Animal Rights Activists Face Trial under Terror Law

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/060505Y.shtml

 

Animal Rights Activists Face Trial under Terror Law

Reuters

 

Saturday 04 June 2005

 

Phildelphia - New Jersey is using an anti-terrorism law for the

first time to try six animal rights activists charged with harassing

and vandalizing a company that made use of animals to test its drugs.

 

Prosecutors say the activists, who will stand trial next week,

used threats, intimidation and cyber attacks against employees of

Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British company with operations in East

Millstone, New Jersey, with the intention of driving it out of business.

 

The six, members of a group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

(SHAC), are charged under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act,

amended in 2002 to include " animal enterprise terrorism, " which

outlaws disrupting firms like Huntingdon.

 

If convicted, the group and its accused members face a maximum

$250,000 fine and three years in prison.

 

SHAC argued that the charges are a violation of free-speech rights

and it is the victim of a government crackdown on dissent. " This is a

frightening step in the Bush administration's path to war on domestic

dissidence, " the group said on its Web site.

 

The defendants are also charged with interstate stalking, which

carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and $250,000 fine,

and with conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking, carrying the

same penalty.

 

The list of potential defense witnesses includes actress Kim

Basinger, who joined a protest outside a Huntingdon laboratory in

Franklin, New Jersey to try to stop such companies using animals to

test their pharmaceutical products.

 

The group also targeted other companies that did business with

Huntingdon. Those firms were swamped with telephone calls and e-mail

blitzes intended to clog their computer systems, the indictment said.

 

Other alleged incidents include overturning a Huntingdon

employee's car in the driveway of his New Jersey home and the

destruction of putting greens at the Meadowbrook Golf Club in Long

Island, New York, where some Huntingdon employees held memberships.

 

Those charged are Kevin Kjonaas, 27, president of SHAC; Lauren

Gazzola, 26, the group's campaign coordinator; Jacob Conroy, 29;

Joshua Harper, 30; Darius Fullmer, 28; and Andrew Stepanian, 26. They

all deny the charges.

 

Opening arguments before Judge Mary Cooper of U.S. District Court

in Trenton, New Jersey, are expected early next week. Jury selection

began on Wednesday.

 

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