FBI files recently released to Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney have revealed a new layer of civil rights abuses in the 1990 car bombing case. Police reports and photos obtained earlier from the Oakland Police had already shown that the FBI lied and falsified evidence in order to justify arresting Bari and Cherney for the bombing. The 5,000 pages of newly released FBI documents also show that, rather than investigating the bombing, the FBI used this case as an excuse to conduct a sweeping campaign of surveillance of environmentalists, both locally and nationally.
Locally, this surveillance included the FBI searching the letters-to-the-editor files of nine Northern California newspapers and confiscating letters from environmentalists. The FBI also interviewed small town police from the timber region, management personnel from the timber companies, and Wise Use Movement anti-environmental activists, asking them to submit names of and information about any and all environmentalists.
Nationally, the FBI obtained the telephone records of fourteen Earth First! activists and compiled a list of 634 out-of-state phone calls they had made. The FBI then sent this list to their field offices around the country and obtained information on each number called, including names, addresses, physical descriptions, places of employment, criminal records, and political associations.
The FBI files also show that no legitimate search for the bomber was ever conducted. The files confirm earlier revelations that the FBI knowingly lied about the location of the bomb in the car and falsified evidence about matching nails in order to justify arresting Bari and Cherney for possession of the bomb that had been used to try to kill them. The FBI also avoided investigating leads that seem to implicate timber and police in the campaign of threats and harassment that surround the bombing.
With this new evidence of expanded FBI wrongdoing, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a New York-based public interest law group working on major civil rights cases, has decided to support this case. CCR Legal Director Michael Deutsch commented, ""We consider this a critical case implicating repression against the environmental movement through the counter-intelligence operations of the FBI and the cooperation of local police, local government, and private industry."
Bari and Cherney are pursuing a lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland Police, charging them with false arrest and civil rights violations. CCR's Michael Deutsch will join lead attorney Dennis Cunningham and attorneys Bill Simpich and Bob Bloom on the Earth First!ers' legal defense team.
In addition to the lawsuit, Bari and Cherney have gained the support of Congressman Dan Hamburg, (D-Calif), in seeking a Congressional investigation of the bombing case and of the apparent resurgence of FBI COINTELPRO tactics. The House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights has begun an inquiry, and Bari has recently returned from Washington, D.C. where she met with a representative of the Subcommittee concerning the case.
On December 14, 1993, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments from attorneys for the FBI, asking that the suit be dropped against Richard Held, who was then the Chief of the FBI's San Francisco Bureau. On January 13th, in a 3-0 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court Judges upheld U.S. District Judge Eugene Lynch's earlier decision that Bari and Cherney could proceed with claims against Richard Held. The opinion by Judge Pamela Rymer said that one accusation in the suit, if true, would prove that the FBI had known Bari and Cherney were innocent. The ruling continued that if other allegations in the suit are proven, it will show that the agents intended to interfere with the activists' "rights to demonstrate and communicate their message about the environment."
This was a very significant step forward in this case, and since, on February 25th, the FBI announced they will not appeal this ruling further, all pretrial activities can continue, including discovery against the FBI and Richard Held.
Contributions are needed to assist in this suit. Checks may be made out to Redwood Summer Justice Project, and mailed to 106 W. Standley, Ukiah 95482.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1998
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