Militants Charged In Malheur Indictment

Four remaining occupiers of a federal wildlife refuge in OR have been indicted over the monthlong armed takeover, along with a dozen others.

Four holdouts remain at the refuge, ignoring Bundy’s advice that they leave to avoid bloodshed.

Wednesday’s indictments, which named both Bundy brothers and 14 others who occupied the bird sanctuary, says the defendants “prevented federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats and intimidation”.

Cox is on Global Positioning System monitoring and home detention, and can only travel “for employment, medical appointments, and religious and other activities with authorizations from her pretrial services officer”, according to the motion filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

Protesters stand in front of the Harney County Courthouse in Burns, …

Bundy struck a defiant tone in a recorded statement released by his lawyers from jail, where he said he has been held in solitary confinement.

The standoff began January 2, with Bundy’s group demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control and free two ranchers imprisoned for setting fires. Finicum was killed Tuesday night in a confrontation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Oregon State Police on a remote road.

Fry’s father, William Fry, was disappointed that his son has been charged, writing in an email: “We were hoping for a more positive outcome”.

Today’s indictments bring the total to 16, including leader Ammon Bundy and 11 others who are already in custody.

Meanwhile, the four still at the facility say they will not leave unless they receive a guarantee that they won’t be arrested.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Portland on Wednesday and unsealed on Thursday, supersedes an earlier criminal complaint in the case.

One of the protesters who stood with Finicum at the OR refuge hopes to attend the funeral.

An Arizona man charged in the occupation of an OR wildlife refuge has been ordered jailed until trial after a judge concluded he was at risk of fleeing from authorities and posed a danger to the public.

As the occupation drags on, additional officers have been sent to the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex that straddles the Oregon-California border, as well as to the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and Modoc National Wildlife Refuge in northern California.

Preserves throughout the US have also been placed on a heightened alert.