[Imc-uk-features] [Fwd: feature proposal: We are all 129a!]

Tue Aug 7 01:50:47 PDT 2007

Hi,

I just proposed this feature for the global site. Do we want it for uk as
well? at least the world and g8 pages i guess.

-- 
Shiar

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: feature proposal: We are all 129a!
From:    "Shiar" <shiar at riseup.net>
Date:    Tue, August 7, 2007 1:48 am
To:      "www-features" <www-features at lists.indymedia.org>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: We are all 129a!

Tags: <a href="http://de.indymedia.org">Germany</a>, repression, G8

Author: z921

Image: http://soli.blogsport.de/images/189872fulda.jpg
caption: "everyone who reads this is a terrorist"

Abstract:

Four German activists have been <a
href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/377611.html">arrested</a> on
suspicion of being members or supporters of an alleged 'terrorist
organisation' [<a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/2007/08/02/press-release-of-the-lawyers">lawyers'
press release</a> | <a
href="http://de.indymedia.org/2007/08/189731.shtml">de</a>]. The German
federal police suspect that <a
href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militante_gruppe_(MG)">Militante
Gruppe</a> (MG or Militant Group) was behind several arson attacks
against police and army vehicles since the group surfaced in 2001 [<a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/2007/08/02/warrants-against-four-members-suspect-of-the-militant-group-MG/">Federal
Prosecution's press release</a>]. The direct actions are said to have
included an attack on German federal police vehicles to protest against
their involvement in immigration deportations and another in response to
the <a href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/370112.html">G8
raids</a> earlier this year. If found guilty, the four could face up to 10
years in prison. Another three men have been accused but not arrested.

Since May 2007, there have been several raids as a result of four
preliminary investigations in Berlin, Hamburg, Strausberg and Bad
Oldesloe, using Section 129a of the German Criminal Code, which prohibits
"the founding of, membership in or support of a terrorist organisation"
[<a href="http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/129a/3894.html">background in
German</a> | <a
href="http://www.germanlawjournal.com/pdf/Vol05No05/PDF_Vol_05_No_05_435-460_special_issue_Lepsius.pdf">special
issue of the German Law Journal</a> (pdf in en)]. Section 129a
investigations are typically used by the federal police to gather
information about activists and protesters, as well as to intimidate them.
Only 2% of all Section 129a investigations have ever resulted in
convictions.

A number of <a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/category/solidaritaet/">solidarity
actions</a> have already taken place, including a
<a href="http://de.indymedia.org/2007/08/189705.shtml">demo in Berlin</a>
last Wednesday (August 1st) and <a
href="http://de.indymedia.org/2007/08/189907.shtml">another at the
prison</a> where the four are held on Sunday (August 5th). A Germany-wide
protest against police repression is planned for September 15th [<a
href="http://de.indymedia.org/2007/08/189826.shtml">call</a>], while many
solidarity protests and actions are expected throughout the world.

For more information, check this new <a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de">solidarity blog</a> [<a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/category/english/">en</a>] and <a
href="http://de.indymedia.org">Indymedia Germany</a>.

Content:

<h3>Terrorists!</h3>

Following a year-long Section 129a investigation, three activists were
arrested on 30-31 July, 2007, while allegedly attempting to set fire to
four army trucks on a <a
href="http://www.militarytrucks.man-mn.com/en/en.jsp">MAN AG</a> site in
Brandenburg. The three, identified as Florian L. and Oliver R., both 35,
and 46-year-old Axel H., are now charged with belonging to a "terrorist
organisation" (Militante Gruppe) as well as an attempted arson
attack. On July 31st, police searched the homes of four other suspects
living in Berlin and one of them, Andrej H., 36, was arrested on suspicion
of "supporting MG".

The lawyers acting on behalf of the seven said in a <a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/2007/08/02/press-release-of-the-lawyers/">statement</a>,
"The charges of terrorism against the 7 people accused in this new 129a
case are speculative and not tenable. The arrests of the four are a
scandal."

"The current proceedings, especially the motivation of the warrants, show
once again how the law enforcement agencies in Germany use anti-terror
laws against certain suspicious people, in total disproportion and without
any constitutional scruple."

In normal constitutional court proceedings, the three Brandenburg suspects
would have been charged with attempted arson under Section 306 of the
Criminal Code and not remanded in custody. Declaring attempted arson of
three vehicles without endangering anyone as terrorism obviously has
political motivations. Even the broadly defined Section 129a (membership
of a terrorist organisation) requires that the acts are meant to "damage a
state or international body considerably through their nature or their
effects."

Prior to the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in June 2007, the Federal
Prosecutor had investigated several MG members and searched their houses,
using Section 129a, but found no evidence to use against them. The raids
then sparked a wave or protests worldwide and were even condemned by many
mainstream human and civil rights organisations.

Section 129a was originally added to the Criminal Code in response to the
actions of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction">Red
Army Faction</a> (RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group) in the
1970s. Its main purpose is to "protect public safety and the order of the
state" by declaring the planning stage as part of the "illegal
activity".
<h3>Pens and guns</h3>

According to the Federal Prosecution itself, police have no sufficient
knowledge about the three Brandensurg arrestees. This, however, "does not
go against the assumption of a possible suspicion of membership in a
terrorist organisation." From the writings of the MG, they concluded, "it
can be concluded that this fits the expectations from their members."

The arbitrariness of the arrests can be seen more clearly in the case of
the fourth arrestee, Andrej H. Police have assumed a link based merely on
observations that there has been a contact between him and one of the
Brandenburg suspects. Further, the only two meetings between them are
supposed to have taken place "conspiratorially". Police do not know
anything about what the meetings in February and April 2007 were about.
Yet, they have concluded that the "conspiratorial behaviour between H and
L can only be explained that L is also part of the terrorist organisation
MG" and that "the conspiratorially agreed-upon meetings are related to
this" (the organisation). One of the 'conspiratorial things' apparently
was that Andrej had forgotten his mobile phone at home.

Andrej H., a sociologist whose work focused on gentrification, tenants'
rights and social cuts, is also supposed to have published an academic
article in 1998, in which he used phrases and words that can be found in
MG texts. "The frequency of the correspondence is conspicuous and cannot
be explained by thematic correspondences," they concluded. "As a political
scientist," they added, he is "intellectually capable of writing the
technically difficult texts that MG uses". What's more, he "has access to
libraries which he can use inconspicuously to make the needed
investigations for the MG."

Andrej is also known as a political activist who has participated in many
local and international events, including recently the G8 Independent
Media Centre in Rostock. In his arrest warrant, it was mentioned that he
was involved in "staging the left-wing protests against the G8" (in
Germany, June 2007).
<h3>We are all 129a!

At a <a
href="http://soli.blogsport.de/2007/08/04/demo-in-fulda-for-those-arrested-under-129a/">solidarity
demo</a> in the city of Fulda on August 4th, the 400 or so participants,
mostly from the Attac Summer Academy, were chanting throughout such
slogans as "We are all 129a" and "we are all terrorists". Around 40 of
them then 'reported themselves' to the police officer in charge since they
carried the same reasons for suspicion that were brought up against
Andrej. In a "self-incrimination under 129a", they declared that 
<ul>
<li> they, too, fulfill the intellectual and material prerequisites of
composing a responsibility claim;
<li> they, too, have access to libraries needed for the respective
research, which they can use without attracting any attention;
<li> they, too, published texts which contain phrases used also in the
texts of Militante Gruppe.
</ul>

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