Wiebo Ludwig

Wiebo Ludwig (born December 19, 1941) is the leader of a religious commune in Alberta, Canada, who is best known for his legal problems arising from his conflict with the oil and gas industry. Ludwig has been accused of being an eco-terrorist for sabotaging oil and gas wells. Ludwig accuses the industry of poisoning his family and farm, and being responsible for his daughter's miscarriages, through its attempts to extract toxic sour gas from the Peace River region of Alberta.

During the trial, CBC reported that RCMP officials admitted to placing a bomb on October 14, 1999 which caused minor damage to an AEC shed and blaming the attack on Ludwig. They used this bombing to elevate the level of the charges against him.

In April 2001, Ludwig was convicted on five charges related to bombings and other forms of vandalism against oil and gas installations causing millions of dollars of damage. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison, and was paroled after serving two-thirds of his sentence. Ludwig was also investigated, but not charged, in relation to the June 20, 1999 shooting death of a teenager, Karman Willis, who had been joyriding on his property in the middle of the night. The 2003 film "Burn: The Robert Wraight Story" is based on these events. [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0341286/ Burn: The Robert Wraight Story (2003) (TV) ] ]

In October 2000, Ludwig ran for the leadership of the Social Credit Party of Alberta, but was forced to withdraw from the contest when a judge refused to waive his bail conditions to allow him to travel to the leadership convention. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/1999/10/13/Ludwig991013.html Wiebo Ludwig's political hopes dashed ] ] He had been restricted to his farm in northern Alberta prior to his trial.

References

External links

* [http://www.saboteursandbigoil.com/saboteurs.htm Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig's War Against Big Oil] excerpt from Andrew Nikiforuk's book.
* [http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/ludwig/ Wiebo's War] Transcript of CBC News "The National"'s feature on Ludwig.
* [http://www.ualberta.ca/~parkland/post/Vol-IV-No3/12urquart.html The Case Against Wiebo Ludwig: Reflections on a trial within a trial] article by Ian Urquhart.
* [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/1999/01/30/sabotage990130.html RCMP bombed oil site in 'dirty tricks' campaign.