Highly honored court,
We are finally nearing the end of this trial, which began in December 2018. I didn’t know that a trial could take that long.
I was arrested a few days after my 23rd birthday in August 2018, the police officers smashed the door of my parents’ house screaming. My little sister had to kneel with her hands over her head. As I heard the door burst, I had images of police violence in my head, how the police starts to arrest and beat people. I got scared and then got over the roof into the neighbors’ garden and then to the other side of the settlement. But the police had closed off the whole area and a person walking on the street in socks quickly becomes suspicious. A civil police officer started running after me and called out to me, “come here, you little shitbag”. Sensing a certain hostility in his voice, I preferred not to accept his invitation, which if I had said “shitbag” to him would have caused outrage.
So I find myself trapped in the garden and then in a neighbor’s garage. With my back to the wall, forced to wait for the police officer to arrive. The officer jumped on me and twisted my right wrist while I let him do that. I tell him that his violence is useless and he replies: “You are lucky that I did not shoot you”. From this point of view, however, I do consider myself lucky to be still alive. It is true that numerous arrests by the police have an unpleasant tendency to turn into a death penalty. But this sad outcome is rather intended for those who are residents of working-class neighborhoods exposed to racist attributions. In France, not a month goes by without deaths from arrests. The door to the garage finally opens, police officers, gendarmes, officers from the BAC & masked civil policemen appear with automatic weapons in their hands. Perhaps 30 members of the «law enforcement officers».
Continue reading
Category Archives: Statements
Words of Love and Solidarity from Fabio
Here are some words from our comrade, friend and brother Fabio
sent from Italy, full of love and solidarity:
Freedom is beautiful
Freedom is beautiful, how many beautiful things does freedom have!
A beer, a kiss, a blue sky without bars in the middle,
the rays of the sun that beat on our skin in these first days of spring.
In short, freedom is just nice.
However, many friends and many friends, many comrades, cannot enjoy all
this.
Because they are imprisoned by this “justice”.
And it is to them that our thoughts must go.
Each one of us in his own small way can do something…
We can send letters, help family members, and, above all, we can go to
court.
The trials are focal point of the judiciary. T
he judges, strong in their power, distribute years of prison
like candies in proceedings that are often only farcical.
The logic of power is always the same, isolating, dividing, breaking bonds.
They know that one man is easy to fight.
That’s why attending the processes is so important,
to make it clear that if they touch one they touch everyone!
Let us show solidarity with those arrested and on trial!
Peike, Kostantin, Evgenii and everyone else who may will follow!
United we Stand!
Fabio
Society has failed – Fire and Flames to Repression!
After the successful resistance against the politics of the G20 this summer, we are calling for days of action in the week from January 28th to February 4th. During G20 in Hamburg we were active with many of you. We want to take that experience up and make it visible in many places with many different actions.
We have 2018 already and our friends and comrades remain in pre-trial imprisonment since the g20 summit. The image of the violent dangerous perpetrators is still stylized. Brutal Police assaults before, during and after the G20 summit are played down and supposed to be forgotten. The myth of civil war-like conditions in Schanzen district persists in public view and helpfully provide the court with a basis for their arguments to impose absurdly high sentences. This is to distract attention from the idea of the G20 to take place as a counterinsurgency exercise in the field of urban space. The strategy and escalation concept of the cops could only fail.
The “independent” judiciary goes all out in its interpretation of their laws to impose draconian punishments like Peike’s. He has been in custody since July 6th and for bad luck got the judge Krieten, who sentenced him to 2 years 7 months. Peike however filed an appeal which will start in February. Also various other appeal proceedings will start soon.
But not only the draconian punishments should serve as a measure of deterrent. Also the raids on people who were attacked at Rondenbarg and the public search with pictures and videos of activists who took part in public meetings during G20, both of which had been effectivly staged in media, have the goal to frighten people off from taking part in future demonstrations and to keep people silent.
Resistance against the politics of the g20 shall be criminalized and the current conditions and power relations shall be strengthened. Politics and conditions that are based on the unequal distribution of goods, that flatter racist and sexist represantatives, that negotiate with despots and murderers, that are anti-(queer) feminist and don’t hold back with racist acts and homophobic expression. Politics and conditions whos actions on climate and environment are desastrous and who continuously develope the export of weapons aswell as conduct wars. And those who take their disagreement on the streets shall be silenced by their architecture of security.
How fitting a transpi by comrades says: Society has failed when it imprisons those who question it- Block G20, not our voices. [A society has failed when it places those in its jails that challenges them! Blocks G20 and not our voices!]
With this in mind, we call for days of action from 28th of January to 4th of February.
Let’s not be blocked and intimidated any further! Let’s show them, their strategy won’t work. As long as this society is how it is, there will be resistance.
Let us show with a variety of actions that we challenge this system. There are no limits to your imagination. Do what you want to do – from baking cakes to informational events to taking the streets to direct actions. – Everything is possible, nothing is mandatory!
Please send us dates and pictures of your actions to: unitedwestand@nadir.org [key]
United We Stand
Our Solidarity against their repression! Statement from Rote Flora about the raids on 5th of December
Collectively against criminalization of the resistance against g20!
