Peace activists face 10 years prison

national | anti-war / imperialism | press release Tuesday July 04, 2006 14:47 by Admin - Support

Five peace activists from the pacifist Catholic Worker movement (www.catholicworker.org) return to Dublin's Four Courts this Wednesday July 5th for their third trial in 16 months.

The five defendants - Ciaron O'Reilly, Deirdre Clancy, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran and Nuin Dunlop face two charges of 'criminal damage without a lawful excuse' arising out of their non-violent disabling of a US Navy plane in the early hours of February 3rd 2003 at Shannon airport, six weeks before the outbreak of the Iraq war. The maximum sentence they face, if convicted, is 10 years imprisonment.

Pit Stop Ploughshares outside the Four Courts with Kathy Kelly and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

The five accused testified in their previous trials last year that they were inspired by the biblical mandate in Isaiah 'to beat swords into ploughshares', a prophecy that has inspired numerous citizens internationally, lay and religious, to disarm military and nuclear arms equipment engaged in illegal and immoral activity. Their first trial collapsed in March '05 at Dublin Circuit Criminal court before Judge Frank O'Donnell after the defence counsel successfully argued that the his role was tainted with a 'perception of bias'.

A retrial was ordered for October '05 where once again the trial collapsed, this time after two weeks of prosecution and defence testimony. Judge Donagh McDonagh had little choice but to agree with senior barristers for the accused that his presence at the 2001 presidential inauguration of George Bush was sufficient grounds for the public to perceive the defendants could not receive an impartial judicial process.

During the October '05 trial the jury heard expert testimony for the defence from former US army staff seargent and Iraq war veteran Jimmy Massey, former UN Asst. Secretary General Denis Halliday, twice Nobel peace prize nominee Kathy Kelly and finally British military logisitics expert Geoff Oxley OBE. Over a hundred international and national anti-war activists converged on Dublin for the two previous trials where they participated in public witness events and meetings against the Iraq war and the U.S. military use of Shannon.

A series of events are again being organised around the country and internationally to coincide with the upcoming trial. On the first evening of the trial New Yorker and former War Resisters League organiser Carmen Trotta will be the guest speaker at a public meeting entitled 'Iraq, Guantanomo and Ireland', due to be held Wednesday July 5th at 7.30pm in the Teachers Club at Parnell Square in Dublin city centre. Trotta recently participated in a 100 km peace walk towards Guantanomo, Cuba with the 'Witness Torture' campaign (www.witnesstorture.org).

In addition to this, former U.S. army staff seargent and Iraq war veteran Jimmy Massey will speak at a public meeting in Dublin's ATGWU hall on Middle Abbey st. on Thursday July 13th at 7pm. Massey is a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against War (www.ivaw.net) and participated in the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Last October he testified in the Circuit Criminal court during the Catholic Worker's second trial that his unit killed up to 30 innocent civilians in Iraq. He will be joined by Kathy Kelly, co-ordinator of the Chicago-based 'Voices in the Wilderness' campaign (www.vitw.org). Furthermore, Massey and Kelly will speak at public meetings in Cork on July 14th, Galway July 15th and Belfast on July 16th - details of which can be found at www.peaceontrial.com .

The youngest member of the group, Damien Moran, who turns 26 on July 12th said: 'Throughout the past 3 1/2 years we have endured two failed attempts by the Irish judiciary and government to offer us a fair trial. As we face our third appearance before a Dublin jury, we are confident that their role as the conscience of Ireland will vindicate the act of life and property-affirming non-violence we engaged in at Shannon Airport in February 2003. Our simple disarmament action in stopping one US Navy logistics plane was to help prevent the carnage which the US military have since unleashed with their immoral pillaging and destruction of Iraqi lives and life-sustaining systems. But we also feel a sense of great loss and sympathy for the many U.S. soldiers our government and society helped ferry to their deaths and grave injury in our provision of a key element in support of this brutal war effort. We are all responsible for Ireland's sorrowful role in this tragic misadventure - it is now time we reasserted our traditional reputation as peacemaker in the eyes of the world by non-violently ousting the U.S. military out of Shannon once and for all.'

Since their initial arrest and detention in Limerick prison, Moran and his four co-defendants have received a presidential pardon from U.S. actor and Irish citizen Martin Sheen of 'West-Wing' fame, a supportive blessing from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, songs dedicated by Joan Baez and Kris Kristofferson, and most recently a call of solidarity from Cannes Palme D'Or winning director Ken Loach.

They will gather with their supporters each morning of the trial from 8.30am at the Spire on Dublin's O'Connell st. and hold a silent peace walk to the Four Courts in memory of all the Iraqi war dead. The trial is scheduled to last about two weeks.

For more info/interviews etc. please contact Ciaron O'Reilly 087 9184552

More info. re. events/background www.peaceontrial.com