Sentence for Sacto Mother Protesting the School of the Americas
For Civil Disobedience at Fort Benning, GA to
Close the School of the Americas (SOA/WHISC)
Columbus, GA - Leisa Ann Faulkner-Barnes, a Sacramento mother of 5, was sentenced to federal prison for three months early Monday (2004-01-26) here for protesting an infamous U.S. military school that trains officers to torture and execute prisoners.
Ms. Faulkner-Barnes was one of five defendants who plead guilty to federal trespass charges Monday and received sentences ranging from 12 months probation to six months in prison, with fines of up to $1,500. Judge G Mallon Faircloth of the U.S. District Court in Columbus presided over the trial. Faulkner-Barnes was sentenced to three months and a $500 fine.
Twenty-eight human rights activists - including Ms. Faulkner-Barnes and fellow Sacramentan Elizabeth Bradley - will face federal charges for civil disobedience this week in Columbus, Georgia. They are among 10,000 who gathered in November to call for a closure of the SOA, renamed in 2001 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The defendants peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning property, site of the school. Ms. Bradley is still awaiting sentencing.
"With your pen and with your word you too can be heard for truth, peace, and justice, you too can walk with us", said Ms. Faulkner-Barnes in her testimony to Judge Faircloth Monday.
"After learning that over 600 officers trained on this site have been officially cited for ordering thousands to suffer unspeakable atrocities I feel compelled to try. After realizing that over 10,000 troops in Columbia alone have been trained at this site, I feel compelled. I have three of my five sons here today. I want them to see my commitment to serve humanity," she added in statements to the court Monday.
Ms. Faulkner-Barnes joins the list of over 170 people who have served over 70 years in prison, and approximately 17 people that have served over 22 years of probation for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the SOA/WHISC.
The SOA/WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. It graduates are consistently involved in human rights atrocities and coups, including the El Mozote Massacre of over 900 civilians and the failed coup of 2002 in Venezuela.
Amnesty International has charged that the Pentagon finally admitted in 1996 that seven training manuals used at the School of the Americas advocated execution, torture and blackmail. Graduates of the School of Americas have been implicated in many of the worst human rights atrocities in the Western Hemisphere, including the assassination of bishops, labor leaders, women and children, priests, nuns, community workers, and in the massacres of entire communities, according to Amnesty Int'l. Congress has repeatedly tried to close the school, but has failed.
SOA Watch, founded in 1990, is a national, grassroots, faith and conscience-based group committed to nonviolence. We have offices in Columbus, GA, Washington D.C. and chapters in communities and on campuses around the country. Our goal is to expose and close SOA/WHISC.
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.