Seventeen people, three of whom are British Citizens, known as the 'Star Wars 17' were formally charged at a court hearing in the United States on Monday 13th August. Outside the US Embassy in London on the same day, seventeen people dressed in US prison clothing and handcuffed together, confronted the US authorities holding a "Stop Star Wars not Peaceful Protest" banner.
The 'Star Wars 17' face charges that carry sentences of up to six years in prison, following a peaceful Greenpeace protest which delayed a test of President Bush's Star Wars missile system in July(1).
The court hearing, at the Judge Roybal Federal Court Building, in Los Angeles on Monday 13 August started at 4.30 pm UK time or 08:30 am local time. The court hearing is called an 'arraignment hearing' and it is expected to set a trial date.
Greenpeace maintains that the charges are disproportionately harsh for a peaceful protest against the Star Wars test (2).
Greenpeace volunteers swam, used diving equipment and inflatable boats to enter an exclusion zone at the base and the launch was delayed for 40 minutes. Two of the seventeen people arrested are freelance journalists.
Notes to editors:
Biographies and photographs of the "Star Wars 17" will be available on request. Fifteen of the accused are Greenpeace volunteers from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Australia and India. The other two accused are journalists from Britain and Spain. The three British Citizens are two Greenpeace volunteers, Bill Nandris of London and John Wills of Guernsey and the British photographer Steve Morgan, from Frome, Somerset.
1) On 14th July this year at California's Vandenburg military base an interceptor missile was being prepared for launch in a test of the proposed anti-ballistic missile system.
2) The "Star Wars 17" face two charges. Conspiracy to violate a safety zone is a class D felony charge and carries a maximum six year jail term and $250,000 fine. Conspiracy to violate a direct order is a class A misdemeanour and carries a maximum 1 year jail term and $5,000 fine.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
