Cardiff: Pete and Josh free, acquitted of all charges

 Article from: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/men-accused-violent-disorder-after-10733879

Joshua Longbottom (left) and Peter Simpson were acquitted of violent disorder and ABH

Two men accused of violent disorder after protesters occupied a Cardiff bank on May Day last year have been acquitted.

Joshua Longbottom, 26 – also known as Joshua Howe – and Peter Simpson, 30, were accused of having a confrontation with police at the HSBC branch in Queen Street on May 2 last year.

Demonstrators had been involved in a peaceful May Day march in the city centre organised by Cardiff Uncut and Cardiff Trades Council.

Cardiff Crown Court previously heard that a small minority broke off from the main march and occupied the Queen Street bank where they shouted slogans and protests.

Longbottom was accused of assaulting a police officer and Simpson was accused of trying to prevent Longbottom’s arrest.

‘Acting instinctively’

Both were arrested and taken to Cardiff Bay police station.

Longbottom and Simpson, both of Clifton Street, Adamsdown , Cardiff, were accused of violent disorder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).

They both denied the charges against them and argued they were “acting instinctively” to protect themselves.

During the trial Judge Michael Fitton QC gave the jury a direction to find Longbottom and Simpson not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) as the evidence could no longer sustain the allegation.

On Thursday the jury found both men not guilty.

Read more: Anarchist protest at Cardiff bank was ‘serious piece of mob violence’, say prosecutors

‘Peaceful protest’

During the trial both men gave their accounts of what happened at what Longbottom called a “peaceful protest”.

He told the court joined the protest at the end of St Mary Street and entered the HSBC bank along with other protesters when they reached Queen Street.

He said: “I thought we were going to hand out some leaflets and maybe try and engage with some members of the public.

“We all lined up against the back wall and someone started making a speech about HSBC and tax. There was nothing untoward.”

After spending 15 minutes in the bank Longbottom said he approached the entrance to hand leaflets to members of the public who had been refused entry to the bank as it had closed.

The defendant then claimed he was shoved by a police officer and was refused re-entry.

A picture showing the May Day 2015 anti-austerity march in Cardiff’s Mill Lane. Those pictured were not involved in the trial

Defendant claimed he was thrown to floor by police

When he tried to get back into the bank he claims he was grabbed by the officer who tried to shove him back out.

Longbottom said: “I wanted to finish my protest and I felt it was unfair they wouldn’t let me back in.”

When he tried to get back into the bank he claimed he was grabbed and “thrown to the floor” by an officer before later being warned he could be Tasered.

He claimed he sustained bruising to his collar bone, chest and arms as a result of his arrest.

Simpson said he saw Longbottom on the floor and believed he was being “attacked” and added: “I was concerned by the level or force being used by police officers.

“An officer had come down on top of Joshua. It just seemed really sudden and I was shocked by it. I was trying to figure out what was going on.”

Simpson also claimed to have been grabbed and elbowed by a police officer during the incident.

Speaking after the acquittal, Mr Simpson said: “There’s an element of relief but I wouldn’t go as far to say I’m relieved.

“I knew that we both weren’t guilty. We were treated as guilty until proven innocent and that shouldn’t be the way things work.

“The jury was able to see the evidence and and not be brought into this sensational thing. The evidence wasn’t there.”

Mr Longbottom added: “It’s been stressful. I’ve hoped it would turn out like this.

“It’s nice to see the justice system working how it should.”

Indefinite detention in Germany

Below is a letter from long-term prisoner Thomas Meyer-Falk about a friend of his who is in indefinite detention in Germany. For more information write to:

Thomas Meyer-Falk
c/o JVA (SV)
Hermann-Herderstr. 8
D 79104 Freiburg
GERMANY

www.freedom-for-thomas.de
freedomforthomas.wordpress.com

Woman imprisoned for sex without a condom

In Germany in 2014 a 29 year old woman was sentenced to four years in prison for having sex without using a condom. Because the court deemed her a threat to public safety, Preventative Detention – indefinite imprisonment – was added.

