The seven defendants in a standoff at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon have been acquitted of felony charges of conspiracy and possession of firearms.

The six men and one woman were cleared by a jury that had been deliberating for more than a week.

Prosecutors said the defendants, led by brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, had kept federal employees from their jobs.

The defendants and at least 19 others occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January and early February.

The 41-day standoff highlighted the simmering resentment among rural communities in the US West over federal control of land.

The group seized the refuge, established armed patrols and vetted those who visited.

After several weeks one of the protesters was shot dead when police and the FBI arrested the leaders of the occupation.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicum died during a 26 January traffic stop outside the refuge as the Bundys and several others were detained.

During the occupation, Ammon Bundy had held frequent news conferences in an effort to win public sympathy.

At trial, the defendants argued they never discussed stopping individual workers from accessing their offices, but merely wanted the land and the buildings.

They also said the takeover was a justified act of civil disobedience against an overreaching federal government.

The Bundys are still facing charges in Nevada from a high-profile 2014 standoff with federal agents and their father, Cliven Bundy.

How did it begin?

In October last year, a federal judge ruled that sentences on two Oregon ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, for burning federal land were too short and jailed them for about four years each.

Angered by the ruling, Nevada native Ammon Bundy began a social media campaign backing them and travelled to Burns, Oregon, organising meetings.

His group attracted supporters from across a number of states and Mr Bundy called it Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

On 2 January the armed militiamen took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge - and widened the range of demands.

What were the militia's aims?

It was an extension of the Sagebrush Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s that demanded the transfer of federal land in many Western states to local control.

Mr Bundy's own father - a Nevada rancher - had been involved in a protest over cattle-grazing rights in 2014. One policy is to try to persuade ranchers to tear up their federal grazing contracts.

Although many local residents are sympathetic with its cause, many also oppose the occupation of the refuge.

Even the local ranchers who are serving the longer sentences distanced themselves from the militia.

Are militias legal?

The term has a complex history and generally refers to those outside the official military who can be called on in times of need.

The US constitution refers to the president having command of "militia of several states" and that Congress "can call forth militia" to tackle insurrection and invasion.

Those who form such militias cite the constitution and various references in federal and state law as granting them legality.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC News

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