3 Nuns Facing 30 years for disarmament action

Saturday April 05, 2003 20:55

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker

The trial of 3 Dominican nuns imprisoned since their October plowshares action at an ICBM missilile silo in Colorado Springs Air Force Base, USA - has begun.

Nuns attack US weapons of mass destruction

April 04 2003 at 03:29AM

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=22&art_id=qw1049415300246B265&set_id=1

By Keith Coffman

Denver - A Catholic nun told a United States court on Thursday she was obeying
President George Bush's call to dismantle weapons of mass destruction when she
and two other sisters trespassed at an unmanned missile silo in northern
Colorado.

Sister Carolyn Gilbert and two other Dominican sisters, Jackie Hudson and
Ardeth Platte, are charged with sabotage and malicious destruction of property
relating to an October 6 break-in at the Minuteman 3 silo near Greeley,
Colorado.

Gilbert and Platte are peace activists in Baltimore, Maryland, and Hudson does
similar work in Bremerton, Washington.

Since the trial opened on Monday, peace activists have packed the federal
courtroom in Denver to support the nuns.

The three have said they cut cables and made the sign of the cross on the lid
of the silo with their own blood before they were arrested by military police.

Platte told the court in an opening statement on Tuesday they wanted to protect
the children of Iraq with a "symbolic disarmament".

"Our president has asked that weapons of mass destruction be destroyed,"
Gilbert told the court on Thursday.

"I had a duty, a responsibility and privilege to try and stop a crime, not only
under God's law, but under US and international law," she said.

Bush, backed by Britain, launched a war against Iraq on March 19 for what he
said was President Saddam Hussein's refusal to dismantle weapons of mass
destruction.

The nuns have been in jail since October after refusing to be released on bond.

US district judge Robert Blackburn has said the women could not make use of the
Nuremberg defence, which allows a citizen to break the law in order to prevent
a crime against humanity.

If convicted, the women face up to 30 years in jail and fines of up to $250 000
(about R2-million).