Role of FBI informant in eco-terrorism case probed after documents hint at entrapment
Source: The Guardian
Role of FBI informant in eco-terrorism case probed after documents hint at entrapment
In the case of Eric McDavid, alleged to be ring-leader of eco-
terrorist cell, game-changing documents seen exclusively by the
Guardian show informant may have entrapped him
Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 13 January 2015 20.01 GMT
On the surface, she blended in very well. With a skull tattooed on her shoulder, a black-and-white keffiyeh around her neck, a shock of bright pink hair and her standard-issue dress of camouflage skirt and heavy boots, the energetic 17-year-old looked every bit the radical eco-activist she worked so hard to imitate.
But Anna, as she called herself, was no ordinary eco-protester. Really, she wasnt one at all. She was an FBI informant under instructions to infiltrate fringe green groups and anti-capitalist networks and report back on their activities to the US government.
Now Anna, in her role at the center of a high-profile prosecution of alleged eco-terrorists in 2006-7, has been put under the spotlight following the embarrassing admission by the US Department of Justice that it failed to disclose crucial documents to defence attorneys at trial.
On Thursday, Eric McDavid, a radical green activist aged 37, was allowed to walk free after having served nine years of a 19-year federal prison sentence. Prosecutors had alleged that he was the ringleader in a small cell of eco-terrorists connected to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) conspiring to bomb the Nimbus Dam in California, cellphone towers, science labs and other targets.
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