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William Johnston Back on Hunger Strike
(12/04/09)
William Johnston Still On Hunger
Strike – Urgent Action Needed!
A while ago we were asking people to write letters of complaint on
behalf of William Johnston, who was on hunger strike in protest over the
neglect of his medical treatment at HMP Glenochil. He is now over 35 days into
his second hunger strike and last week he collapsed and is now in need of your
urgent complaints on his behalf.
Before William was sent to prison he had
an operation on his back and had a steel rod placed in his spine. After this
operation he was told that he would be prescribed strong painkillers for the
rest of his life. Prior to his imprisonment and for 4 years after the
operation William was prescribed Diconal and Valium. Then last year the doctor
at HMP Glenochil stopped all his painkillers, which meant that Mr Johnston was
in a state of constant agony. After complaining through all the usual prison
avenues and being completely ignored he decided the only option he had left to
try to get the issue of his medical neglect addressed was to go on a hunger
strike. He started this on the 3rd September and only ended it
after 60 days because people on the outside of the prison had gotten to hear
about his situation and had started writing letters of complaint on his
behalf.
After his previous
hunger strike William was prescribed Tramodol and high strength Co-codamol by
the prison doctor who, about a week after William ended his hunger strike,
stopped working at Glenochil prison. Before leaving, he called William to see
him. He apologised to William for the victimisation he had suffered at the
hands of the medical department there and said he would now get the treatment
he needed – which suggests that he had been under pressure from the prison staff at Glenochil prison to not treat
William.
The new doctor at HMP
Glenochil has since taken William off the Tramodol and reduced him to low
strength Co-codomol. William started a new hunger strike in protest over that
decision and has now not eaten for over 35 days. On his last hunger strike he
went down to 38kg in weight and his
body is still weakened from that hunger strike. He is now already back down
to 41kg, remains very weak and
collapsed at the end of last week. Other prisoners at Glenochil fear that he
is close to death and there is not much time left for intervention in a situation where the Prison Governor
and the Scottish Prison Service Headquarters are ignoring his condition and letting him starve himself
to death, rather than be seen to “give in” and prescribe him appropriate
painkillers (the doctor there recently told him that she would not be
blackmailed).
Please send letters and cards of support to:
William Johnston #50541, HMP Glenochil,, King O'Muir Road,, Tullibody,, Clackmannanshire., FK10 3AD.
Letters of protest to the Governor at HMP Glenochil:
Governor Dan Gunn, HMP Glenochil,, King O'Muir Road,, Tullibody,, Clackmannanshire., FK10 3AD.
Also to:
Scottish Prison Service Headquarters, Communications Branch, Room 338, Calton House, 5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh, EH12 9HW
William Johnston wins his battle
(28/05/09)
Brighton ABC has just heard that William Johnston has won his long struggle against the prison Medical Service at HMP Glenochil to be allowed the painkillers he had previously been prescribed.
William had been on hunger strike for more than 2 months following the withdrawal of his medication as part of wide-ranging cost cutting measures introduced by a newly appointed prison doctor. Numerous complaints were made to the prison governor, MPs, the Scottish Government and the General Medical Council, initially to no avail. The governor even boasted in one letter that “It may be of interest that when I went to see William not a single prisoner questioned me or challenged me about our care of him. I do not know how familiar you are with our prison culture but I can assure you if William's fellow prisoners had even the slightest concern about him, I would have been vigorously and directly taken to task”.
This was a mistake; and when the prisoners on William's wing found out they organised a petition to the governor, which they all signed, condemning his actions. The Prisoners Advisory Service also arranged to send a visitor to check on conditions there. In the end it seems that the pressure from both inside and outside took its toll on the prison's resolve and they had to give in to William's perfectly reasonable demands.
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Urgent Solidarity with Amadeu Casellas
(07/06/09)
"I am denied freedom because I am not submissive to a prison and penal system is corrupt and rotten, as is demonstrated on a daily basis, in which the constitution and the laws of Catalan and Spanish are spoken where both politicians and judges do not apply. Why not give me the limitation of condemnation? The answer is simple: because I was born poor, like so many others "
Amadeu Casellas is an anarchist prisoner who has been locked up for 23 years for bank expropriations. He has also been very active in the struggles inside the prison. He has served out the sentence given to him by the courts and according to Spanish law he should now be free but he remains locked up. Last year he went on hungerstrike for 76 days demanding his release. The prison authorities promised to start him on a release program (the so called 'third grade'), which would mean better conditions in prison as soon as he recovered his health. But once again they lied.
Amadeu has been back on hungerstrike since May in another attempt to win his freedom and solidarity actions have continued out on the streets.