The story:

Jaqueline was a young woman who was in love with life, she hung around the surroundings of a biker club and had a few partners. Years before she had caught HIV, but was taking medication for it and therefore hadn’t become ill.

Then Jaquline’s own mother, when she found out that her daughter had been having sex with men, reported her to the police.

The trial:

The district court found Jaqueline guilty of “attempting serious physical injury”: having sex without using a condom. According to the courts this was a highly dangerous “treatment” (the technical word in German law), and since she had done the same thing before, Preventative Detention was added.

History of Preventative Detention:

In 1933 the Nazis passed a law against people who were identified as “threats to society”, which allowed the state to keep someone behind bars for life after this person had finished his or her sentence (freedomforthomas.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/nazi-law-in-germany-2013/). After WWII, in 1954, the GDR (East Germany)’s High Courts repealed the law that had created PD because it was an “original Nazi code”. The courts in FRG (West Germany) never had such moral doubts. In Spain, the constitutional court has overruled a similar law, because it violates the rule saying that no-one should be convicted twice for the same offence.

No appeal!

The Federal High Court and the Federal Constitutional Court both refused to overrule the district court’s decision, so now Jaqueline, who is only 30 years old, faces a lifetime behind bars for only having had sex without a condom. No-one was injured, no-one was harmed, no-one was infected with HIV. Lifetime, maybe, behind bars – based on a law which was passed by the Nazis in 1933.

Three Belarusian Anarchists Are Released

On August 22nd president Lukashenko has signed papers to release all the political prisoners, including our comrades Ihar, Mikalai and Artsiom as well as the nationalist Jauhen Vasâkovich.

This release comes after 5 years that they had to spend in prison. All the time prisoners were subject to psychological and physical torture. Numerous days were spent in solitary confinement as a punishment for struggle aginst the prison oppression.

We are glad to meet our comrades and see them in good spirits! They are now together with their families and friends. They will be under constant police control for next 5 years.

With this happening we would like to thank everyone who was helping ABC-Belarus all these years. We enjoyed incredible support of communities all around the world and through this we manage to create a really encouraging atmosphere of solidarity. Thank you very much!

Though these people are free, there are still several comrades who are in prisons in Belarus. They also need your support.

Till all are free.
ABC-Belarus

Wildfire: An Anarchist Prison Newsletter #2

From Wildfire:

[Download Issue #2] (Prints 8.5×11)

The past months have seen a continuation of prison struggle in its many forms, as well as a blanket of repression from state forces against anarchist insurgency. As international attacks multiplied and the comrades remained steadfast, the Greek hunger strikers won many of their demands. At the same time, the Czech Republic unleashed Operation Phoenix in an effort to repress the struggle there, and the Spanish state continued its attacks against anarchists by initiating raids and arrests in Operation Piñata. Chilean comrades Nataly, Juan, and Guillermo won many of their hunger strike demands; while elsewhere in Chile, the state continued its attacks on Tato and Javier, accused of burning a Transantiago bus. Sean Swain was held incommunicado for months and Marius Mason was thrown in solitary for a month. And just days ago, anarchist comrade Ignacio Muñoz Delgado was arrested in Chile by plainclothes cops, who say they found Ignacio with an explosive device and pamphlets expressing solidarity with comrades arrested for an arson attack on the Homicide Investigation Brigade. Hunger strikes from Greece to Chile to Alabama, widespread counter-attacks against repression, the ceaseless cadence of the anarchist war against power. We are disgusted by the state’s attempts to grind our comrades into dust, but we are strengthened by the beautiful flames of anarchy that cannot be contained by recuperation or prison walls.

