ΣΥΓΚΕΝΤΡΩΣΗ ΜΠΡΟΣΤΑ ΣΤΟ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ– ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΣ 27

fαπό το soutien812.net

φωτογραφία από την συγκέντρωση στο Παρίσι την 3η οκτ.

Είμασταν πάνω από εκατό άτομα παρόντα την τελευταία μέρα των ακροάσεων, μετά από 4 εβδομάδες δίκης. Πολλά από μας είμαστε κοντινά στα κατηγορούμενα, οικογένειες, φίλοι και φίλες. Καφές, τσάι, σπιτικοί χυμοί, λίγες μπροσούρες, τραγούδια και καλή διάθεση. Δόθηκαν πολλές ομιλίες τις οποίες αναδημοσιεύουμε εδώ. Πολλές οργανώσεις ήταν παρούσες, φεμινιστικές συλλογικότητες, Réseau d’Entraide Justice et Vérité ( δίκτυο αλήθειας και δικαιοσύνης: δίκτυο συλλογικών οργανώσεων κατά της κρατικής βίας και των κρατικών εγκλημάτων, ΣτΜ), Les Mutilées pour l’Exemple (ακρωτηριασμένα για παραδειγματισμό: ένωση ανθρώπων που τραυματίστηκαν στη διάρκεια του κινήματος των κίτρινων γιλέκων, ΣτΜ), NPA (πολιτικό κόμμα, ΣτΜ), Soutien aux Inculpé-es du 15 Juin Limousin (επιτροπή στήριξης των κατηγορουμένων τις 15ης Ιούνη από το Limousin), κ.α.. Η δικαστική απόφαση θα ανακοινωθεί στις 22 Δεκέμβρη… η αγωνία είναι στα ύψη. Διαβάστε ρεπορτάζ από τις ακροάσεις εδώ.

ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΣΥΛΛΟΓΙΚΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΣΤΗΡΙΞΗ812

Έχεις καταφέρει να μπεις μέσα σε αυτόν τον ουρανοξύστη, των 160 μέτρων και 120.000 τετραγωνικών, διάφανος και ολόισιος σαν… την Δικαιοσύνη; Ένα είναι βέβαιο ωστόσο, αυτό το ψηλό κτίριο αναμφίβολα γέρνει… στα δεξιά! Πρέπει να περάσεις έναν αρχικό έλεγχο αποσκευών, έναν δεύτερο έλεγχο με ακτίνες Χ και ανιχνευτές μετάλλων, παρακολουθούμενο από δεκάδες κάμερες και μπάτσους οπλισμένους με αυτόματα. Σε ψάχνουν ξανά μπροστά στην αίθουσα, και αυτή φρουρούμενη από μπάτσους, που πληρώνονται για να στέκονται όλη μέρα και να κοιτάνε έντονα τις γυναίκες που εξέρχονται.

Πρέπει να ανεχθείς την συγκατάβαση και την περιφρόνηση αυτών των ανθρώπων που θεωρούν πως είναι υπεράνω των πάντων, και ειδικά πάνω από εμάς.
Ξεκινώντας με την Κυρία Πρόεδρο, ή καλύτερα να πούμε την Υψηλοτάτη, που όταν της ζητήθηκε να μιλήσει δυνατότερα καθώς δεν ακουγόταν απάντησε: “Δεν θα σου επιτρέψω να μου απευθύνεσαι έτσι, αν έχεις να μου πεις κάτι πες το διαμέσου του δικηγόρου σου”. Η οποία δεν κρύβει την ευχαρίστηση που παίρνει έχοντάς μας να στεκόμαστε μπροστά της, μέχρι να κάνουμε απόλυτη ησυχία, για να μας επιτρέψει να καθίσουμε… καλώς ήρθατε στο σχολείο, ή τον στρατό.