We request the greatest level of solidarity, and urgently, in the multiple forms that you all believe to be opportune, until Amadeu is free.
http://www.llibertatamadeu.blogspot.com
The next proposed actions are as follows:
Massive sending of faxes and telephone calls on Friday the 5th, Monday the 8th, and Wednesday the 10th.
Antirepression protest in Barcelona 27 June 2009, beginning in Forat de la Vergonya.
Manifestación antirrepresiva 27 de junio de 2009 en Barcelona, Forat de la
vergonya.
Bank account number for economic solidarity: 2013 0018 51 0201856163
LLIBERTAT AMADEU CASELLAS, Y DEMÁS PRESXS EN LUCHA
POR LA DESTRUCCIÓN DEL SISTEMA CARCELARIO
POR LA ANARQUÍA*
FREEDOM FOR AMADEU CASELLAS AND ALL OTHER PRISONERS IN STRUGGLE
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PRISON SYSTEM
FOR ANARCHY!
Addresses:
(General Directorate of Penitentiary Services)
Dirección General de Serveis Penitenciaris
C/ Aragó, 332
08009 Barcelona
Tlf. 93.214 0100
Fax. 93 214 0179
(Amadeu's Prison, Brians 2)
A la atención del Director de Brians-2, Pedro Dominguez
A la atención de la Junta de Tratamiento del MR 4
C.P. Brians 2
Carretera de Martorell a Capellades, km 23
08635 Sant Esteve Sesrovires
Tlf. 93 693 50 00
Fax. 93 693 5013
(court in charge of appeals and other decisions regarding his imprisonment)
A la atención de Remei Bona
Jutjat de Vigilància Penitenciària núm. 4 de Catalunya
Via Laietana, 4
08003 Barcelona
Teléfono.- 93 567 4494
Fax. 93 567 4504
(An official institution that can play a mediation role)
Sindic de Greuges
Passeig de Lluís Companys 7
08003 Barcelona
Tlf: 900 124 124
Fax: 933 013 187
E-mail sindic@sindic.cat <sindic@sindic.cat>
Departament de Justícia:
justicia@gencat.cat
(A proposed letter or fax, this can be copied in full, just put your name at the bottom)
*A la atención del Director de la Dirección General de Serveis
Penitenciaris, Albert Batlle
A la atención del Director de Brians-2, Pedro Dominguez
A la atención de la Junta de Tratamiento del MR 4*
Quisiéramos llamar su atención sobre la situación del preso Amadeu Casellas Ramón, que como muy bien saben, ha iniciado una nueva huelga de hambre el día 25 de Mayo, en la prisión de Brians 2.
No creemos necesario explicarles los detalles por los que ha tomado dicha decisión, ustedes los conocen bien, pero sí que quisiéramos recordarles que ustedes habían llegado a unos compromisos a los que han faltado en su cumplimiento desde un inicio. Pero, parece que eso no les ha bastado y ahora le han cancelado también todas las comunicaciones y contactos con el exterior, llevándole a una situación difícil y de extrema gravedad. Ustedes abusan de la ley, y le hacen responsable de situaciones en las que Amadeu ni tan siquiera ha podido participar. Aquí ya no se trata de la presunción de inocencia, sino del uso arbitrario del castigo y de la imposición del abuso como método.
De nuevo, entre todas las opciones posibles, optan por la que más perjudica a Amadeu y le condenan por algo en lo que ni tan siquiera ha participado y no le dejan otra posibilidad que la de tomar acciones cada vez más drásticas.
Por todo ello, quisiéramos recordarles que ustedes, los responsables de la Dirección General de Serveis Penitenciaris, los responsables de dirección de la prisión de Brians 2 y el equipo de tratamiento del MR 4, son responsables directos de las consecuencias que pudieran derivar hacia la salud y la vida del propio Amadeu y además, ustedes sí que son los instigadores de que Amadeu opte por opciones tan drásticas.
Desde este escrito, quisiéramos recordarles una vez más, que si no reconsideraran su decisión, no sólo se están cometiendo un abuso arbitrario de poder, sino que además están poniendo en grave peligro la vida de Amadeu Casellas y llevando todo ese dolor hacia sus familiares amigas y amigos.
Amadeu debería de estar en la calle, y ustedes lo saben. Si no optan por la vía de su puesta en libertad, estarán optando por su muerte o por un desenlace indeseado, que de producirse, éstos no serán silenciados y tendrá nombres concretos en dicha asesina complicidad.
Sin otro particular.
-------------- ----------------- ---------------------
*A la atención de la Jueza del Juzgado de Vigilancia Penitenciaria nº 4,
Remei Bona.
