Eleven of the 16 indicted by the grand jury had previously been arrested on federal charges related to the occupation.
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The indictment, filed in federal court in OR and unsealed on Thursday, supersedes an earlier criminal complaint that charged protest leader Ammon Bundy and others with impeding by “force, intimidation, and threats” officers and employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the performance of their duties.
The funeral was held inside a Mormon church, but national leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last month denounced the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and said they were “deeply troubled” by reports the occupiers were using scriptural principles to justify it.
PORTLAND (AP) – The government has beefed up security at national wildlife refuges in states south of OR as an armed standoff over federal land policy has created tensions in the region and shows no sign of ending soon.
The holdouts want assurances they won’t be arrested if they leave.
“I am requesting that the four remaining protesters go home now so their lives are not taken”, Bundy said in the statement released through his lawyers Tuesday.
The indictment charging Ammon Bundy and 15 other militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was released this morning.
Cox was in the backseat of Finicum’s truck moments before he was shot and killed on January 26.
Two conspirators traveled to the sparsely populated area of Eastern Oregon in October to warn the local sheriff of “extreme civil unrest” if certain demands were not met, according to the indictment.
It doesn’t appear that protestors in OR will be going home anytime soon. Preserves throughout the USA have also been placed on a heightened alert.
“The FBI’s investigation is ongoing so it would not be appropriate to provide details at this time”, a written statement from the Joint Information Center said. But authorities say the 54-year-old was reaching for a gun during the confrontation.
Before Thursday, the four had said in a series of interviews and video broadcasts online that they would not leave unless they were assured that they would not be charged.
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