Βία εκ μέρους δικαστικού που από την αρχή συμμετέχει στην σκευωρία, αρνούμενη εξ’ αρχής και χωρίς αιτιολόγηση, όλα τα αιτήματα της Υπεράσπισης για πρόσβαση στις πληροφορίες του DGSI.
Πρόκειται για βασικά αιτήματα: να πάρουν καταθέσεις από τα 1207SI και 856SI, δύο αξιωματικούς του DGSI που έχουν κρατήσει πάνω από 150 ύποπτες σημειώσεις. Υπό την πένα κάποιον πρακτόρων με ζωηρές φαντασίες, μια “chouette ομάδα” (καλή ομάδα, ΣτΜ) γίνεται μια “shot ομάδα” (πυροβοληθείσα ομάδα, ΣτΜ), και μερικά χτυπήματα με σφυριά και μια σπάτουλα γίνονται δύο ώρες ανταλλαγής πυρών. Όταν ένα βίντεο από συσκευή παρακολούθησης μπορούσε να εγείρει ερωτήματα γύρω από αυτό το σημείο, καταστράφηκε “κατά λάθος” από το DGSI. Πρωτοφανή γεγονότα σύμφωνα με ένα δικηγόρο.

Ομοίως θα μπορούσαμε να απαλλαγούμε από αμφιβολίες σχετικά με δηλώσεις που έγιναν υπό κράτηση, παίρνοντας τα σχετικά βίντεο. Αλλά παρά τις καταθέσεις για απειλές, παρά τα “τεχνικά μοντάζ” κατά τα οποία οι μπάτσοι σε χειραγώγησαν, και πάρα την σχεδόν ομόφωνη αμφισβήτηση των δηλώσεων που έγιναν σε αυτές τις κρατήσεις, το δικαστήριο για άλλη μια φορά απέρριψε το αίτημα.

Σε άλλες δίκες, όπως αυτές των Barjols [σύνδεσμος στα γαλλικά], το δικαστήριο επικύρωσε τέτοιο αίτημα.

“Τι είδους περιφρόνηση είναι αυτή; Από τι κώδικα είναι υπεράνω αυτοί οι άνθρωποι; Μας λέτε: “Η αστυνομία κάνει καλά την δουλειά της, δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία για αυτό”. Τι ταυτολογία είναι αυτή; Εδώ είμαστε για να αμφιβάλουμε, και το ίδιο και το δικαστήριό σας.”

Αλλά όχι! Αυτοί οι άνθρωποι φαίνεται να είναι υπεράνω του νόμου και δεν πρόκειται να απολογηθούν για τις πράξεις τους. Μπορούν να συνεχίσουν να γράφουν πλαστές σημειώσεις και λευκά σημειώματα που στέλνουν κόσμο στην φυλακή. Και το Δικαστήριο τους δίνει λευκό συμβόλαιο.

Η βία των ερωτήσεων που τίθενται σε κάθε κατηγορούμενο, στις “καταθέσεις προσωπικότητας”, με ταξικές προκαταλήψεις: τι πόρους έχεις, έχεις εξαρτόμενα άτομα, έχεις εθισμούς… ο σκοπός των ερωτήσεων δηλώνεται ρητά: “θα λάβουμε αυτές τις πληροφορίες υπ’ όψιν για να εκδώσουμε την απόφαση”. Επομένως είναι το κοινωνικό στάτους που υπαγορεύει την ποινή.

Πίσω από το γλυκερό της χαμόγελο και την ψευδή ευγένεια (“είναι ώστε να σας γνωρίσω καλύτερα”), η δικαστής επιδίδεται σε ηθικά διδάγματα για αποφάσεις ζωής (καταλήψεις, νομαδισμός, παρανομία…) και δίνει συμβουλές που ποικίλουν από ψυχολογική έως επαγγελματική καθοδήγηση. Μόνιμη υποτίμηση και πατρονάρισμα.

Οι ερωτήσεις πάντα επιστρέφουν στις θεματικές του άγχους (για το μέλλον, τον εγκλεισμό, τον φασισμό…), διαμονές σε ZAD, βία, απέχθεια προς την αστυνομία ή άλλους επίσημους θεσμούς. Οι υπότιτλοι είναι ξεκάθαροι και αηδιαστικοί: έχεις τραύματα και μίσος κατά των μπάτσων και αυτό σε κάνει εύθραυστο και επικίνδυνο. Ή πως οι φρικτές πρακτικές των δυνάμεων του νόμου και της τάξης αναστρέφονται σε μια προσπάθεια ποινικοποίησης προς τα συντρόφια της 8ης Δεκέμβρη.

Η βία του να σε συγκρίνουν με το Ισλαμικό Κράτος, τον τζιχαντισμό και την ακροδεξιά, υπό το πλαίσιο της αντιτρομοκρατικής κατηγορίας-τσουβάλιασμα! Τσουβάλιασμα που αναπαράγεται από τον Darmanin και απεικονίζεται στις γλωσσικές παραδρομές του Εισαγγελέα, που μπέρδεψε ένασυ κατηγορούμενο με τον Mohammed MERAH.

Η βία του να πρέπει να γυμνώσεις τα σπλάχνα σου, τα προβλήματά σου, τις ευαισθησίες σου, του να αναγκάζεσαι να εκθέσεις την ζωή σου για να δικαιολογηθείς απέναντι σε ανθρώπους που σε έχουν αιχμαλωτίσει και μελανιάσει. Η πρόσθετη βία του να πρέπει να χρησιμοποιείς την γλώσσα τους, τους κώδικές τους, να είσαι ευγενικό, να έχεις συνάφεια λόγου, να μην ξεχάσεις τίποτα, καθώς κάθε αδικαιολόγητη λέξη είναι αντικείμενο υποψίας… Αυτοί είναι οι κανόνες τους και είτε θα υποταχθείς σε αυτούς είτε θα μαζεύεις τα κομμάτια.

Η βία του να γνωρίζεις πως δεν πρόκειται για μια εξαίρεση ή μπέρδεμα, αλλά για τον τρόπο που λειτουργεί η Γαλλική δικαιοσύνη. Να εξηγείς για μια ώρα τις απόψεις σου περί δικαιοσύνης γιατί είχες το θράσος να παραπέμψεις ένα κοινωνιολόγο για να εξηγήσεις την άρνησή σου να υποστείς τις έρευνες προσωπικότητας και τους ψυχολογικούς και ψυχιατρικούς ειδήμονες.

“Δίνετε την εντύπωση πως ήσασταν σχεδόν θυμωμένα που προσπαθούσαμε να σας γνωρίσουμε” μας μαλώνουν. Η παρόρμηση να θυμώσεις: Μόλις βίωσα την πιο βίαιη κατάσταση της ζωής μου (αντιτρομοκρατική σύλληψη, κράτηση, γυμνή σωματική έρευνα)!!!! Αλλά πρέπει να διατηρήσεις την ψυχραιμία σου: “Προτιμώ να μιλάω για τον εαυτό μου όσων αφορά προσδιορισμούς του εαυτού μου”.

Να διατηρείς την ψυχραιμία σου απέναντι σε επιθετικούς δικαστές: “Αυτό το γράμμα λέει πολλά για τα πιστεύω σου. Το ζήτημα είναι η βίαια επίθεση κατά θεσμών. Η Δικαιοσύνη είναι ένας εκ των θεσμών. Κριτικάρεις την δικαιοσύνη και δεν την εμπιστεύεσαι; Σαν δικαστής, πρέπει να σε ρωτήσω: Αναγνωρίζεις την Γαλλική Δικαιοσύνη;” Τι απαντάς σε αυτό; Ευτυχώς όμως, μας υπενθυμίζουν πως: “Δεν είμαστε εδώ για να σας κρίνουμε πάνω στις πολιτικές σας απόψεις, και δεν υπάρχουν ερωτήσεις παγίδες.”

Και όμως. Κάθε μέρα που περνά το παράλογο γίνεται πιο προφανές, και η δίκη προσομοιάζει όλο και περισσότερο σε εκπομπή του CNEWS (γαλλικό συστημικό ΜΜΕ, ΣτΜ). Αλλά το δικαστήριο δεν φαίνεται να το αντιλαμβάνεται. Μάρτυρες για την Ρόζαβα, για μέσα επικοινωνίας, για απομονώσεις, πατρονάρονται από τους Δικαστές ενώ οι εισαγγελείς σκρολάρουν στα κινητά τους. Απόλυτη αδιαφορία.

Και μπροστά σε όλα αυτά τα αλληλέγγυα που γεμίζουν την αίθουσα πρέπει να μείνουν σιωπηλά, να καταπιούν την οργή ή να ρισκάρουν προσωρινή αποβολή από το δικαστήριο (όπως συνέβη την δεύτερη ημέρα). Αλλά μην ανησυχείτε, “η δικαιοσύνη αποδίδεται στο όνομα του Γαλλικού λαού”. Αμήν.

Πρέπει να οπλιστείς ψυχικά απέναντι σε αυτήν την βία. Πάνω από όλα, χρειάζεσαι υποστήριξη για να αντέξεις. Γέλια στην αίθουσα, δάχτυλα να χτυπάνε, πόδια να χτυπάνε, σάντουιτς που παραείναι νόστιμα για το διάλειμμα, χλευασμοί, ζωγραφιές και καρικατούρες που σου φτιάχνουν την διάθεση, αγκαλιές…

Όμως χρειαζόμαστε και πολιτική στήριξη! Γιατί η δίκη της 8ης Δεκέμβρη μας αφορά όλα.

Η αντιτρομοκρατία είναι η πρωτοπορία της φασιστικοποίησης της Γαλλίας. Δεν περνάει μέρα χωρίς πρωτοσέλιδα για τρομοκρατία. Και όσο περισσότερο οι αρχές χρησιμοποιούν τον όρο τόσο λιγότερο καταλαβαίνουμε τι πραγματικά σημαίνει. Αυτό που καταλαβαίνουμε ωστόσο είναι πως το πάνελ των τρομοκρατών επεκτείνεται διαρκώς ώσπου να φτάσει τον πραγματικό του σκοπό: να απονομιμοποιήσει ολόκληρο το εύρος των πολιτικών αντιφρονούντων.

Είναι περισσότερο προφανές από ποτέ, η αντιτρομοκρατία είναι σχεδιασμένη να σκληρύνει όλους τους μηχανισμούς καταστολής, καθώς το κράτος χρειάζεται να πολλαπλασιάσει την βία του προκειμένου να συντηρηθεί. Κοινωνική βία, οικονομική βία, αστυνομική βία, βία στις φυλακές και τα δικαστήρια.

Τρομοκράτηση των φτωχών, τρομοκράτηση των αλλοδαπών, των αντιπάλων, των μαζών. Η αντιτρομοκρατία είναι το πιο αποτελεσματικό μέσο διακυβέρνησης μέσω του φόβου.

Για τρία χρόνια στηρίζουμε τα άτομα που κατηγορήθηκαν την 8η Δεκέμβρη, και για τρία χρόνια εκφράζουμε την αλληλεγγύη μας με όσα βρέθηκαν στο στόχαστρο της αντιτρομοκρατικής καταστολής:

Αλληλεγγύη με τα αγωνιζόμενα του Κουρδικού κινήματος, που αντιμετωπίζουν σκληρή καταστολή από το αντιτρομοκρατικό σύστημα δικαιοσύνης, ενώ ο Ερντογάν επιδιώκει την οικοκτονική και γενοκτονική πολιτική του στο Κουρδιστάν.

