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BRITAIN

John Bowden Prison No. 6729, HM Prison Glenochil, King OMuir Road, Tullibody, Scotland FK10 3AD
John Bowden, convicted for a murder he describes as stupid and a terrible mistake, has spent his entire adult life in prison. Politicised by his incarceration he's regularly payed the price for his resistance through long periods of isolation, brutal beatings and treatment amounting to torture. He has never been broken and is one of the UK's most articulate and vociferous prison writers and a powerful advocate of prisoners rights.

Following a transfer to Scotland a few years ago, he was eventually moved to open conditions and was being prepared for release. As part of that process, John spent two years working as a volunteer in the community, working with the mentally ill and socially vulnerable and qualified as a literacy tutor for people with learning difficulties. For almost a year he was allowed frequent home leaves and was not regarded as any form of risk to the public. Once again he was victimised because of his politics and moved back to a high security prison when a social worker was brought in to prepare a report, designed to prejudice the parole board when they considered John's application for release on licence, and accused him of having links with a 'paramilitary' and 'terrorist' organisation – namely the ABC! The allegations of the social worker Matt Stillman have been effectively discredited and proved false. After a successful solidarity campaign John Bowden has now been moved from HMP Glenochil back to open conditions.

To find out about John's latest situation and what you can do to help please see the Friends of John Bowden website at www.myspace.com/friendsofjohnbowden

John's pamphlet Tear Down The Walls! is available, price £2 plus 50p UK postage from Leeds ABC, PO Box 53, Leeds, LS8 4WP.

John would especially welcome cards, letters, SAEs etc.

Sean Kirtley WC 6977, HMP Stafford, 54 Gaol Rd, Stafford, ST16 3AW
Sean Kirtley was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after an 18 week trial which was at the time the longest running animal rights trial in history. He was found guilty of "conspiracy to interfere with contractual relationships so as to harm animal research organisation". Sean along with many others had his door smashed in and his house raided by police back in 2006 as part of “Operation Tornado” which was designed to start a case and try and lock up peaceful animal rights campaigners using new SOCPA legislation which was created to protect the vivisection industry from effective campaigners such as Sean and the Sequani defendants. He was behind the SSAT (Stop Sequani Animal Testing) website and was seen by the police as the organiser of many the demonstrations against Sequani and suppliers of Sequani. http://supportsean.wordpress.com/

Andrea Neff, Bnr: 746/07/2, Justizvollzugsanstalt fur Frauen in Berlin, Arkonastrasse 56, 13189 Berlin, Germany
Serving 14 months for various anti-fascist and squatting actions.

Christian Sümmermann, Bnr: 441/08/5, JVA Plötzensee, Lehrterstr. 61, 10557 Berlin, Germany.
Serving 40 months for breaching the peace whilst serving a suspended sentence issued for anti-fascist activities.

Thomas Meyer Falk, JVA Bruchsal, Zelle 3117, Schoenbornstr. 32, 76646 Bruchsal, Germany:
In 1996, Thomas was sent down for a bank robbery. He'll be inside until at least 2010. Because of his strong beliefs, he's been subject to very harsh repression - kept in solitary, daily cell raids, suppression and censorship of mail, no access to education. In 2007, he has finally been moved out of solitary and can now participate in education and other activities. When writing, it's useful to include up to 3 IRC's (International reply coupons available from the post office) at a time.
For more info email: thomas_m_f@so36.net
or see http://www.freedom-for-thomas.de/

AACHEN 4

On the 28th June, near Aachen in the area of the German/Dutch border, police stopped a car with four people, including Spanish anarchist fugitives Jose Delgado and Gabriel Pombo da Silva, Begonia Pombo da Silva (Gabriel's sister) and Bart de Geeter. The car attempted to escape, and shots were exchanged between the police and the fleeing car. For more info see. All four were eventually arrested, and on the 28th of September 2005, the verdicts were finally announced:

Jose Fernandez Delgado: 14 years in prison
Gabriel Pombo da Silva: 13 years in prison
Bart de Geeter: RELEASED JAN 07

Gabriel Pombo da Silva, JVA Aachen, Krefelder Str. 251, 52070 Aachen, Germany

Jose Fernandez Delgado, Aachenerstr. 47, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany

For more info see: www.escapeintorebellion.info.

Stephanie Träger, Am Neudeck 10, 81541, München, Germany

Sven Maurer, Stadelheimerstr. 12, 81549 München, Germany

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GREECE

Vaggelis Botzatzis has been remanded into custody accused of setting fire to two company cars owned by a energy/power company.  It is believed that the person or persons unknown who carried out the arson did so in protest at the destruction of the natural environment and in support of two workers who died at the power plant. Vaggelis is also accused of setting fire to a bank and starting a fire inside a car yard. He denies all the allagations against him and maintains his innocence.
 
Vaggelis Botzatzis, Komotini Juridical Prison ("Dikastikes Fylakes Komotinis"), T.K. 69100, GREECE

Vaggelis can receive short messages of support written in English.

ITALY

There's a steady stream of reports of extensive repression from Italy. Ecological anarchists, squatters and ALF activists are more and more active, but are also facing more arrests, raids and random fit-ups.

