In the marches and protests against the NATO Summit, hundreds of people were taken into custody, some of whom were seriously injured. Of those taken into custody, eight demonstrators, arrested between Thursday and Friday and thus before the great festivities on Saturday, have been sent to trial. Some members of this group were condemned though so-called “expedited proceedings.” On Monday (6.4.09), two Germans were convicted and given six months sentences, in addition to five-year ban on entering France. A third was given three months probation and a five-year ban.
Solidarity with the Defendants of Strasbourg!
In the marches and protests against the NATO Summit, hundreds of people were taken into custody, some of whom were seriously injured. Of those taken into custody, eight demonstrators, arrested between Thursday and Friday and thus before the great festivities on Saturday, have been sent to trial. Some members of this group were condemned though so-called “expedited proceedings.” On Monday (6.4.09), two Germans were convicted and given six months sentences, in addition to five-year ban on entering France. A third was given three months probation and a five-year ban.
Solidarity with the Defendants of Strasbourg!
In the coming days, weeks, and months, there will be further trials. Already in the run-up to the first trials, the current French President and co-host of the summit, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced his desire to make an example of these people. He demanded high penalties for all of the accused. This borders on fascism, and further speaks to the so-called democratic legal procedures. Here, the Europe-wide presumption of innocence—where the accused is presumed guilty until evidence to the contrary is presented—is overturned. With that, the defendants are already rendered guilty before the investigation—not for what that actually done, rather, for standing for an entire movement.
Particularly alarming is large amount of violence that took place last week in London during the G20 Summit, and in Strasburg during the NATO Summit. Not only because of that fact that the arrested were mishandled by the police both during and after their arrest, but also for deployment of force against demonstrators with rubber bullets, shock grenades, tear gas, and truncheons (clubs),not to mention the driving of police cars into large groups of people—all of these are symbols of both the brutality and the complete inability to coordinate the protests on the part of the police. As a result, some individuals—no matter whether they were there as demonstrators, medics, or residents—were seriously injured. Particularly, the purposeful shooting of clearly-recognizable medics is a breach of the Geneva Conventions. This and the endangering of human lives were approved whole-heartily on the part of the police and the military—things that can under no circumstances be accepted. Alongside them, supporting their actions were the media and government officials, who not only consciously falsify numbers and figures, but also legitimize these actions. In particularly, the press referenced these actions positively, and suppressed every critical reportage, in place of setting themselves up as objective observers of these events.
NATO is a military organization and a relic of the Cold War. Like before, today its main task is the maintenance of power, which today above all means the securing of raw materials and further rearmament. Already in the EU, private contractors play an important role. An example is Frontex, which “secures” the outer borders and lets thousands of people every year die at sea and on land. Furthermore, it is about the undercutting or the outright stopping of protests against the current order. NATO, particularly the English, French and German governments, has shown in past weeks how it thinks it should move forward against these protests.
We Demand:
-fair trials without pre-judgment
-access to voluntariy chosen legal representation
-independent doctors and psychologist, who can be trusted to properly carry out their work by all the parties involved
-The return of the prisoners to prisons close to their places of residence until the end of the trial or their discharge
-daily visiting times in order to allow for the receiving of personal objects.
It hit only a few—it was meant for us all!
