Kings Bay Plowshares 7 Urge Dismissal Of Charges U.S. District Court

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 31, 2019 CONTACTS:  Mary Anne Grady Flores, Ithaca, NY, 607-280-8797, gradyflores08@gmail.com  Bill Ofenloch, NYC, 212-369-1590, billcpf@aol.com Kings Bay Plowshares to Urge Dismissal of Charges in U.S. District Court August 7 BRUNSWICK, GA – The seven members of the Kings Bay Plowshares will make their oral arguments in federal district court next week. On August 7 the anti-nuclear activists will go before U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Wood at 10 a.m. As many as 100 supporters of the activists are expected to travel from throughout the country to attend the hearing, which could last more than one day. A number of the activists' supporters are planning to fast from August 6 through 9, the 74th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. They have planned vigils and other events in Brunswick and at the gate of Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary's, GA in support of the seven activists and their plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons. More information on the activities throughout the week will be available at www.kingsbayplowshares7.org. This hearing will mark the first time the seven will be together in court since last November. The primary focus of their oral argument will be to explicate their objections to the 80-page report released in April from Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheesbro. He had recommended the denial of defense motions to dismiss the charges based on the evidence presented concerning the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Defendants have responded with written objections, and Judge Wood will hear from the defense and the government regarding the objections. Cheesbro's report, although a denial, concluded that the seven KBP defendants did perform "prophetic" and "sacramental" acts of "symbolic denuclearization" on April 4, 2018 as an extension of their "sincerely held religious beliefs." In the meantime, the Plowshares defendants also plan to file motions asking Judge Wood to reconsider pretrial release without conditions for Fr. Steve Kelly, Mark Colville and Elizabeth McAlister, and for the removal of ankle monitors and pretrial curfews for the remaining defendants. A Kings Bay Plowshares 7 global petition calling for the dismissal of charges is being circulated and has been signed by thousands along with over 100 world-renowned leaders including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Beatrice Fihn, Mairead McGuire, and other Nobel laureates, Martin Sheen, Angela Davis, Phyllis Bennis, Rev. Dr. William Barber, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Noam Chomsky, Dan Ellsberg, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, and Huwaida Arraf. The list of prominent signers available at: https://www.kingsbayplowshares7.org/global-petition. For a copy of the decision and copies of the defendants' statements to the court and their legal motions please go to: https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/about/rfra-evidentiary-hearing/ SPECIAL EVENT AUGUST 11: Four of the Plowshares activists will make a rare public appearance together in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, August 11 at 5 p.m. at Busboys and Poets Cafe, 14th & V sts., in D.C.. The event will be broadcast live on the Kings Bay Plowshares' Facebook page. CODE PINK, Busboys & Poets Cafe, and Pax Christi - Pentagon Area are co-sponsors of the event. ### EMAIL: Media: kbp7media@gmail.com           General: kingsbayplowshares@gmail.com WEBSITE: www.kingsbayplowshares7.org FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Kingsbayplowshares TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/kingsbayplow7 INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/kingsbayplowshares7