Circuit Court rejects Christic Institute suit

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ACTiON Staff: Alex Chis, Paul Colvin, Gerry Foley, Suzanne Forsyth, Malik Hayden Perry, Barbara Putnam, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. 2 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1991 Following are excerpts from a statement released by the Christic Institute on June 24, 1991.

On Tuesday, June 18, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel of three judges refused to set aside Miami Federal District Judge James Lawrence King's 1988 dismissal of Avirgan v. Hull, the civil racketeering lawsuit filed by the Christic Institute against 29 contra supporters, former U.S. officials, and others accused of terrorist acts, drug trafficking, and arms smuggling.

The panel also allowed to stand King's 1989 ruling that the Institute, its general counsel, and its clients—Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey—must pay $1 million in court costs and attorneys fees for filing the action.

Christic Institute General Counsel Daniel P. Sheehan called the ruling "an act of judicial hypocrisy of the highest order, and said that the Institute will ask for a review of the three-judge rulEditors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Business Manager: BARRY SHEPPARD 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

These are expressed in editorials. ing by all 12 judges of the 11th Circuit. "If this fails," he says, "an appeal to the Supreme Court will be taken."

Sheehan said the appeals court expressly ignored critical evidence supporting the charges made in Avirgan v. Hull, including the murder indictment in Costa Rica of the two key defendants, contra supporters John Hull and Felipe Vidal, for the very crimes with which they stood charged by the Institute.

"It is absurd that, with all the public evidence that demonstrates the veracity of our charges, the Circuit Court will not allow us to present our case to a jury," said Sheehan. "We deserve our day in court."

Avirgan v Hull was filed in Miami in May 1986 on behalf of journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey. Though it was filed six months before the Irancontra affair became public, the names of the defendants in the suit would later read like a "Who's Clos ing di June 27, 1991 Who" of the Iran-contra scandal.

Former generals Richard Secord and John Singlaub; former C.I.A. clandestine operations specialists for George Bush, Thomas Clines and Theodore Shackley; American contra supporter John Hull; and Rob Owen, Oliver North's contra courier, were all named as participants in the criminal "Enterprise."

A total of 29 defendants were charged with participating in the federal racketeering "Enterprise," which smuggled weapons to the contras, smuggled drugs through the contra support infrastructure into the United States, and participated in illegal paramilitary operations on behalf of the rebels.

According to the suit, in May 1984; members of this "Enterprise" carried out the terrorist bombing of a press conference given by contra commander Eden Pastora at his jungle outpost in La Penca, Nicaragua. The bombing killed three journalists and five other persons and injured 20 more, including plaintiff Tony Daniel Sheehan Avirgan. Pastora himself was injured, but survived the blast.

Sheehan says the appeals panel's ruling is only the latest in a growing string of court decisions that have protected participants in the Reagan Administration's semi-private operation to support the contras by blocking juries from hearing the evidence of their crimes.