Olympic Bomber Uses Website to Taunt Victims

Victims of the Olympic Bomber Eric Rudolph are complaining that the man responsible for a series of abortion clinic bombings, as well as the 1996 Olympic bombing, is taunting them from behind bars.

According to CNN, Rudolph has no computer access, but essays written by Rudolph have been posted on an Army of God website ran by one of Rudolph's supporters Donald Spitz, an anti-abortionist activist. Rudolph claimed to be affiliated with the with the group after the initial bombings.

As for the website, Spitz has stated that he post Rudolph's essays because of their shared beliefs regarding abortion. And for those that are offended by the essays or the website Spitz says," They don't have to look at it on the Web site."

The AP states that Rudolph mocks his victims in his essays, including Emily Lyons, a nurse who was nearly killed in the 1998 Birmingham bombings. After describing her appearance and her testimony in court he writes "It was a great speech and one that the denizens of freedom should be proud to enshrine in a museum somewhere. Perhaps they could put it next to MLKs `I Have a Dream.' They could call it `I Have a Middle Finger."'

U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who helped to prosecute Rudolph, has said there is nothing the prison can do about Rudolph's essays.

"An inmate does not lose his freedom of speech," she said.

John Hawthorne's wife Alice was killed during the Olympic bombings, but he isn't allowing Rudolph's essays get to him.

"As far as I'm concerned he's out of sight, out of mind," Hawthorne said. "I don't mind him saying whatever he's going to say as long as they keep him locked up."

After a five year manhunt Rudolph was caught in May 2003 after a police officer noticed him rummaging threw trash cans for food. In April 2005 the Justice Department announced that Rudolph had agreed to plead guilty to the bombings and waive all appeals as well as give them the location of other explosives in order the save himself from the death penalty. In a statement later released by Rudolph he stated that his plea was purely a tactical move to "deprive the government of its goal of sentencing me to death," He is currently serving a life sentence without parole at the "Supermax" penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.

News sources report that this isn't the first complaint against the prison dealing with prisoner correspondence. A report written by the Justice Department last fall chastised the prison for not properly screening mail written by prisoners. According to the report It was determined that three men convicted in the World Trade Center bombing sent dozens of letters overseas to suspected terrorists.

Sources: CNN
Sources: Associated Press