Press Release: Russell Brown Trial July 30, 31
Buffalo Man Faces Jury Trial 7/30-31/14 for Drone-Protest Street Theater
Buffalonian Russell Brown faces a jury trial on July 30 and 31 in DeWitt Town Court, on the outskirts of Syracuse, due to charges stemming from his arrest during a nonviolent protest at Hancock Air National Guard Base on April 28, 2013. He is charged with Obstruction of Governmental Administration (OGA), a misdemeanor carrying up to a year incarceration and up to $1000 fine, as well as Disorderly Conduct, a violation. Hancock is one of the three primary drone centers in the U.S.
Mr. Brown will represent himself at the trial. He also has an Order of Protection (OOP) placed on him by the presiding Judge David S. Gideon, on behalf of Colonel Greg Semmel, the commanding officer at Hancock Base. The OOPs have been put on all nonviolent civil resistors arrested in DeWitt since October 2012 (over 50), despite testimony by a protected military man that the citizens are not violent and he is not afraid of them.
Jack Gilroy of Binghamton, NY was convicted of OGA and trespass from the same event after a jury trial on July 14/15 in the same venue. He will be sentenced on October 1st , a year and a half after his arrest. Jack’s OOP was also reissued as a 2 year Permanent Order. Mary Anne Grady Flores was sentenced to one year in prison earlier this month for violating her OOP.
Russell Brown is the President of Veterans for Peace Chapter #128 in Buffalo and Chair of the Resist Militarism! Taskforce. He is a Board Member of the WNY Peace Center. He considers that his presence in Vietnam, like all soldiers there, terrorized the Vietnamese population in the same way that the drones, flying 24-7, terrorize people overseas now.
Hancock Air National Guard Base, home of the 174th Attack Wing, is a domestic hub for drone assassinations, support and operation, particularly in Afghanistan. The Niagara Falls Air Base is also embarking on a mission to operate weaponized drones.
Buffalonian Bonny Mahoney also faces charges from the same event and will go on trial in January, 2015. The Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars, supported by local organizations such as the WNY Peace Center, works nonviolently to stop the scourge of assassination and community terror perpetrated by weaponized drones.
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