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

[Tony]

Hello Shiar

Yes i think it should go up on the UK front page as it is a follow-up 
to the G8 reporting which was also there - it is important that 
people see what happened next ...

Cheers tony


At 01:50 -0700 7/8/07, Shiar wrote:
>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:
><p>
>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 <em><a
>href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militante_gruppe_(MG)">Militante
>Gruppe</a></em> (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.</p>
><p>
>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.</p>
><p>
>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.</p>
><p>
>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>.</p>
>
>
>Content:
>
><h3>Terrorists!</h3>
><p>
>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" (<em>Militante Gruppe</em>) 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".
><p>
>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."</p>
><p>
>"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."</p>
><p>
>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."</p>
><p>
>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.</p>
><p>
>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".</p>
><h3>Pens and guns</h3>
><p>
>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."</p>
><p>
>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.</p>
><p>
>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."</p>
><p>
>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).</p>
><h3>We are all 129a!
><p>
>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<br>
><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>
></p>
>
>--------
>
>
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