Judge sentences more Fort Benning protesters

COLUMBUS - On the second day of trials, a federal magistrate sentenced 15 protesters Tuesday to federal prison terms for trespassing on Fort Benning during a demonstration against the post&#39;s training school for Latin American soldiers. <br> <br> The sentences, ranging from three months to six months, followed 12 similar prison terms handed down Monday by U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth. Thirteen others among the 40 to go on trial this week were sentenced to 12 months probation. <br> <br> Another 35 protesters will go on trial Feb. 10. <br> <br> In all, 85 protesters including a Roman Catholic priest, eight nuns and several veterans were arrested during the Nov. 17 demonstration at the Army post in west central Georgia. <br> <br> Three pleaded guilty last year to trespassing. The judge sentenced two of them to probation and the third to 90 days in jail. Two others, including a man who drove onto the post accidentally, were not prosecuted. <br> <br> Two college students accused of cutting a gate lock pleaded guilty to destruction of government property last week and are awaiting sentencing. <br> <br> Protester after protester told Faircloth Tuesday that when they trespassed onto Fort Benning as part of the demonstration, they were engaging in patriotic dissent against an institution they believe contributes to terror inflicted on Latin Americans by soldiers trained here. <br> <br> But Faircloth said the right to demonstrate, protest and express grievances ended at the Fort Benning boundary line. Crossing that line when entry is forbidden is criminal trespass, and the courts are bound to enforce that law, the judge said. <br> <br> A group known as SOA Watch holds annual demonstrations outside Fort Benning to commemorate the Nov. 16, 1989, killings of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador. Some graduates of the Army&#39;s former School of the Americas were linked to that killing. <br> <br> The school moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984. It was transferred to the Defense Department in 2000 and renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, with mandatory human rights courses. <br> <br> Protest leaders vow to continue the demonstrations until the new school closes. Military officials strongly deny that the School of the Americas or its successor are responsible for abuses.

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