A judge has issued sentences of up to five years in prison for three peace activists who breached security at a Tennessee complex storing weapons-grade nuclear material.
In 2012, the group that calls itself Transform Now Plowshares cut through four fences and defaced the side of the Y-12 Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility with human blood and spray-painted messages. The incident was highly embarrassing for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which fired the subcontractor in charge of security at the site and took the breach into consideration when awarding management of the entire complex to a new contractor the following year.
The protestors were convicted on charges of depredation of property and sabotage in May. On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed to 62 months in prison, according to a statement from the activist group. The judge handed down a sentence of 35 months for Megan Rice, an 84-year-old nun with a history of peace activism and civil disobedience.