A federal grand jury has expanded the charges against three anti- war protesters who allegedly broke into weapons manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Plowshares activists, including 82-year-old Sister Megan Rice, a Catholic nun, were arrested last month on the grounds of the facility where weapons grade uranium for nuclear warheads is stored.
They had been charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor, and malicious destruction of property, a felony. But on Thursday the grand jury in Knoxville added a new charge, “depredation of government property”, a felony that carries up to ten years in prison and a quarter million dollars in fines.
WBAI’s Andrea Sears spoke with Leonard Eiger, media outreach coordinator for the Disarm Now Plowshares. Eiger says the protesters entered the Y-12 facility at about 4:00 AM on July 28th.
