Washington, D.C., April 21, 1996...The danger of the Freemen goes far beyond the stand-off at a ranch in Montana, according to a report released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) at its national meeting today in Washington, D.C. Documenting a trail of hate and alleged criminal activity that leads from the heavily-armed men and women holed up on the Montana ranch to at least 18 states across the nation, The Freemen Network: An Assault on the Rule of Law calls the Freemen movement an "outright assault on the very basis of American constitutional democracy." The ADL report exposes how followers of this growing movement declare themselves exempt from America's laws, regulations and taxes, conduct seminars laced with the poison of racial and religious bigotry, and promote their own brand of mob rule.

"They call their encampment `Justus Township,'" said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, "and it is truly a corruption of American justice. The Freemen use bogus liens and money orders, propounding a system of so-called 'common law' in defiance of the actual courts."

Over the course of a year, according to the report, hundreds of people have gone to the ranch to learn how to produce false financial documents using home computers and other hi-tech equipment. However, Mr. Foxman said, "Fraud is not all they learn in Freemen seminars. They get lessons in anti-Semitism and racism, and they're being trained to deny the legitimacy of our democratically established government."

ADL's report cites a Freemen manifesto showing their belief in the racist and anti-Semitic "Christian Identity" doctrine that Jews are the offspring of Satan and non-white races are subhuman. In one seminar, a Freeman further claimed: "It was the Jews who brought the blacks into this country to destroy it."

The Freemen Network details how the Freemen reject the democratic institutions upon which this country was founded, and are linked with other extremist groups. Their activities include issuing "warrants" and million-dollar bounties for the arrest of public officials to be tried in the Freemen's own "common law court." The report discloses how the recently arrested Freemen leader LeRoy Schweitzer stated that in the event anyone attempts to obstruct their version of justice, "the order is shoot to kill."

Prepared by the ADL Fact Finding Department, The Freeman Network provides a state-by-state summary of arrests or outstanding charges against followers of the Freemen for crimes that include threatening judges, assaulting law enforcement officers and attempting to pass phony financial documents. Freemen and others using their materials outside Montana have successfully duped the Internal Revenue Service, several retailers and other institutions into honoring their bogus checks or sending merchandise.

States included in the ADL report are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Editors Note: This and other ADL reports are available on-line on NEXIS, search code USNWR, and from the ADL Media Relations Department.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.