Biography
Dennis DuVall is a U.S. Vietnam veteran and anti-nuclear activist living in Germany. His custody history includes an overnight detention after the July 5, 2010 Y-12 protest, a separate one-month sentence imposed with immediate remand in September 2011, a sixty-day Bautzen term beginning March 23, 2023, and a separate term beginning July 22, 2024 that ended early after an anonymous donor paid his fine.
Separate custody episodes
The Y-12 action report individually names Dennis DuVall among those arrested and jailed overnight on July 5, 2010, then released after the following afternoon’s detention hearing. He was not continuously imprisoned while the prosecution awaited trial. A separate September 2011 sentencing account describes immediate remand for a one-month term, without a fine or probation; a later action update reports completion. Original action report and subsequent updates; original September 2010 newsletter, page 7; Ralph Hutchison, OREPA sentencing report.
DuVall’s first Bautzen term began March 23, 2023. An April 27 statement by Bündnis Leipzig gegen Krieg describes his ongoing imprisonment and explicitly dates that admission; the later July 2024 report says he spent sixty days in prison in 2023. The source does not give the actual 2023 discharge day. Contemporary coalition statement; March 2023 background report.
He entered Bautzen again on July 22, 2024 for a separate ninety-day sentence. By the report’s July 29 update, an anonymous donor had paid the fine and he had been released. The update establishes early release but does not identify an exact discharge day or completed custody duration; the announced ninety days were not served in full. These episodes do not constitute one uninterrupted 2023–2024 prison interval. Contemporary entry report and release update.
John LaForge’s June 17, 2020 report identifies Dennis DuVall as one of the participants in the July 15, 2018 Büchel action against U.S. nuclear weapons. It reports his conviction for property damage and trespass at a May 11, 2020 trial in Cochem. The article supplies no individual fine, prison admission or completed jail duration for DuVall; the fine range and thirty-day alternative stated for the three June defendants are not assigned to him or added to his later documented imprisonment.
Source: The Nuclear Resister, source report.
The report of the May 11, 2020 Cochem trial identifies Andre Zimmermann as the judge who convicted DuVall, Susan van der Hijden and Christiane (Chris) Danowski for their July 15, 2018 Büchel action. Each received a fine calculated as thirty daily-income units plus court costs. The article gives only a collective range of €150–€900, without assigning DuVall an individual euro amount. Up to thirty days in jail was a possible consequence of nonpayment, not evidence of a completed prison term.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Dennis DuVall among eleven people detained on August 14, 2023 after blocking the construction gate at Büchel air base in Germany, opposing U.S. nuclear bombs. Police took their identification, imposed a one-day ban and bar order, transported them in police vans and released them in Müllenbach. The one-day ban is not a prison sentence; no individual criminal charge, jail admission or completed confinement duration is established. Contemporary Nuclear Resister action report.
The contemporary report names Dennis DuVall among eleven people detained by military and civilian authorities after entering Büchel Air Base’s main gate on the morning of July 10, 2019 to deliver a treaty-enforcement order against U.S. B61 nuclear weapons. All eleven were released after identification. This initial detention does not establish a jail admission or measured imprisonment duration.
The report also names Dennis DuVall among eight participants taken into custody after a separate action later on July 10, 2019. Four cut through the fence and four posted notices outside; the article does not assign those roles individually. All eight were taken to Cochem for a hearing concerning a stay-away order, transferred to jail in Koblenz and released early the next day, July 11. This overnight jail episode was distinct from the earlier identification detention; the source gives no formal individual charge, judge, verdict or imposed sentence.
Nukewatch reports reproduced by The Nuclear Resister, July 16, 2019.
The issue’s caption individually identifies Dennis DuVall being taken to an arrestee pen at the Nevada nuclear test site on August 9, 2012. The accompanying account says all six line-crossers were briefly detained in open-air pens, cited for trespass and released. It supplies no jail admission or measured custody duration.
