Greenpeace activists admit lesser charges after deal
Greenpeace activists accused of delaying a missile defence test in California have admitted lesser charges.
As part of an apparent deal, prosecutors dropped felony charges against the 15 activists and two journalists.
All 17 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of conspiring to enter a military base, which carries up to six months in jail. They will be sentenced on January 18.
Greenpeace staff in the US have also been bound by a civil injunction, preventing them from participating in protests which break the law at military bases supporting the Star Wars programme in the US and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.
The defendants included British Greenpeace activists Bill Nandris and John Wills and freelance journalist Steve Morgan.
They had faced felony charges with a maximum six-year sentence for their interference in Air Force tests involving the Son of Star Wars project.
They had been accused of conspiracy, trespassing and violating a safety zone for allegedly riding inflatable rafts into a Pacific Ocean "exclusion zone" on July 14 2001.
The peaceful protest caused a two-minute delay in launching the unarmed Minuteman. The ICBM's mock warhead was then destroyed 144 miles above the Earth by an interceptor rocket launched from a Pacific isle.
Greenpeace International disarmament campaigner Mike Townsley said: "We are not afraid or ashamed to admit to trespassing at Vandenberg - our action was a simple, principled and non-violent one.
"The US Attorney's Office was attempting to shut down our civil right to protest and intimidate both the defendants and Greenpeace as a whole by bringing totally unwarranted felony charges against activists and journalists - they failed - and we will continue our campaign to stop Star Wars."