A la atención del Sindic de Greuges*
Por el presente escrito, quisiéramos hacerle llegar nuestra preocupación por la situación del preso Amadeu Casellas Ramón en la prisión de Brians 2, que el día 25 de Mayo ha reiniciado una nueva huelga de hambre.
Creemos que se está cometiendo un deliberado y continuado abuso de poder contra el Sr. Casellas. Amadeu mantiene la huelga de hambre porque le han negado derechos tan básicos como el de las comunicaciones orales y escritas, y los motivos que esgrime la prisión, son sucesos ocurridos en la calle, cuando el Sr. Amadeu ni tan siquiera ha tenido la oportunidad de salir de permiso, y por tanto no ha podido participar de esos sucesos de los que le hacen responsable.
Por todo ello, le instamos a que proceda en consecuencia con dicha situación, y normalice las comunicaciones orales y escritas de Amadeu.
Sin otro particular, y a la espera de su urgente actuación, atentamente.
Amadeu Casellas ends hunger strike
(18/06/09)
Amadeu Casellas was forced to give up his hunger strike due to increasing poor health on 16th June. He had been refusing food and only taking sugar water since 24th May in an attempt to win his freedom (see previous story). During that time he lost 19 kgs. He would like to thank all who supported him during his latest hunger strike and asks them to continue to help in his campaign to be released from prison.
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Ronnie Easterbrook is dead
(12/04/09)
We've
recently asked people to write letters on behalf of Ronnie Easterbrook
who is 78 years old and on hunger strike. For more details about his
case read: www.indymedia.org.uk
"Supporters of prisoners in struggle have known Ronnie since 1995 when
he was in the seg unit at Whitemoor on dirty protest with Irish
prisoners who were demanding repatriation. Since then he had been on
repeated protests and hunger strikes in an attempt to draw attention to
his situation.
Ronnie was sentenced to life for armed robbery
and attempted murder in 1988 after a failed robbery on a supermarket
wages van. A police informant set the job up and Ronnie and two others
were ambushed by PT17, the elite tactical firearms unit. Tony Ash was
shot dead, despite surrendering, and Ronnie, Gary Wilson and a police
inspector all suffered gunshot wounds. Also lying in wait was a Thames
TV crew, who captured the shoot-out on film.
Ronnie maintained
he was a victim of a police shoot-to-kill policy, modelled on tactics
used in the north of Ireland, but was prevented from putting forward a
defence based on this, both by his own barrister’s refusal to
co-operate and the judge’s refusal to allow a political defence.
Throughout his sentence Ronnie refused to apply for parole because he
did not recognise the legality of his sentence, and maintained to the
end that unless he got a new trial justice would not have been done.
As
Ronnie put it in a letter written from the segregation unit at
Frankland to Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! in 2005: ‘They say I am
strong-willed, yet being right, even when one can prove it, as I can,
is just a state of mind. If one had no principles it would be
difficult, perhaps impossible, to carry on, but as I have always had
good principles there is no question that I would ever accept the
burden a corrupt state and judiciary have placed upon me.’
Those
of us in FRFI (Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism), ABC (Anarchist Black
Cross) and MOJUK (Miscarriages of Justice Organisation) who knew and
corresponded with Ronnie for
many years will miss him greatly. He was a great and stubborn fighter
and had no truck with any of the Prison Service’s incentive schemes and
other divide-and-rule games. He fought his own fight with unswerving
determination and showed great solidarity and support for other
prisoners in struggle".
Nicki Jameson
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Greek
Riots - Occupied London Information & benefit Events/Arrests
Update (20/01/09)
Some of the people
involved with the Occupied
London blog,
which has reported on the rioting in Greece since Alexis Grigoropoulos’
shooting, will be at a number of information and benefit events that
are being organised across the UK as part of the Greek prisoner
solidarity benefits. The dates are:
* Thursday 22nd January
at the RampART social centre, London
* Monday 26th January at the Cowley Club, Brighton
* Saturday 28th February at the Common Place, Leeds
* Saturday 23rd May at the Anarchist Bookfair, Cardiff
* Bristol dates & venues tbc in Bristol
At least one more
London date will be added for mid-February, to coincide with the launch
of Occupied London #4.
Though
the blog has ended it didn’t finish without first giving a thorough
breakdown of what has happened over the past months and we reprint the
section on arrests below. We also hope to have a fuller update of
arrests/sentences in the near future.