We are excited to share the writings in this second issue of Wildfire, for their diversity and their incisiveness. We print texts from comrades previously unknown to us and from those we have struggled alongside for years. We print introductions, poetry, updates, and the first steps in a debate on prison strikes and reformism. Since we refuse any ideology that flattens the polymorphous nature of anarchist thought and practice, we print these very different texts with joy at each of their particularities.

We send our love to all anarchist combatants caught in the enemy’s dungeons!

CONTENTS
– “All Prisoners are Political” by Sean Swain
– “Remember the Dead, Solidarity for the Living” by Brandon Baxter
– A letter from Manuel Salas
– Call for support from Anarchist Black Cross – Florida Prison Chapter
– A letter from Todd Shepard
– Introduction by Christopher L. Young
– “From an Alabama Prison” by Fahamivu Amon
– An update from Gender Anarky
– A letter from Julia Wheelwright
– “Silent Scream” by Francisca Orellana Polanko
– “Buckin in the BOP” by anonymous
– “Federal Sentencing Reforms” by anonymous
– A letter from Michael Kimble
– “Chaotic Confinement” by Charles Chatman
– A Letter from Blacc Lion
– A chronology of the last four months of revolt, repression, and attack.
– “For Spyros Dravilas: Awaiting the Hour of Vengeance”

———————

Some updates

We have added some new info pages for anarchist and anti-authoritarian prisoners to our website:
– Christopher L. Young, a queer anarchist imprisoned in Kentucky
– Terrence Adderly, part of the Anarchist Black Cross – Florida Prison Chapter
– Julia Wheelwright, an individualist anarchist imprisoned in Utah
– Todd Shepard, anti-authoritarian combatant doing time for the murder of a Missouri cop
– Manuel Salas, vegan anarchist of the National Animal Rights and Anarchist Network

We also want to draw attention to recent writings by the trans woman anarchist-nihilist prison collective Gender Anarky, who continue to inspire us with their words and deeds: http://genderanarkycollective.noblogs.org

Toulouse, France: Summary of the arrests, convictions and sentences from recent ZAD demos

About the arrestees, convictions and those locked-up from the November and February ZAD demonstrations in Toulouse. A call for solidarity.

Whilst there is currently a campaign of international solidarity and also against the conviction of a single demonstrator from November, it seems important to us to sum up the verdicts and bring forward our modest point of view about the situation. And call widely for solidarity from all.

To recall, the November demonstrations started with the death of a young man [Rémi Fraisse, October 25th 2014]. On the ZAD of Testet there were people saying that one day or another the wild, legal and determined action from the state forces will finish badly. For many the emotion was strong, as we could have been in his place. The identification with him was not the same, when some days earlier, in the centre of Toulouse, a BAC cop [anti-crime brigade] killed a youth during a robbery.

Demonstrations started from Sunday October 25th, but it was only from November 1st that the repression became systematic in Toulouse.

Of what we know, we counted :

1st of November, 16 people arrested;
8th of November, 21 people arrested;
22th of November, 17 arrests, 18 if you count the person arrested the following Tuesday during support gatherings at the court.
21st of February, 13 people charged.

There were a total of at least:

6 people imprisoned of which 4 are still behind bars in Seysses [Toulouse]
47 months of imprisonment
34 months of suspended sentences
860 hours of community service
€5000 of fines
€10,450 of costs for the cops
€2,400 for the cop’s lawyers (February only)
€45,500 of costs for property damage

68 persons in total were arrested during these demos. Some of them were released without charges or conditionally discharged. Without counting the repression against the ZAD and against the demonstrations in Tarn [region of the Sivens ZAD] (where there were 41 arrestees).

