Monday in Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court at 2.00pm, Dan Viesnik was sentenced to 14 days in Pentonville Rd. prison for refusing to pay the fines for his Aldermaston Protest action against the Atomic Weapons Establishment http://www.awe.co.uk/.
Dan had continued to refuse to pay the original 50 pound fine. The fine was increased so that as of yesteray it was 515 pounds.
Participating in the Aldermaston Protest against nuclear weapons, at the end of the march he sat down at the entrance to Military Defense Property refusing to get up voluntarily.
Dan is a regular volunteer at the London Catholic Worker's Community Cafe http://www.londoncatholicworker.org/
and a Peace Activist http://greenleftblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/dan-viesnik-gets-14days-imprisonment.html. The magistrates adjourned briefly to consider the 14 - 28 day penalty as prescribed by law for non payment of fines. The Chief Magistrate stated that they were not taking a position on Dan's action, but gave him a 14 day prison sentence. Dan had read a compelling statement to the Magistrates who were willing to sit & listen without comment. In his statement Dan quoted Thoreau including the sentence "Our duty is to do what is right."
The gallery was full of supporters from London as well as Nagase from the Peace Pagoda http://www.batterseapark.org/html/pagoda.html in Battersea Park and a spare American. All stood to honor Dan as he was escorted out of the courtroom. With hands folded, Dan responded with a slight bow to the group.
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