Arrests
More
than 270 people have been arrested in connection to actions, since the
beginning of the insurrection, on December 6th, in 15 cities. 67 of
them have been detained, while 50 immigrants that were arrested the
first 3 days, were rapidly condemned to 18 months of imprisonment and
are being deported. 19 arrestees in Larissa face charges under the
anti-terrorist law. Countless of people were brought to the police
departments but were released with no charges in the end. (Article
in Greek)
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New prisoners in Russia
(12/03/09)
Russian Antifa
activist, Aleksey Bychin, has been remanded for fighting with
neo-nazis. Whilst Andrei Mergenov has been sentenced to 3 years
for a fight with neo-nazis.
Please send letters of support to:
Aleksey Bychin, SIZO 47/2, ul. Akademika Lebedeva, dom. 39, 195005 St. Peterburg, Russia
Andrei Mergenov, FGU IZ 64/1 OKB 2 komn. 73, Up. Kutyakova 107, 410601 Saratov, Russia
Finally, an Anarchist and Animal Rights activist has been jailed. Pavel Delidon was in dispute with
his
employer over some wages which he had not received. Pavel
allegedly took direct action to try and gather his wages and has
subsequently been jailed, for merely trying to take money owed to him.
Pavel's address is:
Pavel Delidon, ul. Timiryazeva-1, FGU IK-7, 309990 Valuyki, Russia
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News about John
Bowden (01/08/08)
In
May this year, long-term prison resister John Bowden went on the run
whilst out on a routine shopping trip from HMP Noranside. We can now
reveal why he did so when he was so close to a new parole hearing.
Lifer
and long term prison rebel John Bowden, who absconded from Open Prison
whilst on home leave, was recaptured on 6/6/08. After 3 weeks on the
run the Police discovered JB hiding on a farm on the outskirts of
Glasgow. He now languishes back in maximum security conditions in HMP
Glenochil in need of support and solidarity.
The
incident at
the farm quickly escalated into a tense siege situation, with armed
anti-terror Police, who were acting on a tip off from an informant,
ringing the perimeter. It was at this point that John feared that this
was a scene the cops would be only too happy for him not to walk out of
alive. However with the intervention of a sympathetic journalist a line
of communication was opened and the siege ended peacefully after 7
hours, with John and another person arrested.
The
Scottish
media had from the outset portrayed John's being-at-large with
predictably sensational headlines ( 'Mad Axeman on the loose', etc...)
when in reality he had been on home leave once a month for the past 12
months and on the long road to eventual release. The day he was
recaptured reads like a Western stand-off between the sheriff's
deputies and a bunch of desperados rather than the Police taking an
absconder from an open prison back into custody.
John
was
convicted for murder, and
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.
Throughout
his 25 years imprisonment, John
has suffered constant harassment and brutality at the hands of the
system. As someone who is not prepared to compromise his beliefs, this
has served to mark him out for special attention. In May 2007 the
Scottish Prison and Probation Service were involved in a clumsy attempt
to prevent his parole by framing him (and smearing the ABC prisoner
support network) with accusations that the ABC was involved in
terrorism and that JB was therefore associating with terrorists! This
all spectacularly backfired, with the SPS issuing a full apology.
However it was successful in preventing his parole then and cost him a
transfer back to closed conditions for 6 months.
In
Britain
life sentence prisoners are in the hands of the Parole Board who can
stretch a prisoner's term to suit their prejudices. Not having a fixed
date to work towards is a form of torture in itself. As John said in a
recent letter received after his 'apprehension' "Yes it's very
depressing being dependent on faceless bureaucrats for some hope of
release, especially when you know they possess not a shred of
compassion or humanity and certainly no sense of fair play or justice.
Being locked up in jail on a long sentence is horrendous enough, but
for most long-term prisoners the certainty of a release date at least
provides them with a definite hope of release, a cut off point when the
hardship and suffering will end and they'll regain their freedom. For
those serving life there never is any definite hope of release, just
this constant, seemingly endless passage of jail time measured not in
the passing of days, weeks, months and years, but in the physical
ageing of oneself and the hardening of ones heart in the face of
constant parole knock backs and dashed hopes. It definitely requires a
particular type of strength to retain one's sanity and humanity in such
circumstances, and of course the cruel irony is that those who survive
with dignity, courage and grace are usually considered the least
suitable for release by the cold, heartless bastards who decide on such
matters."
On
top of that, in May this year, during a routine
drug test he provided a false positive result for cocaine (a second
subsequent test established that he was in fact drug free). Under
duress and fearing yet another fit-up was under way to prevent his
release and send him back to maximum security again, he absconded.