A german-wide wave of raids took place on Tuesday morning, targeting leftist structures, groups and individuals for investigations against the g20 protests in Hamburg. Initiated by the special committee of the police in Hamburg called ‘Black Block’, evidence was to be collected against people effected by an investigation accusing heavy ‘breach of peace’. Cause is, among other things, a demonstration that happened the morning of the 7th of July in Hamburg which got brutally attacked and dispersed by the cops. During the raid mostly computer, laptops, phones and USB-sticks where confiscated. No one got arrested.
We express our solidarity with everyone effected by this police operation. We are not going to let it happen, that individuals get criminalized: Some were effected yesterday, but we are all meant! They are not going to succeed with their obvious intention to illegitimate the protests against the summit of the g20 in Hamburg as well as they won’t succeed splitting us afterwards, which seems to be their calculation.
A divers, creative, determined and also militant protest in July, succeeded hindering the propaganda event effectively. Not the official production of the summit defined the pictures of these days but the protests against it . It also succeeded because a variety of political groups of all spectra pursued one common target of protest. Continue reading
DNA testing? Not without our resistance!
When the G20 summit happend in Hamburg in the beginning of July, it quickly turned, as expected, from the announced festival of democracy into a festival of repression. From the beginning every legitimate protest was harassed, criminalised and attacked.
Hundreds of activists were arrested, crowded into a detention gathering place and partly put in pre trial prisons. During attacks from cops others where injured some of them with severe injuries.
But not enough with that…
After the summit investigations against many activists were started.
Many people effected by the investigations received letters with summons in the last weeks, in which they are also requested to voluntarily have their DNA taken by the cops. Continue reading
Account of EA (legal team) cancelled: Postbank as willing tool of the institutions of repression
It became known today (13.10.), that the Postbank cancelled EA Hamburgs (legal team Hamburg) account after #NoG20. The EA is not going to be intimidated by that and published following statement:
The Postbank cancelled the account used by the EA Hamburg towards the 13.20.2017 via letter on the 04.08.2017. There was no reason given to end the longterm existing business account.
Sudden for us, since there never been any irregularities, Postbank only stated: ‘You have a Postbank business giro-account with us. We cancel this towards the 13.10.2017. Basis for this cancellation is §19 section 1 of our terms and conditions. You can read the section on the last page of this letter (note: the letter only had one page, the § was printed on the back).’
Also friendly requests from us about the motive of this cancellation where answered simply retrieving back to the statement of the letter: ’Opening an account (…) you accepted the terms and conditions of the German Postbank AG. We used the right of these terms and followed the cancellation period. We are not obligated to give reason for our decision. We persist on the cancellation towards the 13.20.2017. Continue reading
On the topic of witness letters and summons as accused by the department of internal investigations
In connection with the events during the G20 summit in Hamburg, some people currently receive letters from the department of internal investigations of the police in Hamburg asking, if they would be available as witness for internal investigations against policemen. Some of the affected people received at the same time summons from the local police as accused for serious ‘breaching of the public peace’ (Landfriedensbruch). Continue reading
Federal Constitutional Court politically attacks defense – Everyone come to the rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday
In a press release on 12th of October 2017 the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) states, that they will inflict the defense of the 18 year old prisoner Fabio with 600 euros so called misuse fee, for a complaint the defense filed against the pretrial detention that was, in their opinion, unconstitutional.
That the complaint resulted in a misuse fee is explained by the FFC like so, the FFC should not have to ‘take insubstantial complaints of unconstitutional decisions that wóuld keep it from fulfilling its duty’.
After the complaint of the defense had been already rejected in court on 23rd of August 2017, the fee that was compiled 5 days before trial start shows, that we are dealing with intentional political propaganda against the accused and his defense.
We decidedly disapprove of this attack. Everyone, come to the rallies before the trial start and observe the trials in solidarity. Monday 16th of October and Tuesday 17th of October each at 8.30 at the Court in Altona.
Freedom for all! United we Stand!
United We Stand Statement on the police measures conducted on 25th of October 2017
During the G20 trial against Alessandro on 25th of October 2017 some supporters were target of a disproportional police operation. Around 40 cops of the riot unit of the police Hamburg stormed the Café opposite of the court, where the affected supporters had breakfast. With no reason given, the cops undertook the 13 supports report and documentation measures. The cops took pictures and records of descriptions of each person, also against the explicit objection off all of them and even though two of the people where minor,
They where forbid to get legal support and where kept in a back room of the Café for 1,5 hours. After this derogative control the police operation was finished.
Through this police measure the affected people where not only restricted in their freedom with no basis for it, but also got robbed their right to observe a public trial. This is definitely to be graded as illegal. Continue reading
Press release Hamburg, 3rd of November 2017: Hamburg police harasses observants of trial
Police harassment on the side of a G20 trial in Hamburg: partly under aged observants of a trial were kept for over 1,5 hours and hindered to take part in the trial.
During the G20 trial against the italian activist Alessandro R. on 25th of October 2017 harassment by the police took place against 13 observants of the trial, who partly are organized in the alliance ‘youth against G20’.
During the breakfast break in the nearby Café ‘Brasserie Loco’ around 40 cops of the riot unit stormed into the Café.
The police kept the observants of the trial for over 1,5 hours in a backroom of the Café and subjected them to record and documentation measures.
The cops refused to name the reason for their operation, but took record off all the observants documents, pictures, and took descriptions of the persons. The protest of the adolescent, among them also two minors, where ignored. The cops denied entrance to the Café to an approaching lawyer. Continue reading