Biography
Sebastian Senakiewicz — anti-NATO summit arrestee, Chicago, May 2012. Polish national charged under Illinois terrorism statute with falsely making a terrorist threat; pleaded guilty to a reduced count, sentenced to four years, and deported on release.
In the days surrounding the May 2012 NATO summit in Chicago, the FBI and Chicago Police arrested a series of activists in raids tied to anti-NATO protest organizing. The 'NATO 3' (Brian Church, Jared Chase, Brent Betterly) became the headline case after being charged under Illinois state terrorism statutes. The 'NATO 5' designation is sometimes used to include two additional men arrested in parallel raids — Sebastian Senakiewicz and Mark Neiweem — on charges that critics described as informant-driven entrapment. Several other anti-NATO arrestees were later swept up on protest-related charges. All were held at Cook County Jail in Chicago; some were transferred to Stateville or to IDOC custody after conviction.
The September 2012 Nuclear Resister reports that Sebastian Senakiewicz pleaded not guilty on July 3 to four counts of falsely making a terrorist threat. This describes the initial proceedings, not his later plea to a reduced charge or final sentence.
The August 16, 2013 support report states that Sebastian “Sabi” Senakiewicz completed a four-month boot-camp program, then was taken into ICE custody when the car carrying him and his mother away from graduation was stopped. It reports several weeks of immigration detention followed by deportation to Poland. The expected month of house arrest was a prior expectation, not actual prison time. The report does not establish exact immigration admission or deportation days, so it does not add a new measured custody interval or change the already recorded endpoints.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, source report 629.
The contemporary May 2012 NATO-summit report records Senakiewicz’s initial false-terrorist-threat charge and $750,000 bail, separately from the Bridgeport raid case. His lawyer Melinda Power characterized the reported explosives talk as drunken bluster. These are attributed historical allegations and pretrial conditions, not a replacement for his later recorded disposition. Contemporary source.
