wfn.org | Church leaders ask that prisoner be released from solitary

["Barb Powell"<powellb@ucc.org>]

          TITLE: Church leaders ask that prisoner to be released from solitary
          Oct. 13, 1997
          United Church of Christ
          Office of Communication
          Hans Holznagel
          (216) 736-2214
          holznagh@ucc.org
          On the World Wide Web: www.ucc.org
                
          A D V I S O R Y :
                
          Church leaders to ask government
          to end prisoner's solitary confinement
                
          EDITORS:  At a Cleveland news conference set for 1 p.m. Tuesday,
          Oct. 21, leaders of a North American church will call upon
          the United States go vernment to end the solitary
          confinement of a "prisoner of conscience."
                
          Members of the Executive Council of the 1.5-million-member
          United Church of Christ say Oscar Lopez Rivera, currently
          held in a federal prison in M arion, Ill., is receiving
          excessively harsh treatment because of his political
          beliefs.  He is serving a 70-year sentence for his
          involvement in the movement for the independence of Puerto
          Rico.
          
          The news conference will be in Meeting Room 1817 at downtown
          Cleveland's Holiday Inn/Lakeside, 1111 Lakeside Ave.
          
          Appearing at the press conference will be the Rev. Dr. Paul H.
          Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ; the Rev.
          Dr. Thomas E. Dipko, executive vice-president of its United
          Church Board for Homeland Ministries; the Rev. Linda
          Gruber, chairperson of the UCC Executive Council; and Mr.
          Luis Mendoza, a member of Iglesia Buenas Nuevas, a UCC
          congregation on Cleveland's Near West Side, representing
          the denomination's Council for Hispanic Ministries.
          
          For more information, contact any of the following at the
          national offices of the United Church of Christ, 700
          Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115-1100:
          *  Hans Holznagel, Office of Communication, phone (216)
             736-2214;
          *  Laurie Bartels, Office of Communication, (216) 736-2213;
             or
          *  C. Nozomi Ikuta, United Church Board for Homeland
             Ministries, (216) 736-3280.
          
          OCTOBER 1997
          
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