26th MAY 2005 ARRESTS:

The police accuse the following people of being involved in a bombing campaign associated with actions claimed by the Informal Anarchist Federation, and other acts of sabotage.The latest information is that all of the people arrested & remanded were linked in one way or another to the Italian Anarchist Black Cross. The Italian ABC are accused of circulating a press release, from the underground group FAInformal (Informal Anarchist Federation) which claimed responsibility for some of the bombings that have occured recently against targets such as politicians, prisons and state institutions.

Marco Ferruzzi sentenced to 9-year imprisonment (the public prosecutor had proposed 16 years during the previous hearing) and found guilty of having sent a mail explosive device that caused a cop to lose two fingers while opening it (this episode occurred in 2003). Currently under house arrest.

ARRESTS IN LECCE 12th MAY 2005:

On the 12th of May 2005 Italian police arrested five anarchists from Lecce; recently they were mostly active against the CPT's (temporary permanence centers for unauthorized immigrants, managed by the red cross, where human rights are frequently violated).They are accused of promoting, constituting, organizing, directing and participating in "an association for the subversion of the democratic order" and other serious crimes. All five are accused of involvement in a series of actions that include:damaging petrol pumps at Esso (Exxon) petrol stations in protest at the war against Iraq; targeting the multinational company Beneton in support of the Mapuche tribe in Chile whose land is being taken over & whose forests are being destroyed; supporting a revolt carried out by immigrants being held at an immigration centre "Regina Pacis"; damaging of several cash pointmachines of the BCI Banca Intesa because of the banks links to "Regina Pacis".

All five defendants have now been placed under house arrest. They are:

Salvatore Signore, Saverio Pellegrino, Cristian Paladini, Annalisa Capone, Marina Ferrari

The support group for the five suspects can be contacted via act_for_freedom@yahoo.com The person can receive e-mails in both Italian & English.

MARINI TRIAL:

The following five anarchists were accused of belonging to a fictional armed anarchist organisation, and fitted up by the infamous prosecutor Marini in a trial ending on April 20th, 2004.

Gregorian Garagin, Via G. Leopardi 2, 61034, Fossombrone (PU), Italy (sentenced to 30 years)

Francesco Porcu, Via provinciale San Biagio, 81030 Carinola (CE), Italy (sentenced to life)

Carlo Tesseri, now under house arrest (sentenced to 3 years 10 months)

IL SILVESTRE/TERRA SELVAGGIA DEFENDANTS:

Eleven eco-anarchists in Italy were arrested on charges relating to alleged involvement in the magazine 'Terra Selvaggia', and accused of forming themselves into a direct action group known as COR (Revolutionary Offensive Cells) and carrying out a number of actions including acts of arson, targeting right wing politicians and targeting the construction site of a police station. There was practically no evidence against the 11, other than the fact Il Silvestre had published a COR press release in their magazine Wild Earth. However despite the lack of evidence, six of the eleven defendants were found guilty and have been handed sentences of between 3½ years to 6 years imprisonment.. 11 people faced trial. All are linked to the eco-anarchist group Il Silvestre. All are accused of COR activities. Those currently imprisoned are:

SARDINIA:

There are also the comrades arrested for the robbery to a jeweler's shop in Luras (Sardinia) at the beginning of the 2000. They are Federico Pais, Riccardo Sotgia, Michele Deroma and Salvatore Nurra. Federico, Riccardo and Salvatore have been sentenced to 5 years and 4 months, Michele to 7 years and 4 months plus one year of probation. On the last 28th of April these 4 comrades have been sentenced to other 1 month and a half for "transportation, detention and scraping of the serial number of the weapons used for the robbery"; the power of attorney used a mistake occurred during the drafting of the first sentence to give these comrades more time to spend in prison.
Their addresses:

FEDERICO PAIS, c.c. Buoncammino, 09123 Cagliari, Italy

MICHELE DEROMA / SALVATORE NURRA, c.c. di Badu 'e Carros, 08100 Nuoro, Italy\\

RICCARDO SOTGIA, Via Vittorio Emanuele,26, 07041 Alghero (SS), Italy

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POLAND

Tomek Wilkoszewski, Zaklad Karny, ul. Orzechowa 5, 98-200 Sieradz, Poland: Tomek was sentenced to 15 years after killing a nazi in self defence in Radomsko, 1997.

SPAIN

Amanda Cerezo Garcia C.P. ALICANTE II, Ctra. N-330, km. 66, 03400 - Villena, Spain. Amanda is on remand accused of torching a road construction vehicle (the road in question was being built through an important ecological site). Amanda is also charged with sending a letterbomb to a neo-nazi politician.

THE "CORDOBA 4":

The Malaga court of appeal sentenced the anarchists Giovani Barcia, Michele Pontolillo and Claudio Lavaza, already sentenced to 11 years on September 1999, for an incident in the Italian vice-consulate in December 1996. Three persons wearing balaclavas imprisoned the consul and an employee, sending a message of solidarity to the Italian prisoners jailed by the Judge Marini (the judge who built a false accusation against Italian anarchists) and disappeared with passports and some money. These three Italians were convicted of this, as well as a previous bank robbery with sentences of 49 years for Claudio, 48 years for Giorgio and Giovani, 3 years for Michele. Write to them: