The Preemptive Prosecution of the NATO 5
By: Kevin Gosztola Monday May 21, 2012 2:02 pm
Two men were charged with terrorism-related charges on May 20, bringing the number of men who have been accused of planning “terrorism” against the NATO summit up to five people. The authorities claim their cases have no connection to the first three men, who were charged with plotting terrorism on May 19. However, attorneys for the men, who are the first to be charged with terrorism under Illinois state law, consider them to be connected because there were two individual infiltrators involved – “Mo” and “Gloves,” who helped the FBI, Secret Service and Chicago police ultimately make arrests of these people.
The cases break down as follows: Brian Church, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jared Chase, 27, of Keene, New Hampshire, and Brent Betterly, 24, who lives in Massachusetts, are each accused of “possession of incendiary or explosive device, conspiracy to commit terrorism & providing material support for terrorism.” Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, who resides in Chicago, is charged with a felony offense of “falsely making a terrorist threat.” Mark Neiweem, 28, who also resides in Chicago, is charged with the “felony offense of solicitation for possession of explosives or explosive or incendiary devices.”
Each of these men have been labeled “anarchists” by the Illinois State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. They have been cast as “members of the ‘Black Bloc’ group, who traveled together from Florida to the Chicago area” and were prepared to commit “terrorist acts of violence and destruction directed against different targets in protest to the NATO summit—targets that include President Obama’s re-election campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and downtown financial institutions. Senakiewicz is characterized as an “anarchist” who was “upset with the lack of chaos in Chicago” and a member of the “Black Bloc.” (There are no specific details on Neiweem’s political views in the State’s Attorney’s proffer.)
Betterly, Chase and Church were each arrested in a raid on an apartment in Bridgeport, Chicago, late Wednesday night. Police broke down the door of the apartment with guns drawn. They proceeded to ransack the apartment. They turned every single bag and drawer upside down and seized property. They also destroyed a good amount of the property in the apartment by throwing it around.
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/05/21/the-preemptive-prosecution-of-the-nato-5/
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