Feds Hope Easter Spirit Will Help In Talks With Freemen Negotiators Meet With Freemen For Second Day
The freemen held a second meeting Friday with third-party negotiators, and Montana’s attorney general said he hoped the symbolism of Easter would help nudge the militants to peacefully end their long standoff with the FBI.
The freemen met for about two hours in a 35-foot recreational vehicle parked on a dirt road about 200 yards from their farmhouse headquarters in eastern Montana. A freemen sentry was stationed nearby; a government surveillance aircraft circled overhead.
There was no announcement of what came from the parlay, which followed a session Thursday on folding chairs in the open air.
But Montana Attorney General Joe Mazurek said in Helena that the negotiators were hoping the religious beliefs of the freemen, described as deeply held, would encourage them to end the 12-day standoff during Christianity’s holiest weekend.
Mazurek also said the negotiators were not FBI agents but “third-party intermediaries.” He declined to identify them, citing security concerns.
“Nobody’s suggesting that there’s some big breakthrough,” Mazurek said. “We’re just hopeful, given the time of the year and the importance of Easter to those people, that maybe it would provide an opportunity.”
The freemen drove to the site first in the RV and a white Chevrolet Suburban. The outside team arrived about 20 minutes later in a muddy green Suburban.
The two sides shook hands, then milled around outside the RV for a few minutes before going inside. They remained inside for about an hour, stepped outside for some fresh air, then returned to the RV for another hour.
The FBI has had little to say about the standoff on the windswept plains of eastern Montana. The FBI has a direct phone line to the farm.
The talks have been the only sign of a crack in the deadlock in the standoff that began March 25 after federal agents arrested two freemen leaders, LeRoy Schweitzer, 57, and Daniel Petersen, 53. A third freeman, Richard E. Clark, surrendered to FBI agents Saturday.
The freemen renounced all established authority, set up their own shadow government, issued millions of dollars in bogus checks and threatened to kill those who stand in their way, authorities said.
Neighbors have said the freemen have stockpiled weapons and enough food and supplies to last months. About 22 men, women and children are believed to be barricaded on the farm.
Schweitzer, Petersen and others face federal charges of writing millions of dollars in bogus checks and money orders, and threatening to kidnap and murder the federal judge who was involved in the foreclosure of the farm that serves as their base.
Freemen also face state charges of criminal syndicalism, or advocating violence for political aims.
MEMO: Cut in Spokane Edition