11/22/96

Excerpted from the Chicago Tribune

Jailed animal rights activist Steve Hindi may be released on bond in the next couple of days after an Illinois Appellate Court panel last Thursday stayed a 180-day sentence for contempt of court.

Richard Grossman, Steve Hindi's attorney, hopes that Circuit Judge James Franz will soon set bond so that Hindi may be released. He is charged with violating the Illinois Hunter Interference Prohibition Act at the Woodstock Hunt Club.

 

Hindi has been on a hunger strike since last Friday the 22nd. He was jailed for 180 days without bond on Nov. 6 for contempt of court.

Wildlife organizations and legal experts have called the contempt of court sentence extreme punishment for someone who is not a dangerous criminal.

Steve used a megaphone to speak to hunters from public property next to the club and flown over the premises in a light aircraft. The club is complaining that Hindi is interfering with its members' right to hunt and that he scares away migrating geese.

Hindi's lawyers have appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The hunt club's property is leased to the club by the state. The lease was recently renewed until 2001.