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Standing Rock Activist Who Was Jailed After Refusing to Testify Before Grand Jury Is Released

HeadlineApr 21, 2021

Standing Rock water protector Steve Martinez has been released after more than 60 days behind bars for refusing to give testimony to a federal grand jury. Martinez was summoned as a witness in the case of Sophia Wilansky, a water protector whose arm was severely wounded during a police crackdown on anti-pipeline protests in 2016. Prosecutors were attempting to shift blame for Wilansky’s injuries from law enforcement to water protectors. The campaign to free Steve Martinez blasted the use of grand juries as a “divisive and cruel tool of repression.”

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