(the figures given here are subject to change given the various hearings to come and convictions that will be missed by our monitoring)

We don’t want to fall tempted to the idea that these are new and uncommon acts. We have seen the militarisation of the police, their systematic utilisation in the lower class neighbourhoods, the use of clashes and aggression, that fatally causes mutilation, injury and death. This is not an excess or an accident. This is the consequential logic of social order. We believe we have to organize solidarity and arm our defence, facing the practical problems in our struggles posed to us by the justice system, the police, and its weapons. We have to make the link between the everyday repression of illegal crimes and the repression against our struggles. We have to finish with the idea that the police are doing a good job when not represses us. The police, the justice, the prison are instruments which make social destruction possible.

We have sent (and will continue to send) money to people incarcerated; generally we financially help people accused in these kind of cases. It is a heavy load for us so we call for widespread solidarity. You can help up by sending donations written out to “C.A.J” (nothing else) or CAJ c/o Canal sud 40 rue Alfred Duméril, 31200 Toulouse (France).

Legal Aid Self-Defence Fund Toulouse
Email: caj31[at]riseup.net

New Zine – Repression & Solidarity in Bristol: A collection of writings from anarchist prisoner Emma Sheppard & others

A new publication has been produced with writings from anarchist prisoner, Emma Sheppard. There are also articles from local groups such as Bristol Defendant Solidarity, communicating recent police attempts at repressing anarchist and other communities in Bristol.

To download a readable version click here: Emma Zine

To download a pages version to print click here: Emma Zine Pages

For paper copies please email: bristol_abc@riseup.net

 

Operation Pinata: Five comrades imprisoned, ten conditionally bailed, address for three of the prisoners

Via Squat.net.

Early afternoon on Wednesday 1st April, the judge of the Audiencia Nacional [National High  Court] Eloy Velasco, remanded in prison 5 of the 15 individuals arrested on Monday 30th March during the police operation named Piñata. 24 others were arrested during the 17 raids, which took place in Madrid, Barcelona, Palencia and Granada, for “disobedience and resistance”, who were then subsequently released.

The judge remanded in prison the following comrades:
Paul Jara Cevallos* (Madrid),
Jorge Linares Izquierdo (Madrid),
Javier García Castro* (Madrid),
Javier Grijalbo Adan (Palencia)
Enrique Balaguer Pérez* (Madrid)

*Prison address at the end of the article

The 10 others (three from Barcelona and seven in Madrid) were released on conditional bail under judicial supervision (passport confiscation, ban on leaving the territory, and to sign-on every 15 days). They remain accused of belonging to GAC [Coordinated Anarchist Groups, see preface to the booklet ‘Against Democracy‘ for more info].

The five remanded are all charged with participating in a terrorist organisation (of an ” insurrectionist-anarchist” orientation, extol the newspapers) or the offense of “criminal organisation” under Article 570bis of the Criminal Code, with the aggravating circumstance “of subverting public order and seriously disrupting the social peace.” The name of this organisation is the Coordinated Anarchist Groups  (GAC), which is accused of “promotion and the coordination of sabotage”, including 113 ATMs in February 2015, and to be possibly linked to incendiary attacks against the Basilica–Pillar Cathedral in Zaragoza (for which Mónica and Francisco have been remanded in preventative detention for over a year) and the Almudena Cathedral  in Madrid (February 7th and October 1st 2013 respectively).

The material items cited by the judge were those found during the raids, such as; “manuals for making explosive devices and guerrilla tactics”, camping gas canisters, “photos of police and police stations”, “self-defense manuals and techniques to avoid surveillance”, “technical devices for encrypted access to wifi to render web browsing anonymous”.

In short, literature, lots of literature as per usual, while Velasco boasts about having imprisoned “GAC leaders from Madrid, Barcelona and Palencia”. The comrade from Madrid, Enrique “Kike”, accused of being the national pseudo-leader of GAC, had just been released from prison on January 30, with other co-defendants of the previous operation, Pandora. The four others made headlines as being “responsible for the financial apparatus, propaganda and direct action” of the GAC or that of “head of the GAC” in Madrid and Palencia. The state looks at its ugly face in the mirror, and onto comrades without masters or slaves, projects its own characteristics made ​​up of hierarchies, leaders and specialisation. In total, this is the third police investigation in over a year under the pretext of attacks attributed to coordinated anarchist groups, and the number of raids now stands at around thirty, with the indictments now at at least 28.