At
the moment John is facing fresh charges over his absconding whilst on
home leave (and resisting arrest) and is potentially likely to suffer a
major setback to his eventual release. Therefore it is vital that John
is supported through these difficult times and the Scottish Prison
Service put on notice that it cannot isolate and persecute prisoners at
will.
write
to John at:
John Bowden, Prison
No. 6729, HM Prison Glenochil, King OMuir Road, TULLIBODY. FK10 3AD
More about John Bowden
John Bowden, convicted for murder, 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.
www.myspace.com/friendsofjohnbowden
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Repression of protests against Republican
Convention in US
(10/09/08)
Update 29/1/09- more
RNC protestors being charged- www.helpmkethree.blogspot.com
By the last
count, as many as 818 protesters, journalists, and bystanders were
arrested previous to and during the Republican National Convention.
Journalists and videographers were particularly targeted as they tried
to document the protests and random acts of civil disobedience. On
Saturday, two days before the convention, multiple house and office
raids took place and people were detained for hours, most prominently
members from I-Witness and the RNC Welcoming Committee. Some from the
committee, eight in total, were charged with “conspiracy to riot in
furtherance of terrorism” based on a Minnesota law that was shaped
after the Patriot Act.
“Cops came and served warrants in several houses, arrested several
people, and seized a lot of equipment,” said Kris Hermes from the
Coldsnap Legal Collective, an organization created to help release many
of the protesters that were expected to be arrested. “Not only personal
belongings were seized, but also political propaganda by the box load.
There was no criminal activity happening at either of these houses or
the convergence space.”
Police brutality at the 2008 RNC has been unprecedented and there
seemed to be a concerted effort to intimidate and detain protesters
before the RNC events kicked off. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, most
of it happened in the cover of night.
“The [Poor People's] march ended and there were no direct action, no
speakers and started slowly drifting away. But then, suddenly we met
this line of police blocking two corners of intersection. I think it
was St. Paul and Seventh, and for no reason... They just gave a
dispersal order and people were kind of confused,” said Sasha. “They
fired the first concussion grenade and started shooting tear gas, and
people started panicking. But all the way down towards the Capitol,
there were line of police at every intersection blocking the other ways
and as people reached those lines, people were being pepper sprayed
indiscriminately as they ran by the line of police. Hundreds were
indiscriminately sprayed.”
That was on Tuesday around 9:00 pm, and by Thursday when McCain was
scheduled to speak, the crowd of protesters had dwindled to 500 plus,
who despite the intimidation, tried to march towards the Xcel Center
where the candidate declaimed peace.
According to Coldsnap, the police were able to get a 50 million dollar
grant from the Federal Government to bring law enforcement officers
from other parts of Minnesota and out of state, as well as armed people
with 2 million dollars worth of chemical irritants and tasers.
UK
man facing 12 years in jail
One
man from the UK, Dave Mahoney was cycling to the grocery store with his
girlfriend in Minneapolis on September 4th 2008, when an un-marked van
pulled up, and two men wearing FBI shirts inexplicably bundled him into
the back, and drove off.
Dave was part of the protesters assembled at the Republican National
Convention in the City that week, and was there to peacefully remind
America and the rest of the world of some of the atrocities, and
in-justices millions of people endure everyday across the globe - many
of which link directly to the actions & policy of the
Republican party. Instead, Dave's become one of the victims and is now
facing trumped up charges of Assault, and Conspiracy to Riot with a
Furtherance of Terrorism; if convicted he could get up to 12 years in
jail AND a $24,000 dollar fine. Dave was
due to return home to the UK on October 3rd, and so had very little
money when he was arrested, everything he had went towards his
extortionate $25,000 bail, and so his family & friends back
here are desperately trying to raise much-needed money for him to just
survive over there, and also to fund a decent lawyer - which he'll
inevitably need to take on organisations as deceitful and corrupt as
the FBI and US Government.
For
more information about Dave's case, or to offer help (financial or
otherwise) & advice please get in touch as soon as possible, by
emaiing helpdave@mail.com . Anything
you can do to help us and Dave beat these charges would make a
difference, and would be so gratefully appreciate
UPDATE:
Dave now has a blog http://helpdavemahoney.blogspot.com/
which has a paypal donations button on it .
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Ronnie
Easterbrook, 78 years old and on hunger strike (18/12/08)
Ronnie,
from south
London, was convicted in 1988 of the attempted murder of a policeman
during an armed robbery that was set up by the police and in which
the only person who died was his fellow would-be robber who was shot
dead by the police. Through information from an informant, Police had
lain in wait, with a TV camera crew in-tow and ambushed the gang. The
man shot dead by the Police, Tony Ash, was unarmed and already
surrendering to them.
