Protesters sentenced to federal prison for civil disobedience

Eleven human rights activists, ranging in age from 25 to 78, appeared before US Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth in a Columbus, GA federal courthouse on Jan. 28. The eleven were charged with trespass after peacefully walking onto the Fort Benning military base on Nov. 18 in protest of a controversial US Army training school for Latin Americans with a legacy of human rights abuses. Ed Lewinson, a 78-year old Professor Emeritus of History at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, was sentenced to 90 days in prison and a $500 fine. Ed had trespassed onto the base in previous years but the state had refused to prosecute due to his blindness. Lewinson, together with the ten other defendants, were among the tens of thousands who gathered on Nov. 16-18 outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, GA, to demand the closure of the controversial US Army's School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC). The group peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning, site of the school, at the culmination of a symbolic funeral procession in memory of those killed by graduates of the institution. "I crossed onto the base because of what graduates of the SOA/WHINSEC have done to the people of their own countries and I wanted to contribute something towards stopping this," said Lewinson in regards to his act of nonviolent civil disobedience. "Only by pointing out the results of violence can we stop violence," he added. The defendants and sentences are: Joan Anderson, 65, Casper, WY - 30 days and a $500 fine Ozone Bhaguan, 33, Duluth, MN - 90 days and no fine Lee Anne Clausen, 29, Chicago, IL - 30 days and no fine Art Landis, 74, Perkasie, PA - 30 days and no fine Ed Lewinson, 78, Newark NJ - 90 days and a $500 fine Chris Lieberman, 54, Albuquerque, NM - 60 days and no fine Diane Lopez Hughes, 58, Springfield, IL - 45 days and a $500 fine Tiel Rainelli, 25, Canton, OH.–90 days and a $500 fine Gus Roddy, 45, Chicago, IL–30 days and a $500 fine Stephen Schweitzer, 45, Binghamtom, NY–60 days and a $500 fine Michelle Yipé, 45, of Argonia, KS - 30 days and a $500 fine The SOA/WHINSEC, a military training facility for Latin American security personnel located at Fort Benning, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. In spite of an aggressive international PR campaign and lobbying efforts on behalf of WHINSEC, support for the institute continues to erode. In 2007, Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Oscar Arias of Costa Rica announced that they would cease to send military and police to the school, becoming the 4th and 5th countries after Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela to commit to a withdrawal from the US Army training facility. Since protests against the SOA/WHINSEC began 18 years ago, 226 people have served prisons sentences of up to two years for nonviolent civil disobedience.