As they exited the judge’s office, a gathering of around sixty people in solidarity unfolded, at which journalists were notably singled out with shouts of “scavengers”. A new solidarity gathering was held in Madrid on Wednesday 1st April at 9pm, at the square Tirso de Molina, with a call-out that clearly states the reason: “Solidarity. Mutual Aid. Direct Action. Death to the State and long live anarchy”. During the demo yesterday [March 31st] in the same place, four people were arrested and clashes with cops resulted in twelve minor injuries (eight cops).

Neither innocent nor guilty,
Freedom for all!
For offensive solidarity!

[Translated by Squat!net from Brèves du désordre, April 1st 2015.
Sourced from the Spanish press and websites of the “movement”]

—

Here is the provisional address of three of the five imprisoned comrades as part of Operation Piñata (they may be transferred):

Paul Jara Cevallos
Enrique Balaguer Pérez
Javier Garcia Castro

(Prisoner Name)
Centro Penitenciario Madrid V
Apdo. Correos 200 Colmenar Viejo
Madrid Codigo Postal 28770
Spain

Screws badly beat detainee in Brook House migration prison

The recent wave of hunger strikes and other protests in UK migration prisons has subsided, as prisoners have been silenced, moved between prisons, and humiliated and beaten. This report from the Anti Raids Network is just one of many cases of how people are treated in detention centres and during deportation attempts.

Tahar Khalifa beaten by guards in an attempted deportation on Tuesday 31st March.

On Tuesday, 31st March, Tahar Khalifa, detained at Brook House detention centre [one of the two migration prisons inside the perimeter of Gatwick Airport], was forcibly removed from the centre in an attempted deportation to Tunisia, on flight TU791 at 1745hrs. As he was going up the stairs to the plane he was physically assaulted and beaten by the guards.

In a statement Tahar says that there were multiple officers trying to get him up the stairs; one was choking him, another was twisting his upper body. Tahar was handcuffed at the front and one officer was holding him by the wrist and pulling very hard.

The attempted deportation has left Tahar with multiple physical injuries. The handcuffs left him with deep cuts on his wrist; two of his fingers on his left hand are swollen very badly and he can’t move them and he has an injury to his leg.

Tahar has indefinite leave to remain in Greece and has lived there for 21 years. UKBA was trying to remove him to Tunisia against his wishes. Tahar has said he will go back to Greece, as he should by law under the Dublin convention, but does not want to go to Tunisia.

When Tahar arrived back at Brook House, one detainee was witness to his injuries when he was brought back to the centre called 999. He was put through to 101, which he called several times. As soon as the local police force heard he was calling from Brook House, they ‘didn’t want to know’ and said it was nothing to do with them.

The witness spoke to three people in the local force, they all said the same thing. He called 999 a second time, who also said that Brook House was not their responsibility. The police called Brook House and informed the officers of the name of the caller. The officers came and questioned the caller threateningly about why he had called the police.

Tahar described that the officers were “really worried” after the incident and took him to hospital, where he stayed for about 5 hours. That night he was feeling very paranoid because he didn’t feel safe in the cell and had to have people around him all the time. The next day he saw the doctor inside Brook House, together with a witness who helped with translation and tried to explain about the paranoia and flashbacks that had followed the attack. The witness saw the paper the doctor was writing on, and he was signed off as without serious problem.

There was a nurse present with a camera but she did not take pictures of the injuries. When the witness mentioned the police, the nurse’s “face changed and she was really angry”.

