Judge releases third Y-12 protester

A federal judge has released the third protester arrested at the Y-12 National Security Complex after an unprecedented July 28 security breach, a court representative said Tuesday.

Greg Boertje-Obed will return to Duluth, Minn., and he must follow conditions that are similar to those imposed on the two other anti-nuclear weapons activists released Aug. 3, said a representative of the U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

The three protesters, who also include Megan Rice and Michael R. Walli, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of property destruction, property depredation, and trespassing. They face a Feb. 26, 2013, trial before U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips.

The trio is accused of sneaking into Y-12 early on Saturday, July 28, cutting through fences, penetrating a high-security area, and spray-painting slogans and splashing human blood on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

As a condition of their release, the protesters have agreed to not enter government facilities, including the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Rice and Walli are living in Washington, D.C.