UPDATE: New charge given to humanitarian border activists
by jessica
Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 at 3:31 PM
Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, humanitarian volunteers with the organization No More Deaths, were arraigned in federal court August 11. A new charge, "conspiracy to transport" was added, which holds a maximum 10-year prison term. NMD seeks more volunteers to go on patrols in Southern Arizona to help save lives in the desert.
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No More Deaths has a few updates about the prosecutions of Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz. Yesterday, August 11th, Daniel and Shanti were arraigned at the federal courthouse. They both plead not guilty and a trial date was set for early October, although in all likelihood it will not occur until November or December. About 50 members of the community came to show their support.
A new Charge of "Conspiracy to transport" was added to the previous charge. This Charge brings an additional 10-year maximum sentence for Daniel and Shanti (on top of the max. 5 years for the charge of transporting). The conspiracy charge mentions other "named and unnamed co-conspirators," but we don't know what the significance of this is yet.
The NMD training manual is going to be used as evidence in the case against Shanti and Daniel, which cites names and phone numbers of medical and legal people, as well as others involved with NMD.
The US attorney is trying to get NMD attorney Bill Walker thrown off of the case because he is a material witness, thus conflict of interest, they claim.
To read more about Shanti and Daniel:
go to http://www.arizona.indymedia.org. It is the third featured story down.
We will need the support of the entire No More Deaths Community throughout this legal process. You can support us in various ways:
1) Flood the desert August 13th and 14th, 6:00am at Southside Church;
2) Show up to hearings and press conferences;
3) Write letter of outrage to members of congress (Especially McCain, Kyle and kolbe) and the US Attorney for the district of Arizona, Paul K. Charlton.
We will continue to keep everyone informed as new information becomes available. Thanks for all of the support that you have shown so far.
In peace and justice,
NMD
No More Deaths ~ No Más Muertes
e-mail: action@nomoredeaths.org
website: http://www.nomoredeaths.org, http://www.nomasmuertes.org
Risking Lives in Southern Arizona
by jessica
Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 at 3:31 PM
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No ones knows how many individuals risk their lives crossing into the United States every year in search of a better life. Now, the federal government is going after American humanitarians who want to decrease the amount of deaths in the desert.
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