Darren Thurston
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Darren Thurston is a well-known Canadian activist with a long history of involvement in animal rights, social justice and environmental issues. In July 2006 Thurston pled guilty to to criminal conspiracy and related arson charges that occurred from 1996 through 2001 in Oregon and four other Western US states. The acts to which he pled guilty were claimed in the name of the Earth Liberation Front and in some cases the Animal Liberation Front as well. Thurston was facing a lifetime in prison but in accordance with his plea bargain the federal government is recommending that he be sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in exchange for his cooperation with the investigation.
As a teenager Thurson began work with the Edmonton- based Citizens Organized for Animal Liberation as an organizer and spokesperson against animal exploitation and abuse. Through the years he has worked with a number of organizations including TAO Communications, BearWatch, Anti-Racist Action, Friends of the Elaho and the BC Compassion Club.
In 1992, Thurston was convicted as a member of the Animal Liberation Front for raiding a University of Alberta laboratory and liberating 29 cats slated for medical experimentation. For this act and another earlier action, he served two years in a Canadian prison and was released in 1994.
In 1998, Thurston was charged again along with David Barbarash relating to a series of threatening letters that were booby-trapped with razor blades and sent to hunting guide-outfitters across British Columbia. In late 2000, charges against Thurston were stayed by the Crown following a refusal by the RCMP to give details on informants used in the case.
On December 7, 2005, Thurston was arrested in Portland, Oregon in the company of Chelsea Gerlach. Although he was initially told he would receive a speedy deportation, he was later indicted in a case involving 16 individuals alleged to have been involved in 17 Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front and other unclaimed actions that took place between 1997 and 2001. Since the initial arrests in December, one of the accused has committed suicide (Bill Rodgers), four cannot be located (Joe Dibee, Rebecca Rubin, Justin Solondz and Josephine Overaker), and five have been released on bail (including Jonathan Paul, Suzanne Savoie, Sarah Kendall Harvey, Brianna Waters and Daniel McGowan). The defendants remaining in custody alongside Thurston include Nathan Block, Joyana Zacher, Stan Meyerhoff, Chelsea Gerlach, and Kevin Tubbs). These arrests took place as part of the FBI's Operation Backfire (FBI), referred to in the activist community as part of an ongoing trend known as the Green Scare.
Thurston was facing five federal charges including of arson with and incendiary device and conspiracy in addition to two federal charges for the possession of fraudulent identification. The actual accusation of criminal wrongdoing levied against Thurston stems from an allegation that he was involved in an Earth Liberation Front incident at Lichtfield, California in 2001 during which wild horses rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management were freed and a corral burned to the ground.
Five other defendants have pled guilty along with Thurston and agreed to cooperate with the government in exchange for their plea agreements. The remain four who have been located, Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Nathan Block, and Joyanna Zacher are continuing to plead not guilty and fight the charges against them.
