COLUMBUS, GEORGIA -- July 8, 2002. Thirty-seven human rights activists went on trial in federal court today for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas (renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in Columbus, Georgia. They were among 10,000 who gathered last November to call for the closure of the notorious school. The SOA/WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. Its graduates are consistently involved in human rights abuses and atrocities.

71 people have served a total of over 40 years in prison for engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience as part of a broad-based campaign to close the school. Sentencing will begin for this year's defendants once all trials have been completed, which are expected to continue through this week.