Ronnie
has campaigned
relentlessly since then for his conviction to be overturned, refusing
to become involved in applications for parole or early release. He
had wanted to mount a political defence at his trial, arguing that
the infamous 'shoot to kill' policy adopted by the British state in
Northern Ireland had now been taken up by the Met. Police in pursuit
of criminal gangs. However his barrister at the time refused to
follow his instructions and Ronnie himself refused a prosecution
deal, so he was forced to defend himself in court, without legal
representation.
Handed
down a Life
sentence (originally with a whole-life tariff, itself highly unusual
given the circumstances of his case), Ronnie held one of the longest
dirty protests in the British prison system and undertook a 60 day
hunger strike 10 years ago to try to force the authorities to review
his case. Now at 78 years old this hunger strike, after 20 years
fighting the system, is likely to be his final act of resistance to
the unfair trial and unjust treatment he has received. Physically
weakened by previous protests and in ill health (he only has one
lung), Ronnie has made an advance directive/living will to refuse any
medical intervention in this hunger strike. He writes:
"Many
will say: '
Well he is only a criminal.' True but if the protective aspects of
the law do not apply to me, it follows that there is
no law. Hitler started by excluding sections of the German
populations from protection of the law. State evil can always find
'reasons' disguised as righteousness. "After 20 years inside, I
have been held a political prisoner, or a prisoner of politics. I
refuse to go through a parole process. Why should I when the
authorities, Home Office and Judiciary, know they are holding me
illegally?"
It's
vital that all
efforts are made to get the authorities to re-open Ronnie's case so
the callous indifference shown by the powerful to one of the
powerless is reversed.
Urgent Update on Ronnie Easterbrook – Action
Needed!! (09/01/09)
Ronnie
is now entering his 3rd week on hunger strike. At 78 years old and
already in failing health due to previous protests, this may be his
final act against a judicial and penal system that he believes has
unjustly imprisoned him for 20 years.
Ronnie
from South London was convicted of armed robbery and attempted murder
in 1988 after a failed robbery on a supermarket wages van went horribly
wrong. A police informant, Seamus Ray, set the job up and duly tipped
off the police. As they made their getaway Easterbrook, Tony Ash and
their driver Gary Wilson were ambushed by a Police team from PT17, the
elite tactical firearms unit. A dramatic shoot-out ensued. Ash was shot
dead by a Police marksman and Easterbrook, Wilson and a police
inspector all suffered gunshot wounds. The shoot-out was captured by a
Thames TV crew.
Easterbrook
doesn't dispute his involvement in the robbery. What he doesn't accept
though is that the police acted legitimately during the ambush. He says
the police shot first and that he believed they were operating the same
shoot to kill policy as in Northern Ireland. “A bullet bounced off our
getaway car and even though Tony shouted out I give up, I give up, they
still shot him dead.” Because of this, he says, he had no choice but to
shoot back in self-defence. But he was never allowed to air the
shoot-to-kill theory at his trial. Although he wanted his barrister to
focus on police tactics as part of his defence the request was refused
on the grounds that a political defence was not permitted – the rules
have since changed. Easterbrook ended up having to represent himself
and as he admits, made a lousy job of it. “I left school at the age of
14. I was totally out of my depth in the trial and didn't have the
intellect to put forward a structured defence.” He was also perplexed
by the 'whole life' sentence meted out by the judge. His is the only
recorded case of such a sentence being imposed on an armed robber in
the absence of medical evidence to establish dangerousness. His case
even gets a mention in the law bible Archbold as one which is unusual
because it does not accord with other known authorities on sentencing.
Ronnie's
tariff has been reduced from whole life to 12 and a half years but he
says he won't apply for parole because he doesn't recognise the
legality of his sentence and that until he gets a new trial justice
will not have been done. Now after 20 years in prison (8 years beyond
his tariff) and in a last desperate bid to draw attention to his case
Ronnie has embarked on what is in effect a death fast if the
authorities fail to act.
His
case is not one that attracts automatic sympathy, particularly as a
self-confessed career criminal, but he has now served well over his
recommended tariff. At the age of 78 it is time to let him go home to
his family.