One witness said:

“they know what they are doing. They pull the fingers from the joints so they don’t break them but it causes so much pain and damage. If it had been an officer who was beaten up the police would have come right away. We don’t feel safe to be in the care of the state because they have left our care in the hands of agency workers. We don’t have access to any legal information or anything like that. We don’t have access to the internet. We have computers in there but just screens not internet. Access is denied to all websites. It’s just a facade. He’s a humble guy, he’s not a trouble maker. He’s not a violent man, he can’t even speak English”

This incident is not an isolated case but part of a systematically violent immigration detention regime. Several reports released last month document the abuse and racism detainees suffer in detention centres in the UK:

*Recent report on Harmondsworth by Corporate Watch: ‘Its gonna break: life in the UK’s biggest detention centre’

* Channel 4 on Yarlswood.

Over 20 people have been killed in the UK detention system alone, and this figure does not include all the people killed in prisons or by the police.

In 2009 Jimmy Mubenga was killed during an attempted removal to Angola by plane.

Shut down all detention centres.
No deportations. No Borders. No Eurodac.

Photos of some of his injuries.

Mikalai Dziadok Sentenced To 1 More Year In Prison

On February 26 the criminal case of the political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok was tried in Mahilyou prison. He was charged with violation of the rules of serving the sentence under Article 411 of the Criminal Code of Belarus.

Dziadok was charged with 16 violations of prison rules, such as wearing sportswear suit instead of prison uniform, sleeping after ‘Wakey’ signal, not sleeping after lockdown, talking to prisoners from other cells.

The prosecutor asked the court to punish Mikalai Dziadok by 1 year in a maximum security penal colony. It is a maximum term under this article. The defence noted that such cases are extremely rare and can never be started because of such minor violations. The lawyer asked the court to justify Mikalai. As a result, Judge Ihar Shvedau sentenced the political prisoner to one more year in prison. Besides, he is to serve four days out of his four-and-a-half-year term.

Mikalai pleaded not guilty, although he admitted most of the violations.

“I would like to remind every representative of punitive bodies here, any system based on lies, violence, oppression will collapse someday and destroy its every supporter. And I would not like to be in your shoes when it happens.”

Mikalai Dziadok also said that being a political prisoner he was subjected to prison administration’s pressure and all the present in the court knew it. According to him, a new criminal prosecution was initiated by secret services to make him sign a petition for pardon “through psychological pressure and to try to quash any protest movements that may occur on the eve of presidential elections.”

Mikalai noticed the prison had not had any positive impact on him and in general it did not have such functions. Political prisoner called the Article he was tried for absurd as he was already punished for all his violations. And now he is punished for the same crime with an additional year. He also noted that that article was a way to put pressure on dissenting prisoners.

Dziadok was supposed to be released on March 3, 2015 after serving his punishment.

We call for solidarity with our repressed comrade!

[source]

Greece: statement from prisoners in Domokos “Type C” prison

Via Contra Info. See here for brief background info on Domokos prison. The chief screw was shot dead last Saturday.

We, all the prisoners currently held in the E1 special wing in the prison within the prison, the type C prison of Domokos, declare that as of today February 27th 2015 we are going to abstain from prison meals and refuse to enter the cells at noon.

We stand by our fellow prisoner, hunger striker Giorgos Sofianidis, and ask that he be moved back to Koridallos prison [where he was incarcerated until News Year’s Eve, in the same region where the educational institutions to which he has already been admitted are available], otherwise he risks losing any possibility to study at the TEI [Technological Education Institute] of Piraeus and the IEK [Institute of Professional Training] of Koridallos.

We demand that the special conditions of detention as well as the barbaric and inhumane type C prison be abolished.

Our mobilisations will continue until the type C prisons are permanently abolished.

Kostas Gournas
Nikos Maziotis
Dimitris Koufontinas
Giorgos Sofianidis [on hunger strike since 27/2]
Yannis Naxakis
Alexandros Meletis
Konstantinos Meletis
Vasileios Varelas
Mohamed-Said Elchibah
Alexandros Makadasidis