[CHICAGO] The State dismissed charges against sixteen members of the faith-based Circle of Life Affinity Group on trial Monday, July 7 for criminal trespass to property in Judge Mark Ballard’s Cook County Circuit Courtroom.

Members of the Circle of Life were arrested at the Kluczynski Federal Building on January 27 protesting the first strike war in Iraq, becoming Chicago’s first arrested demonstrators prior to the recent invasion of Iraq.

Melinda Power, the group’s attorney, said, “This dismissal is a victory for all of the tens of thousands of Chicagoans who protested against the war in Iraq.”

Defendant Chris Inserra, a music teacher and mother of three said, “The state dismissed our charges but they cannot dismiss our acts of conscience against the unjust war in Iraq.” “The state dismissed our charges, but the U.S. government cannot dismiss the illegality of the war in Iraq. They cannot dismiss the fact that every justification for the war has been found to be false,” she added.

The group faced penalties up to a year in jail. They were prepared to utilize the Necessity Defense, a legal procedure demonstrating that the defendants reasonably believed such actions were necessary to prevent a greater harm or illegality.

The group is representative of various faith and peace organizations including Voices in the Wilderness, IL School of the Americas Watch, Iraq Peace Pledge, Pax Christi and the American Friends Service Committee.

The group is composed of grandfathers, mothers, fathers and includes university chaplains, a UCC minister, a seminary professor, an engineer, social workers and people who have visited Iraq.