Latest news on Dan Amos and Bryan Rivera

Urgent ELP! Bulletin (31st of July 2008)

Dear friends

Following yesterdays news of animal rights activists, Dan Amos, Nat Avery and Greg Avery, all pleading guilty to "conspiracy to blackmail" (the charges related to their campaigning against Huntingdon Life Sciences), Dan has been placed in HMP Exeter.

Please send urgent letters of support to:

Dan Amos VN7818
HMP Exeter
30 New North Road
Exeter
Devon
EX4 4EX
England

Nat and Greg's prison addresses remain the same and are:

Gregg Avery (TA7450)
HMP Winchester
Romsey Road
Winchester
SO22 5DF
England

Natasha Avery (NR8987)
HMP Bronzefield
Woodthorpe Road
Ashford, Middx
TW15 3JZ

Also, don't forget their co-defendant, Heather, who is remains on remand pending her trial.

Heather Nicholson (VM4859)

HMP Bronzefield

Woodthorpe Road

Ashford, Middx

TW15 3JZ

England

Moving away from British news and turning to America, ELP has learnt that Katherine Christianson and Aaron Ellringer, who have both been accused of ELF actions, appeared in court on Tuesday the 29th of July, where they both pleaded not guilty and were released on bail. Their co-defendent Bryan Rivera aka Bryan Lefey remains imprisoned.

Please send letters of support to:

Bryan Lefey #38664-086
FDC SeaTac
Federal Detention Center
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

USA

Below is another mainstream media article about the case.

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/524587.html

Olympia man faces charges of vandalism

Olympian News Services • Published July 30, 2008

Bryan Rivera of Olympia and two others were indicted Tuesday in Madison, Wis., for allegedly attacking a federal forestry research station in northern Wisconsin in 2000.

The attack on the U.S. Forest Service facility in Rhinelander was on a long-running research project aimed at improving the health of trees and left numerous government vehicles vandalized. A recently unsealed indictment says members of the Earth Liberation Front and Earth First carried out the attack because they believed — erroneously — that scientists were performing a genetic research project on trees. Both groups, which have used arson and vandalism in protests, view that research as damaging to the environment, prosecutors said.

Rivera; Katherine Christianson of Santa Fe, N.M.; and Aaron Ellringer of Eau Claire, Wis., were charged with conspiring to damage government property and damaging government property. They face up to 15 years in prison each if convicted.

Prosecutors said Rivera, Christianson and two others used saws to cut down trees and spray paint and etching cream to vandalize Forest Service vehicles with ELF references.

Ellringer was their driver, prosecutors said.

Tom Schmidt, a Forest Service official in St. Paul, Minn., who oversees the Rhinelander station, said the effects went far beyond the $500,000 in physical damage in the indictment.

He said the attack was a blow to a research project designed to make certain species of trees grow faster and healthier to improve their efficiency as an energy source.

Rivera worked at Fish Tale Brew Pub in Olympia as a server. The manager there said Rivera was well-liked by co-workers and was a reliable worker, so they were surprised by his arrest, although they did know him as Bryan LeFey. The owner of the property where he lived also said he was a man of integrity. Guns were confiscated during the arrest, but the property owner has said they were his.

The project, which since has resumed, does not involve genetic research and instead uses traditional plant-breeding techniques, Schmidt said.

Rivera and Christianson met at an Earth First conference in Tennessee and started planning the attack.

The FBI arrested Rivera, a 31-year-old man also known as "Brian Lefey" and "Rat Dog," last week in Olympia. He is expected to be transferred to Madison to make his initial appearance in federal court next month.

Christianson, 27, and Ellringer, 35, made their initial court appearances Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker ordered their release pending trial, scheduled for Dec. 1.

Lawyers for the three did not return phone messages Tuesday.

Schmidt said the attack prompted the Forest Service to improve security at Rhinelander. He said the research there is at the forefront of helping solve the U.S. energy crisis.

"We took a blow to the belly and kept on going forward," Schmidt said. "We're just pleased that it appears justice will be served."

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Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
BM Box 2407
London
WC1N 3XX
England
www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk