Anonymous Comrade writes:
Day of Solidarity with the Prisoners of Aachen, Germany
Wednesday 4th of May 2005
Since the 23rd of March 2005, our comrades Gabriel, Jose, Bart and Begona are on trial in Aachen, Germany. Since the day of their arrest, on the 28th of June 2004, it is clear that they are and will be treated with a special vengeance - for months Jose, Gabriel and Bart have been imprisoned in almost complete isolation, for months they have been pictured as dangerous criminals, for months part of the so called radical left movement have kept silent. All this is standard procedure for the defenders of the existing order, normality, morality.All this has not changed with the opening of the trial. But while this spectacle of justice is played, it hides a very real repression.
On the second day of the trial, Jose pointed to the prosecutor and screamed “No mas tortura. Libertad para tod@s”. Later, he declared that he had suffered enough and could not take it anymore. All of us could clearly see that Jose felt very bad, he was pale and completely absent. On the 31st of March, Gabriel ripped of his clothes and entered the court half naked in protest against the treatment he (just as Jose) had to endure, on top of the months of isolation in prison: on trial days standing twice naked before a dozen cops to be strip searched, transported with blind and ear folds by masked special cops, shackled on hands and feet, etc. The lawyers and the comrades in the public have protested every day in court against the security measures imposed, in vain.
Today, it was the 5th day that Gabriel had to sit half naked in the court room; nothing has changed. We can and we will not accept this anymore.
Gabriel, Jose and Bart have attacked directly the pillars of this society: property and prison, money and law. Their struggle continues before court and inside prison. By denouncing the prison system (particularly the FIES in Spain) and the society that produces it. By denouncing all those who still think that robbing a bank is worse than owning one.
Therefore they have to be punished.
And therefore we are in solidarity with them.
STOP ALL TORTURE
AGAINST ALL PRISONS
FREEDOM FOR ALL PRISONERS
- Some comrades ‘sin rejas’
**
Background on the Aachen Four trial:
Police stopped a car on June 28th, 2004 in the area of the German/Dutch border in a routine stop looking for drug traffickers. Bart De Geeter, José Fernandez Delgado, Gabriel Pombo da Silva and Begoña Pombo da Silva were in the car.
A member of the group pulled a gun on police when they attempted to search the car. The three men attempted to escape while Begoña was immediately placed in custody. The three men were finally captured following a chase involving gunfire.
Gabriel is a Spanish anarchist who has spent twenty years in prison, fourteen of them under the notorious FIES segregation regime. In October 2003 he escaped from police custody and was on the run. José, another anarchist, also was a Spanish prison escapee attempting to avoid recapture. Bart was actively involved in the Anarchist Black Cross in Gent, Belgium. Begoña has no other connection to the anarchist movement other than being Gabriel’s sister.
The three men are charged with kidnapping, aggravated theft of a vehicle, multiple murder attempts, heavy traffic violations and other charges from the chase. José and Begoña are charged with a bank robbery on June 18th in Karlsruhe. All have been charged with the planning of one or more bank robberies in Dresden, as well as an armed resistance against the police charge from the initial police stop. Begoña was charged with violent resistance following her arrest. As there is very little evidence against her for the bank robbery charge, she was released on bail October 12th, 2004.
Trial began for Bart, José, Gabriel and Begoña on March 23, 2005.
For more information, see: www.escapeintorebellion.info
