Prison Terms For Protesters

Twenty-four peace activists, including an 88-year-old nun, were sentenced to prison for trespassing at a Georgia training school for Latin American soldiers that critics link to human rights abuses, a spokesman said Thursday.

Twenty defendants, who ranged in age from 19 to 88, were ordered to serve six months in prison, the maximum prison sentence allowed on a single trespass charge.

Among those receiving six-month terms from U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Mallon Faircloth Wednesday were two Franciscan nuns, Sisters Dorothy and Gwendolyn Hennessey of Dubuque, Iowa, 88 and 68, respectively.

Another defendant was sentenced to 12 months in prison, on two charges; two defendants were given three months in prison; and one was sentenced to 30 days, said Eric LeCompte, outreach director for the Washington-based School of Americas Watch group, which organizes annual protests against the school.

Two additional defendants were given probation. Fines ranged from $150 to $3,000.

The case stemmed from demonstrations in November at the former U.S. Army School of the Americas, located at the Fort Benning military base in Columbus, Ga., about 107 miles southwest of Atlanta. The 26 defendants were among 3,400 protesters who marched into the military post Nov. 19.

The school, which reopened in January as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation with a new curriculum, has long been a target of critics who say its graduates have committed human rights abuses.

The protesters say graduates of the school have been linked to murder, torture and other human rights abuses.

Its alumni include former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, now serving a prison term in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, and Salvadoran death squad organizer Roberto D'Aubuisson.

The November demonstration was held to commemorate the 1989 deaths in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests. The School of Americas Watch said 19 Salvadoran officers involved in their murders were trained at the facility.

Defenders of the school, which trains soldiers and civilians from 22 Latin American countries and the United States, maintain it has helped spread democratic values and should not be held responsible for unlawful acts of a few graduates.

Before the protest, the 26 defendants were notified that because they participated in previous intrusions, they would be prosecuted if arrested.

One of the defendants pleaded guilty Monday; the judge found the rest guilty Wednesday. They had been charged with criminal trespassing.

Faircloth said the defendants violated a law aimed at preserving good morale, order and discipline on military bases. The law prohibits political gatherings on military property.

"We are a government of the people," he said. "The majority in Congress enacted the law you are accused of breaking … You re-entered those premises in violation of the law. Therefore, it is my duty to impose sentences."

Faircloth initially sentence88-year-old Dorothy Hennessey to six months probation. She said she didn't want any special treatment because of her age, then the judge changed her sentence to six months in prison. He imposed a similar sentence on her sister, Gwen Hennessey, a 68-year-old nun.

Roy Bourgeois, founder of the group that has sponsored School of the Americas demonstrations since 1990, said the sentences were unfair.

"This genteel Southern judge smiles and then comes the dagger," Bourgeois said. "It baffles me how he can sleep at night when an 88-year-old nun is going to prison … when assassins and soldiers who have tortured and raped get pardons. A grave injustice has been done."

Officials say the demonstrations cost the Army about $50,000 for security, cleanup and processing demonstrators who are arrested.

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