Three women pledged to take action in the Trident Ploughshares 2000 campaign - from Scotland, England, and Denmark - begin trial September 27 in Greenock Sheriff Court, Scotland, on charges of malicious mischief and theft. Last June 9, the women disarmed a critical sonar testing laboratory for Britain's Trident nuclear submarine fleet in Loch Goil, tossing computers and log books overboard, jamming a winch, and generally monkeywrenching the circuits and mechanisms during nearly four hours of uninterrupted labor.

The three veteran peace campaigners - Ellen Moxley, a 63-year-old zoologist from Scotland, Angie Zelter, a 49-year-old potter from England, and Ulla Roder, a 42-year-old mother of two and social worker from Denmark - were offered bail at a preliminary hearing June 17, one condition being that they would not re-offend in the interim. They were ready to accept this on the understanding that disarmament activity would not be considered by the court to be a crime. The court refused to agree with this interpretation and the women have remained in jail pending the trial.

Zelter writes, "...let people know we'd like a good contingent of USA people willing to do some mixed international TP2000 Ploughshares actions if there are any volunteers. The next [Action] Camp will be in November..."

Building on the legal experience of previous trials in the Trident Ploughshares 2000 campaign, the three will justify their actions aboard the floating lab known as Maytime as life-affirming obligations when confronted by illicit weapons of mass destruction such as the Trident. The women face a possible four-year sentence.

For more information about the trial, contact Trident Ploughshares 2000, 42-46 Bethel Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1NR,UK, tel + 44 (0) 1603 611953, email: tp2000@gn.apc.org web: http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/ Letters of support to the women would best be sent to this address rather than their prison address unless their conviction and continuing imprisonment is confirmed first.