What: Press Conference
When: 9am, Tuesday, September 28
Where: Outside the Fairfax County Courthouse, 4110 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA

On August 20, CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin was arrested for trespassing at the home of Blackwater chairman Erik Prince in McLean, Virginia.

Having read that Mr. Prince and his family had moved out of the country to escape a series of Blackwater investigations, Benjamin had gone to Prince's home on August 20 to confirm the news.  As Benjamin has on videotape, she found the family still in town and was invited inside. Upon inquiring if there were indeed moving to the United Arab Emirates instead of facing their responsibilities here in the United States, where they had taken over $1 billion in taxpayer money, Prince's wife Joanna called the police and had Benjamin arrested for trespassing. Joanna Prince, who along with her husband shuns the public eye, is scheduled to appear in court.

“I find it appalling that Erik Prince is running off to the Emirates, a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States, instead of facing the myriad of lawsuits against his company,” said Benjamin. Blackwater recently paid the government $42 million in fines for hundreds of violations including illegal weapons exports and attempts to bribe foreign governments.

You can see the video of the “trespassing” incident here, including the invitation to enter the home by Prince's mother-in-law: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si-CpfA5Noc.

Benjamin has since written a rap song called Erik Prince Makes a Killing, and will perform it in front of the courthouse.

CODEPINK has been protesting Blackwater since 2006, in conjunction with its War Profiteers & War Criminals Accountability campaign.
 ###