Vieques News

[Leticia_g]

Friday, Jun 1, 2001, 2:33 pm EST

Court Denies Bail for "Vieques Quartet"
Agencia Efe S.a.

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A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a bail request from the Rev. Al Sharpton and three New York Hispanic political leaders jailed for acts of civil disobedience aimed at disrupting U.S. Navy exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
The members of the so-called "Vieques Quartet" - Sharpton, New York state Assemblyman Jose Rivera, New York City Councilman Adolfo Carrion and Bronx County Democratic Party Chairman Roberto Ramirez - are currently in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn serving sentences handed down by a federal court in Puerto Rico.

Lawyers for the four men asked a U.S. Appeals Court in Boston, which has jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, to release them on bail while they appealed the sentences, but the motion was denied.

But the appeals court did agree to expedite the four men`s appeals of their sentences, scheduling a hearing for next Tuesday.

Sharpton and the Hispanic political leaders were arrested May 1 after trespassing on the U.S. Navy firing range on Vieques and were sentenced nine days ago by federal Judge Jose Fuste. While the three politicians from New York were sentenced to 40 days each, the veteran civil rights activist received a 90-day sentence based on his previous arrests for civil disobedience.I The decision sparked protests in New York and the four men have declared a hunger strike, saying their jail terms will not deflect them from their goal of compelling the Navy to abandon Vieques, where it has been conducting training exercises for some 60 years.

Opposition to the maneuvers increased dramatically after an April 1999 mishap in which a civilian security guard was killed by an errant shell during live-fire exercises.