14 DAY TRIAL // This past Tuesday, an 84-year-old nun was sentenced to 35 months behind bars over an anti-nuclear protest that she took part in back in 2012.
Information shared with the public says that the Roman Catholic nun whose story is now making headlines is named sister Megan Rice.
According to WebProNews, it was on July 28, 2012 that the elderly woman, together with 57-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed and 63-year-old Michael Walli, broke into a US nuclear weapons plant.
At that time, the three anti-nuclear protesters cut through four fences surrounding the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Once they reached the nuclear facility, they proceeded to vandalize it.
By the looks of it, they spent about two hours hanging banners, spray-painting the building and also smearing blood on its walls.
Since their actions were meant as a protest against nuclear weapons, the banners that the nun and her two companions hanged, together with the spray-paint and blood artwork, displayed biblical slogans of peace.
“We spend more on nuclear arms than on the departments of education, health, transportation, disaster relief and a number of other government agencies that I can’t remember,” sister Megan Rice offered as an explanation for why she chose to vandalize this nuclear facility.
Apparently, the damage that the trio of anti-nuclear protesters caused the Y-12 National Security Complex amounted to $1,000 (roughly €728.5).
Besides, word has it that they endangered their own lives by breaking into this facility.
“The protesters put themselves at a high risk of losing their life in performing this act,” a specialist with the National Nuclear Security Administration reportedly commented on this protest.
Whereas sister Megan Rice is to spend 35 months behind bars, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli are looking at 60 months in prison each.
Oddly enough, the 84-year-old nun is not in the least bothered by the idea of spending this much time in jail. On the contrary, she finds the thought of dying in prison quite appealing.
“Please have no leniency with me. To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest gift you could give me,” she told Judge Amul Thapar during trial.