SOA PROTESTORS GO TO PRISON
On November 16, 1997, the 8th anniversary of the massacre of 6 Jesuit priests
and 2 women co-workers by U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) graduates,
601 people of conscience "crossed the line" onto Fort Benning,
Georgia, home of the SOA. Two by two, in a silent liturgical procession,
they carried petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures demanding
the closure of the SOA. In one of the largest mass arrests in years, military
police arrested all 601 participants and confiscated the petitions.
In an attempt to crush the anti-SOA campaign, 25 "repeat offenders"
were targeted. They included Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the SOA Watch,
as well as other priests, nuns, ministers, veterans, nurses, teachers and
Catholic Workers living with the poor. It is no coincidence that these are
the same professions targeted by SOA graduates in Latin America.
On November 19, 1997, three of the 25 pled "no contest" in a Federal
Magistrate Court. Each of the three, including SOA Watch co-director Carol
Richardson, was sentenced to 6 months in prison and a $3,000 fine. Six months
is the maximum penalty for this misdemeanor.
On January 20-21, 1998, following Martin Luther King Day, the remaining
22 pled "not guilty" and were tried by Federal Judge J. Robert
Elliott. A strident segregationist in the 1960s, Elliott, who is 89, issued
injunctions forbidding Dr. King's civil rights marches in his District.
Ninety percent of Elliott's civil rights decisions during the 1960s were
reversed by higher courts.
Judge Elliott sentenced each of the 22 defendants to 6 months in federal
prison and a $3,000 fine. In an attempt to weaken support for the closure
of the SOA, Elliott offered each of the defendants the opportunity to waive
their fine if they signed an agreement prohibiting them from returning to
Ft. Benning. One by one -- each declined.
The defendants, described by The Atlanta Journal and Constitution as "prophets,
priests and apostles," each made pre-sentencing statements describing
what motivated them to participate in the action.
It is outrageous that 25 U.S. citizens, who participated in a solemn memorial
procession, are being sent to prison for 6 months. Meanwhile, the SOA graduates
responsible for the massacre of thousands, including the Jesuit priests
and their coworkers, are granted amnesty and will not spend a single day
behind bars.
In the next several weeks the 25 defendants will be in Federal prisons scattered
around the country. These prisoners of conscience will speak from prison...
The Truth Cannot Be Silenced!
Spring 1998-- N.C.Xpress
-- Archives -- Electrons
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