The Uptake | Minnesota Peace Activists Get Temporary Reprieve

By Bill Sorem

The FBI wants peace activists whose homes it raided to appear before a grand jury in Chicago, but apparently only after they submit to questioning by FBI agents.

For the second time, government lawyers have told three Minnesota peace activists not to appear before the grand jury, despite getting subpoenas ordering them to do so. The three Minnesotans were scheduled to appear in Chicago tomorrow. Instead the grand jury will question nine other people including a group of Palestinians. It is still not clear what the government is after.

On Tuesday, peace groups are protesting the grand jury inquisitions in cities across the U.S.

This past Thursday, two of the Minnesota peace activists targeted in the September 24th FBI raids and a local attorney involved with civil rights cases met with a group of supporters to update them on latest developments and to raise defense funds. Great grandmother Sarah Martin, an original target who has received a second subpoena and was told to appear before the Chicago Grand Jury on January 25, has been informed that she doesn’t have to appear before the grand jury, yet, but that the Chicago attorneys and FBI want to interview her. She has declined the offer.

Katrina Plotz received one of the original subpoenas, but she has not had further notice. Sarah and Katrina attempted to visit Palestine in 2009, a trip that was sabotaged by an FBI informant who had infiltrated local peace movements. Attorney Jordan Kushner reviewed some of the legal basis for this action and some of the history of the so-called Anti-Terrorist statutes.

© 2011 The Uptake