had wondered if he was a test case, because it seems possible that others
in our movement could receive similar charges. Now the government knows
they can use this charge against us and the judge will give the Maximum
prison sentence. We sensed for some time that the government has attempted to
piece together a conspiracy case against SOA Watch, but the "aiding
and abetting" charge doesn't seem to carry the burden of proof that a
conspiracy charge would carry. As always, it will be important to
monitor such charges as our movement continues to be on the forefront of
protecting our nation's civil liberties. It's clear the closer we get
to winning, the nastier they get.

I must admit, that I left Columbus with a great sense of hope. In many
ways this trial time we share in Columbus has become an integral part
of our SOA Watch Community. Truly, one fruit of the direct action is that
many people deepen their commitment to the overall work of closing the
SOA and return to their communities to organize.

In addition, it was amazing to see the community of support that grew
in Columbus this year. On the eve of the trial we had a festival of hope
to celebrate the defendant's action and our growing community that is
working to close the SOA. Over 200 people from all around the country attended
the festival of hope. This included 30 people who came to Columbus to do
trial support work. An amazing support and leadership community has evolved
in recent years during our trial and trial preparation. Folks come and
cook two meals a day for up to 150 people, we have a strong legal team with
a dozen lawyers and other advocates, previous SOA defendants come to
mentor and support, experienced facilitators facilitate defendant and
supporter preparation sessions and folks pull together our media work and
logistics for the events. I am grateful for the amazing work and commitment of
all of those in the movement who made our recent time in Columbus a time
of hope and community.

Over the next few weeks our friends will be notified to report to
prison. As they bring the Vigil into federal prisons around the country, we
need you to bring the Vigil into the halls of Congress. Please plan to join
us April 23-25 during this important time as our community gathers in
Washington, DC.

With Hope and Gratitude,
Eric

Eric LeCompte
SOA Watch Events and Outreach Coordinator
phone: (202)234-3440
fax: (202)636-4505
elecompte@soaw.org

For prison addresses and biographical information, visit www.SOAW.org.