Prisoner Support

from ainfos, 11 August 2009: "The St. Petersburg City Court’s judicial division for criminal cases ruled to uphold the conviction of Alexei Bychin on Tuesday, in an appeal hearing that only lasted ten minutes, according to the imprisoned antifascist’s lawyer. “They didn’t listen to any of our arguments,” lawyer Olga Tseitlina said by phone after the hearing..." more

from email, updated 25 October 2009: "31st Oct/1st Nov 2009 - Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton, UK. 2 Days of discussions & presentations about the struggle for liberation, inside and outside of the prison walls. Organised by random anarchists and the Anarchist Black Cross..."  more

from email, 22 July 2009: "On 16 and 17 July [2009], three German comrades were summoned by judges in Berlin and Hamburg, in the framework of the "Tarnac Affair." In Berlin, following a gathering in front of the French Embassy, they were brought before a judge to whom, in conformity with what they said, they made no statements. The German authorities were responding to the rogatory commission launched by Judge Fragnoli, who based his suspicions about the two Berliners on the fact that, ten years ago, they had been arrested and released following a campaign that sabotaged train lines to protest against the shipments of nuclear wastes over them..." more

from bbc, 23 June 2009: "There was a hint on anarchy on the breeze over the waters of Lough Neagh recently with the scattering of the ashes of an American man. They belonged to Harold Thompson, who died in jail last October at the age of 66 after being sentenced to life plus 50 years for murder and robbery in 1979.

His supporters describe the man he was convicted of killing as a police informer who had killed the mother of one of Mr Thompson's children and threatened the life of another. His robberies are described as "expropriation activities" on an anarchist support website..." more

from email, 16 June 2009: "Trials of the three remaining arrestees from the anti-G20 demonstrations in Melbourne 2006 will begin on 30 June 2009 at the Melbourne Magistrate's Court. We urge people to come to Melbourne to show their support and political solidarity to the arrestees. These trials do not mark the first of such kind, but more importantly, they do not mark the last..." more

from various sources, 30 May 2009: "French authorities on Thursday (28 May 2009) authorised the release of Julien Coupat, who has been detained for more than six months on suspicion of sabotaging high-speed train lines, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Under the terms of his release, he will have to stay in the Paris region and surrender his passport and identity papers..." more

via mw, 27 May 2009: "The trouble with prison, as it is perceived, is the shadows are further distended by a variety of prisms that bend reality to suit a host of preconceptions, special interests and self-fulfilling prophecies. The end result of this shape-shifting is a system that produces failure as a matter of course, that pretends to protect the mass of society, and that destroys whole communities in its voracious appetite. The trouble with prison is prison..." more

from sumoud, 11 May 2009: "Spending time with her dad requires that six-year-old Jinan undertake a bizarre and arduous odyssey... At home in the beleaguered West Bank town of Qalqilya, Jinan asks the same question she always does: "Mommy, why does Daddy have to sleep on the Israeli side?" And her mother, Salam Nazal, comforts her by saying: "Because that's where the best Palestinian men go to sleep, and your father is one of them..." more

from greenisthenewred, 16 April 2009: "The government is using secretive prison facilities on U.S. soil, called Communication Management Units, to house inmates accused of being tied to “terrorism” groups. They overwhelmingly include Muslim inmates, along with at least two animal rights and environmental activists..."  more

from indybay, 5 March 2009: "January 2009 marked the 3rd year that Eric McDavid has spent behind bars. His arrest and imprisonment were a direct result of government infiltration and entrapment. Eric has spent the last three years of his life in a cage for what amounts to thought crime. Those years have been full of challenges and struggle. Most recently, Eric has been enduring lockdowns at the prison, the loss of phone and internet access, and a move..." more

from bristolabc, 24 February 2009: "The 6 Bristol EDO Decommissioners, along with the 3 Brighton residents who have been charged with them, now face an unfair trial. Supporters in Bristol understand that the defendants have only been awarded £5000 in legal aid between them, following changes to the legal aid rules that apparently came into effect in January 2009..." more

from email, 24 February 2009: "Jeff is now less than 10 months away from release - his current release date is December 16, 2009. It is possible that date might change slightly, but one thing for sure is that Jeff will soon be free! In the meantime, please contribute to his release fund which will help him settle back into life on the outside as well as pay for tuition for classes Jeff plans to enroll in soon after his release..." more

from 325, 23 February 2009: "A new issue of Dark Nights is available for download as a PDF file, it is an anarchist freesheet covering recent repression and resistance news (4 pages, folded A3)... Produced by 325collective.com, for the destruction of all prisons and borders..." more

from various sources, 19 February 2009: "In light of the repression suffered by comrades Abraham Ramirez Vázquez, from Mexico, the comrades of the Magonista Zapatista Alliance request that we put pressure on the Mexican authorities, in our own countries as well as in Mexico, to stop the constant harassment undergone by our imprisoned comrades. We therefore propose that all this week pressure is put on the Mexican embassies in Spain and other countries..." more