New charges against "NATO 3" won’t be unveiled until July

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A grand jury in Chicago has returned a new indictment against three men arrested on terrorism charges ahead of last month’s NATO summit in the city, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

But the public, the suspects and their defense attorneys won’t get to see the indictment until it is unsealed next month, prosecutors said, so it’s unclear whether any new charges have been added or any previous charges dropped.

During a brief hearing before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr., lawyers for Brent Betterly, 24, Jared Chase, 27, and Brian Church, 20 asked to see the new indictment but prosecutors refused.

Bourgeois called the state’s unwillingness to share the updated charges for another month “a little strange” but said he was powerless to compel prosecutors to unseal the indictment.

The suspects, dubbed “the NATO 3” by Chicago media, have each been held on a $1.5 million bond since their arrest nearly a month ago.

In a proffer presented to the court shortly after the three were arrested, prosecutors allege the men were making Molotov cocktails – crude gasoline bombs – and planned to use them against high-profile targets that included President Barack Obama‘s campaign headquarters.

The old indictment accused them of conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support of terrorism and possession of explosives.

The three were arrested ahead of the two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit meeting, which drew thousands of anti-war demonstrators.

They are being prosecuted under an Illinois anti-terrorism law adopted after the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on U.S. cities.

Two other men, Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, and Mark Neiweem, 28, were arrested on terror or explosive charges ahead of the NATO summit.

Senakiewicz and Neiweem are scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

(Editing by Andrew Hay)

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