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“Green Scare” Defendants The term “Green Scare,” alluding to the Red Scare of the 1940s and ’50s, refers to legal and extralegal actions taken by the U.S. government against environmental and animal rights activists. Like the Red Scare, the Green Scare uses new laws and new arms of the state to harshly punish a few individuals in order to repress an entire movement. In December 2005, government agents carried out a nationwide sweep of arrests, charging fourteen individuals with actions claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and/or Animal Liberation Front in the Northwestern U.S. dating back to the mid-90’s. The actions include a 1997 fire that destroyed a horse slaughterhouse in Oregon (the plant was not rebuilt), and fires that destroyed pens and chutes at Bureau of Land Management wild horse holding compounds in Oregon, Wyoming and California (horses were also freed during the actions). Despite no injury caused to any living being, a judge determined that some of the arsons constituted “terrorism” under Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Nathan Block, Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Rebecca Rubin, Justin Solondz and Joyanna Zacher entered non-cooperation plea agreements in which they accepted responsibility for their own roles in property crimes, but did not agree to provide information or testify against anyone now or in the future. Unfortunately, other individuals admitted guilt after their arrests and proceeded to provide information to the government. In attempts to receive reduced sentences, those individuals agreed to cooperate with the state in ongoing investigations against the environmental and animal rights movements. Those individuals are not listed here. Justin Solondz #98291-011 In early 2009, Justin Solondz was arrested in China on local charges, more than three years after he was indicted on arson and conspiracy charges related to actions in the U.S. claimed by the ELF/ALF. In July 2011, Justin was taken into federal custody upon his expulsion from China, after completing a prison sentence. In March 2012, Justin was sentenced to seven years in prison. Daniel McGowan (Released!) In June 2007, Daniel McGowan was sentenced to seven years in prison. Learn more about Daniel at the following websites: www.SupportDaniel.org,www.facebook.com/supportdanielmcgowan Nathan Block (Released!) Joyanna Zacher (“Sadie”) and Nathan Block (“Exile”) were released from prison in May 2012. In June 2007, Sadie and Exile were sentenced to 7 years and 8 months imprisonment each. Jonathan Paul (Released!) Jonathan Paul was sentenced to 51 months. He began his sentence in October 2007. Jonathan said as he reported to prison, “This is way bigger than us, this is for the animals and the planet, we will never suffer as much as they do.” |
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Rebecca Rubin was released from prison in April 2016. In January 2014, Rebecca was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in extra-legal actions to target animal and environmental abuses. |