The March 17, 2014 report individually lists Dennis DuVall among those arrested after crossing the boundary at the Nevada National Security Site on March 10 during the Pacific Life Community gathering. The named participants were held in processing pens, issued citations and released a short time later. No statutory charge, individual jail admission, completed full day of custody or subsequent court outcome is supplied. The period during which the group crossed the boundary is not treated as an individual detention duration. The Nuclear Resister, March 17, 2014.
The April 2, 2016 report individually names Dennis DuVall among eighteen people arrested during the April 1 Creech Air Force Base anti-drone blockades. It reports fifteen jaywalking citations and three federal-property trespass citations without identifying which person received which charge. The two arrest waves are also not allocated by name. The article says all except Brian Terrell had been released by publication, without separately dating this person’s physical release. Terrell’s April 4 release is not copied to others; no individual charge, jail admission or complete custody duration is inferred. The Nuclear Resister, April 2, 2016.
The contemporary January 29, 2011 report individually names this participant among eight people immediately arrested by Nye County sheriffs after stepping onto the Nevada Test Site during the sixtieth-anniversary protest. The Western Shoshone National Council had issued entry permits. The report does not identify an individual charge, physical jail admission, release date or completed detention duration for this episode. Contemporary source.
The January 27, 2011 account and reproduced Las Vegas Sun report individually identify this participant among the Creech 14 arrested on April 9, 2009. Judge William Jansen found all fourteen guilty of trespass and imposed time served on January 27, 2011. The statements below the article carry an inconsistent July 27, 2010 heading; the dated report and reproduced contemporary news account establish the January 2011 disposition. Time served is the imposed disposition, without a measured number of days or a claim of continuous custody from arrest to sentencing. Contemporary source.
The contemporary Good Friday 2012 report individually names this participant among ten people arrested by Nye County sheriffs and security personnel after crossing the line at the Nevada National Security Site, at the conclusion of Nevada Desert Experience’s twenty-sixth Sacred PeaceWalk. Contemporary source.
The report separately identifies Vitale, DuVall, Parazaider and Majors as arrested at Creech Air Force Base on April 4, 2012 after presenting an indictment concerning civilian deaths from drone attacks. This was a different action from the subsequent Nevada Test Site line crossing. Contemporary source.
Contemporary reports of the May 11, 2011 Y-12 trial describe a federal jury trespass conviction arising from the July 5, 2010 action in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Judge Bruce Guyton presided, and Jeff Theodore and Melissa Milliken acted for the prosecution. This account does not place Dennis DuVall among the seven newly remanded defendants.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, report 886; The Nuclear Resister, report 887; The Nuclear Resister, report 889.
The April 2017 Creech report identifies Dennis DuVall and Ray Cage among the April 26 arrestees transported to Clark County Jail. Its narrative says seven arrests while its list contains eight names, and it supplies no individual physical-release day for either man. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The March 6, 2015 Creech Air Force Base report individually includes Dennis DuVall in its named arrest roster. The compilation reports trespass and roadway-related allegations and describes citation-and-release processing, but one person held on an outstanding warrant is unnamed. Neither that warrant detention nor an overnight stay is allocated to this person. The differing reported aggregate totals are retained without inventing an additional identity or completed custody duration.
Sources: Contemporary report.
Dennis DuVall, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Germany for actions against the U.S. nuclear weapons at Büchel, surrendered at Bautzen one week after a March 16, 2023 summons, on March 23. The contemporary report states that he finished his sentence May 19 and explicitly describes sixty days served. The admission and completion dates span 57 elapsed days; the report’s sixty-day account is retained without assuming why the figures differ. Sources: The Nuclear Resister No.201, June 5, 2023, printed pages 1, 4 and 7.
January 2011 detention in Tucson
The January 17 report individually names this participant among three men arrested after entering Davis-Monthan Air Force Base during a Martin Luther King Day peace witness. They were taken to Pima County Jail and later released on recognizance; no exact release date or total is given. This was a separate event from the January 29 Nevada Test Site protest. Contemporary report.
