Demo against war funding/Michael Walli gets six-month sentence

 On Wed., June 16, Progressive Democrats of America will be joined by CODEPINK and others in holding brownbag vigils outside (or inside) offices of members of the House of Representatives.  Brownbaggers are demanding commitments to vote against more money for war. Slogans on their posters include: "Healthcare not Warfare," "Corporations out of Politics," "Bailout Main Street not Wall Street," and "Brownbaggers not Teabaggers".  Go to http://tinyurl.com/brownbagvigil.

 

  The Pledge of Resistance will gather outside Rep. Elijah Cummings’ office, 1010 Park Ave., Suite 105, Baltimore, MD 21201, on June 16 at noon.  At 12:30 PM, we will go inside and bring a message of Healthcare Not Warfare and continue to urge the representative to co-sponsor H.R. 5015 calling for an exit strategy from Afghanistan.  

 

SOA Watch <info@soaw.org>

 

June 14, 2010 for immediate release

 

Human rights advocate sentenced to six months in federal prison for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas

 

Washington, DC CWer Michael Walli was one of four human rights advocates who were arrested during the annual November Vigil to close the School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/ WHINSEC). Michael Walli was sentenced on Monday, June 14, 2010 to six months in federal prison.

 

During his November arraignment, Michael told judge Malon Faircloth that he would not pay any bail and that he would not voluntarily return for the trial. Michael Walli made good on his promise and Faircloth issued a warrant for Michael's arrest. Federal marshals arrested Michael in March 2010 at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, DC.

 

Ken Hayes, Father Louis Vitale and Nancy Gwin, the three human rights advocates who were arrested together with Michael Walli, were each sentenced in January 2010 to six months in prison as well - the maximum allowed for the charge of tresspass. The extremely harsh sentences are intended to deter others from following the example of the 'SOAW 4.'

 

"Those who speak out for justice are facing prison time while SOA-trained torturers and assassins are operating with impunity," said SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois.

 

The SOA/WHINSEC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. Its graduates are consistently involved in human rights atrocities and coups, including the El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador and last year's military coup in Honduras. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated the use of torture, extortion and execution.

 

SOA Watch works to stand in solidarity with people of Latin America, to change oppressive US foreign policy, and to close the SOA/WHINSEC. In November 2010, thousands will return to the gates of Fort Benning to call for justice and accountability http://soaw.org/take-action/november-vigil

 

Send a message of solidarity to the prisoners:

www.SOAW.org/about-us/pocs/150-articles/3421-write-to-the-soa-watch-prisoners-of-conscience

 

Make plans to join the November Vigil at the gates of Fort Benning:

oaw.org/take-action/november-vigil

 

School of the Americas Watch, www.SOAW.org

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs