The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 defendants received word Friday evening that Magistrate Cheesbro of the Southern District Court of Georgia, recommended that their motions to dismiss the charges including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act argument be denied.  The seven defendants, all Catholics, had testified with expert witnesses during their November 2018 evidentiary hearings and waited fourteen weeks for the final decision.  There is still no trial date set. Their statement follows.

APRIL 4, 2019 — On the first anniversary of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (KBP7) anti-nuclear protest, supporters have launched a global petition calling for the charges against the seven activists to be dismissed and for a renewal of the anti-nuclear weapons movement. Distinguished signers of the petition include Archbishop Desmond Tutu and several other Nobel peace laureates.

The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 released the following statement on Monday: “On Friday, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the landmark Intermediate Range Nuclear Missile Treaty (INF). ‘There is a real and present danger that this action will provoke a renewed nuclear arms race and brings us closer to nuclear war,’ says Martha Hennessy, granddaughter of Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day and co-defendant of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7.”