WHAT
YOU CAN DO:
Send
a postcard or letter of support to Ronnie, this will also let the
prison authorities know he is not isolated and people are aware of his
situation:
Ronnie
Easterbrook (B58459)
HMP Gartree
Gallow Field Road
Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 7RP
Send a
letter to Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, urging her to initiate a
review of his case:
Jacqui
Smith, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office
3rd Floor, Peel Buildings
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Fax: 020 8760 3132
e-mail: smithjj@parliament.uk
Write
to the Governor at HMP Gartree, Susan Howard, expressing your concern
over Ronnie's condition:
Susan
Howard, Governor
HMP Gartree
Gallow Field Road
Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 7RP
Tel: 01858 426 600
Fax: 01858 426 601
Write
to the people below to say that Ronnie has now spent enough time in
prison. He is currently held in a category B prison, as it seems that
there is no possibility of him getting a re-trial, at the age of 78 he
should at least be moved to an open prison on humanitarian grounds and
started on the parole process:
The
Parole Board for England and Wales
Grenadier House
99-105 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 2DX
Phone: 0845 251 2220
Fax: 0845 251 2221
Rt
Hon David Hanson MP
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3334 3555
Fax: +44 (0)20 3334 4455
general.queries@justice.gsi.gov.uk
Lord
Corbett,
Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Penal Affairs Group
House of Lords,
London
SW1A OPW.
Tel: 020 7219 3420
Simon
Creighton, his lawyer, said in 1999, “A public airing of the issues
surrounding his case may make the Home Secretary at last feel some
disquiet about it and initiate a review. I hope public opinion will
recognise how desperate this situation is. I don't think I have ever
come across a case where I have met such barriers from the
establishment. I find it bizarre that the system would rather see him
die without having a proper hearing than afford him the basic human
right of legal representation in court. Ronnie is no saint but he does
have a right to the same sort of trial and punishment as everyone
else”.
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Support Thomas
Meyer Falk (17/10/08)
Parole
for Thomas Meyer-Falk
Thomas
has been imprisoned since 1996 on a sentence of 15 years 9 months for
trying to raise money for both legal and illegal left wing projects
by robbing a bank. Because of his strong beliefs, he's been subject
to very harsh repression. In May 2007 his solitary confinement was
lifted after 11 years and he can only now participate in education
and other activities. In Germany prisoners may be considered
for release after having served 2/3 rds of their sentence. This date
passed in November 2007. Currently the courts are investigating
whether they will grant Thomas parole so we ask you to write to the
courts in support of his release.
A
sample letter is below.
Write to Thomas and support him any way you can! Organise actions for
Thomas! He needs your solidarity now!
Freedom-for-thomas.de
Thomas
Meyer-Falk, c/o JVA Bruchsal, Schoenbornstr. 32, 76646
Bruchsal, Germany
All
letters in support of Thomas being granted parole are to be
mailed to:
Vorsitzender
Richter Kleinheinz, c/o
Landgericht, Hans-Thomas-Str.
7, D-76133
Karlsruhe, Germany.
Or
fax: 0049-7219262344 Aktenzeichen
15: STVK 260/07 BR
Sample Letter:
Seht
geehrter Richter Kleinheinz,
Hiermit
unterstuetze ich den Antrag von Herrn Thomas Meyer-Falk nach der
gesetzlich vorgesehenen Verbuessung von 2/3 seiner Strafe
freigelassen zu werden. Freiheit
fuer Thomas!
Hochachtungsvoll
(Signature)
In
English:
Dear
Judge Kleinheinz,
I
would like to declare my support for Mr Thomas Meyer-Falk's appeal
according to the provision in the law to be released after spending
2/3 of his sentence. Freedom
for Thomas!
Respectfully
(Signature)
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German antifascist imprisoned (02/08/07)
On the 27th of June 2007,
Steffi, Sven, and Lukas (all at that time between 17 and 19 years old)
were stood in an empty building in Westendstraße in Munich. The
majority of the houses located in this street have been uninhabited
for a long time, and some of them are used by punks and others to
gather. Since this day these three people are in jail, and at the
end of January this year they were sentenced to five years in
prison, because of throwing stones which was classified as attempted
murder. In
the evening a unit of the Bavarian police special forces stormed the house without any warning.
The social workers, which were coming regularly to visit the
punks, were forced to keep silent. The three defended the house
with stones against the armoured and armed cops. The stones had been
collected in the house earlier in preparation against a possible
eviction. One of the cops was injured with a slightly broken
vertebra vertebra of the chest which allegedly came from the thrown
stones. An expert report found that the injury resulted from
jumping over a wall and not from thrown stones. The prosecutors classified the
throwing of stones not as a breach of the peace and assault, as
usually is the case, but as attempted murder. It was after the
violent demonstration on the 2nd of June 2007 against the G8-Summit in
the north-german town of Rostock, that the calls for harsher
sentencing began. With this judgment, the state
is attempting to set a legal precedent. This will have
sweeping consequences for all of us. It also sends a message to society
that resistance is useless, and that every perpetrator of
violence will get his/her just punishment.
