September, 03 2010, 02:44pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jerica Arents: 262-366-3785 (cell)
Jim Haber 415-828-2506(cell)
"Creech 14" Activists on Trial in Las Vegas for Protesting Drone Warfare at Creech AFB
On Tuesday,
September 14, 2010, members of the Creech 14, along with their legal
advisors and supporters will hold a rally at Lewis and 3rd
Street, at 7:30 a.m. and then proceed to their trial which begins
at 8:30 a.m. in the Regional Justice Center at 200 Lewis Avenue.
Charged with criminal trespass for entering the Creech AFB on April
9, 2009, the activists will argue that, under international law, they
are obliged to oppose illegal U.S. usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(drones) to attack people in Afghanistan.
LAS VEGAS
On Tuesday,
September 14, 2010, members of the Creech 14, along with their legal
advisors and supporters will hold a rally at Lewis and 3rd
Street, at 7:30 a.m. and then proceed to their trial which begins
at 8:30 a.m. in the Regional Justice Center at 200 Lewis Avenue.
Charged with criminal trespass for entering the Creech AFB on April
9, 2009, the activists will argue that, under international law, they
are obliged to oppose illegal U.S. usage of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(drones) to attack people in Afghanistan. They also plan to show the
court that by entering Creech AFB they were enacting their first amendment
right to assemble peaceably for redress of grievance.
One of the first issues before
the court will be their request to include former U.S. Attorney Ramsey
Clark, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Bill Quigley
and Colonel Ann Wright, a former U.S. diplomat posted in Afghanistan
as expert witnesses. Clark will demonstrate that "usage of Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles based at Creech Air Force Base to kill 'high value
targets' constitutes extrajudicial executions and fails to afford
all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by
civilized peoples."
A panel featuring these
expert witnesses is open to the public at 7:00 p.m. on September
13, at the University of Nevada Boyd School of Law, Thomas & Mack
Moot Court Facility.
Those arrested included John
Dear, S.J.; Dennis DuVall; Renee Espeland; Judy Homanich; Kathy Kelly;
Fr. Steve Kelly; Mariah Klusmire; Brad Lyttle; Libby Pappalardo; Megan
Rice, SHCJ; Brian Terrell; Eve Tetaz; Fr. Louie Vitale; and Fr. Jerry
Zawada.
The group will assemble for
trial preparation and reflection, each morning, from September
10 - 13, outside the entrance to Creech AFB, in Indian Springs,
Nevada. The morning gatherings will begin at 6:30 to 8 a.m.
Vigils will resume from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Voices for Creative Nonviolence has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.
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