The four remaining Oregon occupiers say they want the same deal given to residents of Ferguson, Missouri — namely, they want their arrest warrants withdrawn.
In a video posted Tuesday, Sandy and Sean Anderson said negotiations with the FBI have run aground because the agency refuses to work with the four holdouts at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon.
“When we talk to the FBI on the phone, they tell us that they can’t drop the charges, it has to go through a process,” said Ms. Anderson in the video posted on the DefendYourBase page on YouTube.
The occupiers have said in previous videos that they want to have any charges against them dropped before agreeing to leave the refuge area.
“I also know in Ferguson, just very recently, a new judge had said that — they ordered the withdrawal of all the warrants issued before 2015,” she said. “Because they wanted to restore confidence in the courts there. So I know it’s possible. They can do it.”
She was apparently referring to an Aug. 24 decision by municipal court Judge Donald McCullin to invalidate all arrest warrants issued before Dec. 31, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. The judge also set new court dates for the defendants and offered alternatives to jail, such as payment plans or community service.
The judge did not actually drop the charges against those with outstanding warrants, but told NPR that he wanted to “alleviate the fear of people coming to court because some people fear coming to court because they fear they’re going to be arrested and also to give people a fresh start.”
The move came after a Justice Department investigation found last year that the Ferguson police and courts engaged in a “pattern and practice” of discrimination against black residents, and that 96 percent of those arrested on such warrants were black.
In Oregon, a federal grand jury issued indictments last week against 16 people involved with the armed occupation of the refuge, including the four still holed up there: the Andersons, Jeff Wayne Blanta and David Lee Fry.
The rest of those indicted have been arrested and charged with conspiracy in connection with the occupation, which began Jan. 2 as a protest against federal public-lands policy and the resentencing of two Harney County ranchers to five years’ each after a prescribed fire on their land spread to federal property.
Mr. Fry also complained in another video released Tuesday that the FBI had forced them to communicate on a flip phone with no speaker, meaning that only one person can speak with negotiators at a time, which he described as “mind games.”
The holdouts have named their encampment at the refuge “Camp Finicum,” a reference to Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who was shot and killed Jan. 26 at an FBI roadblock on Highway 395 near Burns.
Jailed occupation leader Ammon Bundy has issued messages to the four holdouts to “stand down,” but Ms. Anderson insisted in her latest video that he was referring to the FBI and not the occupiers.
Mr. Bundy also released a message Sunday through his attorneys asking elected representatives in eight states to stand up for the rights of those arrested to engage in civil disobedience.
“This is a call to action for any elected representative in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, the State of Washington, and Ohio,” Mr. Bundy said. “You have constituents in federal custody. Please visit and contact them to voice your support for free speech, the right to assemble and civil disobedience.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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