Lukas
Winkler, Marktplatz 1, 96157 Ebrach, Germany
Stephanie
Träger, Am Neudeck 10, 81541,
München, Germany
Sven
Maurer, Stadelheimerstr. 12, 81549
München, Germany
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Raids and
repression in France (28/11/08)
In
the early morning on the 11th november the french police conducted one
of the biggest police raids in the latest history in the name of
counter terrorism against the left in france. The police searched
several buildings and appartements in Paris, Rouen, Limoges, the La
Meuse region and in the village of Tarnac in central France. During
this raid ten people were arrested and taken into custody, nine of them
are now confronted with serious charges of terrorist conspiracy and
malicious mischief. The official reason for the raids are sabotage
actions on the high speed train (TGV) network conducted with grapples
in the night of the 7th to the 8th november in four different places in
France.
The
raid in Tarnac, a village of 350 inhabitants and the supposed base of
the so called terrorists, was conducted with over 150 policemen of the
national police, anti terrorist brigades, forensic units, explosives
track hounds, and so on and took the whole day. The village of Tarnac
was totally closed off for at least half a day, the public life was
paralysed. In total, six people in Tarnac, two people in Rouen, one
person in Paris and one person in the La Meuse region were taken into
custody that day. Under the new anti terrorist law in France they could
be hold in police custody for 96 hours without having the right to
consult a lawyer. One Person, the mother of one of the still accused,
was released without charges after three days. The other nine are all
charged with “participation in a criminal organisation with terrorist
intent”. Four of them were released after 96 hours of custody and are
now free under judicial control. The other five are now in detention
and are additionally charged with “collaborative malicious mischief
with terrorist intent” by wich the investigators refer to the actions
of sabotage on the SNCF network. One of them is even charged with
“being the leader of a terrorist cell”.
Until
today, neither the lawyers nor the public have seen any airtight
evidence against the accused. The police has only presented iron bars,
welding material, climbing equipment and so called “anarchist”
literature (especially a book called “l´insurrection qui vient”, the
coming uprising, written by an author collective calling themselves
“comite invisible”, the invisible committee) to prove the guilt of the
nine accused.
Nevertheless,
the police raid was accompanied by a huge press campaign. The
journalists launched their first articles at 8.30h in the morning
having obviously been “well informed” by the police. Thats why in the
first place it was for all the media totally clear that the arrested
were the sought-after terrorists. Now the lawyers claim that the
presumtion of innosence of their clients was heavily violated and that
the court of justice is prejudiced.
Two
days after the raids a public meeting took place in the village of
Tarnac. More than hundred people attended this meeting to show their
solidarity with the arrested and the people still on the ground. That
evening the idea of starting a local support committee was born. The
following day the first press conference of the three initial members
of the local support committee took place where they demanded the
immediate release of all the arrested and the immediate retreat of the
accusation of “terrorism”.
The
local support committee needs your support. There is a urgent need of
donations to pay the lawyers and to support the people in detention.
The
site is www.soutien11novembre.org
Here
is a short translated text from the site of the local support committee:
How
to support?
After
the first shock-wave in the media it is first of all important to create
public pressure and not to let the affair calm down. We have to maintain
the pressure during the investigation. To achieve this goal, everyone
can start a local support commitee: organise events, take all
opportunities to explain the circumstances and inform about the
situation, collect
funds... An
international solidarity movement is necessary to achieve the liberation
of the accused as fast as possible.
In
the same time it is essential to guarantee a minimum of vital needs for the
imprisoned such as clothes, cigarettes, hygenical products etc... Money is
equally necessary to pay the lawyers, to allow the loved-ones to visit the
people in prison who are imprisoned in the region of Paris until further
notice. The
financial needs are real and urgent. The
donations will also be used for certain activities of the support
comittees. A bank
account is in creation and will soon be published on this site.
You
can also write letters to the imprisoned to the adress of the support comitte
Tarnac, they will be forwarded to the prisoners. The address is:
Gabrielle,
Manon, Yldune, Benjamin, Julien Comite de
soutien aux inculpes de Tarnac, 1917, Le
Bourg, Tarnac, France
Thank
you very much for your support...
supporter
-
e-mail: 11novembresoutien@gmx.com
-
Homepage: http://www.soutien11novembre.org
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Shell to Sea prisoner (04/06/09)
Maura Harrington has been arrested for non payment of fines related to
the community struggles against Shell's construction of a gas pipeline
in Rossport, Co. Mayo, Ireland.
Please send cards, letters, messages of support to :
Maura Harringon, Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Gaol, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Rep of Ireland
more info: http://www.corribsos.com/ and http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.110mb.com/
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