A non-violent environmental activist has been discovered responsible of felony obstruction for her function in making an attempt to halt building of a fossil gas pipeline via Indigenous territory in Minnesota, in a trial beset by authorized irregularities which ended with the prosecutor demanding jail time.
Mylene Vialard, 54, was arrested in July 2021 after attaching herself to a 25ft bamboo tower erected to dam a pumping station in Aitkin county, northern Minnesota.
Her arrest was a part of a crackdown on non-violent Indigenous-led protests opposing the growth and rerouting on Line 3 – a 1,097-mile tar sands oil pipeline with a dismal security document, that crosses greater than 200 water our bodies from Alberta, Canada, to refineries within the US midwest.
Regardless of the decision, Vialard instructed the Guardian that she had “no regrets” and that the trial demonstrated what environmental and Indigenous activists “were up against”.
“I did not get a fair trial and there were so many reasons for an acquittal and mistrial, this cannot be the justice system we have … I am not at all surprised by the verdict but I am surprised by the outrageous way the prosecution behaved,” stated Vialard, a self-employed translator from Boulder, Colorado.
After the responsible verdict on Friday, the decide instructed Vialard that she confronted a sentence of 12 months and at some point probation – as per sentencing tips on this case. However the prosecutor intervened and improperly requested she be imprisoned – with out offering any authorized foundation or clarification.
Vialard now faces an anxious wait till sentencing, which has not but been scheduled.
The week-long trial was beset by delays and authorized arguments because of quite a few alleged violations.
In a single incident, a sheriff’s deputy was caught broadcasting the Zoom audio from contained in the courtroom into the general public hallways of the courthouse, which is utilized by jurors and witnesses alike – in violation of sequestration guidelines and the court docket’s personal pre-trial order barring public Zoom entry to the trial.
In court docket the prosecutor incorrectly claimed Vialard was not an American citizen – she was born in France – and that she had been trespassing when arrested – regardless of having been repeatedly admonished by the decide as a trespass cost was beforehand dismissed.
“Jury returned a guilty verdict on felony obstruction, following a trial in which the prosecution engaged in repeated, flagrant and intentional misconduct throughout the trial and during closing arguments … the court turned a blind eye to the legal violations of law enforcement and the prosecutor, as well as its own legal errors, at the expense of Ms Vialard’s constitutional rights in this trial,” stated Claire Glenn, Vialard’s legal professional from the Local weather Protection Undertaking.
“Mylene’s guidelines are presumptive 12 months and a day stayed, meaning the judge is expected to give her 366 days probation. If the prosecutor wants anything more serious than that, there are specific showings he must make to justify that request. But he asked for 366 days executed with no justification, which is illegal for him to do,” Glenn added.
The Aitkin county prosecutor, Garrett Slyva, who’s below investigation for alleged misconduct in North Dakota, has been contacted for remark.
Vialard was amongst greater than a thousand arrests by Minnesota legislation enforcement – which together with different companies acquired not less than $8.6m in funds from the Canadian firm Enbridge behind Line 3.
General, not less than 967 prison prices have been filed together with a number of folks charged below the state’s new essential infrastructure safety laws – authorized as a part of a wave of anti-protest legal guidelines impressed by the American Legislative Change Council (Alec), a rightwing group backed by fossil gas firms.
Earlier this week, Jill Ferguson, a 70-year-old grandmother from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was discovered responsible of obstructing authorized course of (interference with a peace workplace), a misdemeanour, and sentenced to 2 days in jail with time served for her function in a protest in July 2021 in Clearwater county.
“I am guilty,” Ferguson instructed the Guardian. “Guilty of protecting the headwaters of the Mississippi river, so this is a badge of honor.”
Ferguson suffered a concussion through the arrest, and continues to expertise continual bodily and psychological results from the trauma.
“I have not been the same person physically, emotionally or spiritually since that day, and still receive treatment for post-concussion syndrome and PTSD. Part of the trauma is the hopelessness that I feel, knowing that we don’t have the right to defend our land and water. The first amendment has been obliterated while the second amendment is untouched.”
The newly expanded Line 3 began transporting tar sands oil in October 2021.
Minnesota environmental regulators have confirmed 4 groundwater aquifer breaches alongside the brand new pipeline – together with one final month in Aitkin county, not removed from the place Vialard was arrested, at a wild rice lake in an space with advanced wetlands and peat bogs. Enbridge, which reported gross income of $16.55bn for the 12 months ending June 2023, has up to now been fined $11m to handle the breaches.
Final week a spokesperson for Enbridge stated: “Protesters were not arrested for peaceful protest. They were arrested for breaking the law. We support efforts to hold protesters accountable for their actions.”
