OZ Anti-War Activist O'Reilly on Trial inIreland *Begins July 5 : Melbourne Indymedia

A Brisbane peace activist & four co-defendants from the pacifist Catholic
Worker movement return to Dublin's Four Courts this Wednesday July 5th
for their third trial in 16 months. Long time Brisbane peace activist Ciaron
O'Reilly along with Deirdre Clancy, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran and Nuin Dunlop face a charge of $US2.5million 'criminal damage without a lawful
excuse' charges arising out of their non-violent disabling of a US Navy plane in the early hours of February 3rd 2003 at Shannon airport, six
weeks
before the outbreak of the Iraq war. The maximum sentence they face, if
convicted, is 10 years imprisonment.

The five accused testified in their previous trials last year that they
were
inspired by the biblical mandate in Isaiah 'to beat swords into
ploughshares', a prophecy that has inspired numerous citizens
internationally, lay and religious, to disarm military and nuclear arms
equipment engaged in illegal and immoral activity. Their first trial
collapsed in March '05 at Dublin Circuit Criminal court before Judge
Frank
O'Donnell after the defence counsel successfully argued that the his
role
was tainted with a 'perception of bias'.

A retrial was ordered for October '05 where once again the trial
collapsed,
this time after two weeks of prosecution and defence testimony. Judge
Donagh
McDonagh had little choice but to agree with senior barristers for the
accused that his presence at the 2001 presidential inauguration of
George
Bush was sufficient grounds for the public to perceive the defendants
could
not receive an impartial judicial process.

During the October '05 trial the jury heard expert testimony for the
defence
from former US army staff seargent and Iraq war veteran Jimmy Massey
(http://www.ivaw.net) , former UN Asst. Secretary General Denis Halliday,
twice
Nobel peace prize nominee Kathy Kelly (http://www.vitw.org) and finally
British
military logistics expert Geoff Oxley OBE. Over a hundred international
and
national anti-war activists converged on Dublin for the two previous
trials
where they participated in public witness events and meetings against
the
Iraq war and the U.S. military use of Shannon.

O'Reilly and his co-defendants have attracted support from Irish
M.P.'s,
Bishop Desmond Tutu, Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen, Joan Baez and
most
recently Cannes winning Director Ken Loach. A series of events are
again
being organised around the country and internationally to coincide with
the
upcoming trial. In Brisbane friends and family of O'Reilly will gather
at 4
pm outside St Mary's Church and will lead a procession to the old Court
house in the city to hold a solidarity vigil.

Meanwhile in Ireland, the five defendants will gather with their
supporters
each morning of the trial at 9am at the Spire on Dublin's O'Connell st.
and
hold a silent peace walk to the Four Courts in memory of all the Iraq
war
dead. The trial is scheduled to last about two weeks.

O'Reilly spent 13 months in U.S. prisons for disabling a B 52 Bomber
at
Griffis Air Force Base on New Years Day 1991. He is presently featured
in
the "Taking it to the Streets" exhibition at Brisbane's City Hall and
was a
recent guest on Andrew Denton's "Enough Rope" where he discussed the
anti-war action at Shannon and his forthcoming trial.

For interviews with Ciaron O'Reilly Ph. 00 353 87 918 4552
For information about the Brisbane solidarity vigil contact Sean
O'Reilly
Ph. 0408 067 945

More info. re. events/background on the trial http://www.peaceontrial.com