Αλληλεγγύη με όσα εξεγέρθηκαν από τον θάνατο του Nahel, που αντιμετώπισαν την θανάσιμη επέλαση των αντιτρομοκρατικών δυνάμεων.

Αλληλεγγύη με τα κατηγορούμενα της 15 Ιούνη 2021 από την περιοχή Limousin, υποπτευόμενα πως ίσως πρόσφεραν μερικές μέρες χωρίς τηλεόραση σε ένα εκατομμύριο ανθρώπους στην Γαλλία.

Αλληλεγγύη στον αναρχικό σύντροφο Ivan, συνελήφθη από το SDAT, πέρασε 1 χρόνο υπό προληπτική κράτηση, κατηγορούμενος πως έκαψε αμάξια μεγαλοεταιριών και διπλωματών.

Αλληλεγγύη με τον Kamel Daoudi, που έχει τεθεί σε ισόβια κατ’ οίκον κράτηση ικανοποιώντας τις σαδιστικές τάσεις του Υπουργείου Εσωτερικών.

Αλληλεγγύη με τον Boris, υπό αντιτρομοκρατική έρευνα για την πυρπόληση κεραίας 5G στο Besançon.

Αλληλεγγύη με το S, συλληφθέν στο Limoges με την βοήθεια του DGSI, καταδικασθέν σε 3 χρόνια φυλάκισης λόγο υποψίας για πυρπόληση οχημάτων της χωροφυλακής (gendarmerie).

Αλληλεγγύη με τα συντρόφια του ριζοσπαστικού Pride του Metz, ένα εκ των οποίων στοχοποιήθηκε με αντιτρομοκρατική σύλληψη τον προηγούμενο Μάιο.

Αλληλεγγύη με τον George Ibrahim Abdallah, παράνομα κρατούμενος στην Γαλλία για πάνω από 40 χρόνια.

Αλληλεγγύη με τα συντρόφια που συνελήφθησαν από το SDAT σε σχέση με το Lafarge.

Ευρύτερα, αλληλεγγύη με όλα τα συντρόφια που βρέθηκαν τα τελευταία χρόνια στο στόχαστρο παρακολουθήσεων, στρατηγικών διαλύσεων και αντιτρομοκρατίας. Από την Ρωσία ως την Παλαιστίνη: Να μην αντιτρομοκρατηθούμε!

Τις τελευταίες 4 εβδομάδες, ήμασταν στα δικαστήρια μαζί με τα κατηγορούμενα της 8ης Δεκέμβρη. Για 4 εβδομάδες ακούραστα επαναλαμβάνουν:

Ποτέ δεν υπήρξε σχεδιασμός τρομοκρατικής ενέργειας! Ποτέ δεν υπήρξαν παραστρατιωτικές εκπαιδεύσεις! Ποτέ δεν υπήρξε ομάδα ή αρχηγός!

Όλες αυτές οι κατηγορίες είναι ψευδείς και κατασκευασμένες από το DGSI και μετά νομιμοποιημένες από δικαστές που είναι δύσκολο να ξεχωρίσεις από τους μπάτσους.

Αυτή η δίκη φέρει στο φως την βία του DGSI. Οι μέθοδοι απόκτησης πλαστών ομολογιών υπό κράτηση, τα αντιφατικά πρακτικά, η χειραγώγηση των πρακτικών και η απόκρυψη ουσιωδών πληροφοριών. Συλλήψεις με αυτόματα, κουκούλες στο κεφάλι και ζουρλομανδύες. Κράτηση, χειραγώγηση, ψέματα, απειλές, φάρμακα που αλλάζουν την συνειδητότητα, αποκλεισμός αισθήσεων και απειλές σεξουαλικών επιθέσεων.

Πολλές από αυτές τις πράξεις είναι και νομικά εγκλήματα, για τα οποία το DGSI δεν θα απαντήσει ποτέ.

Αυτή η δίκη δείχνει επίσης το πως το PNAT προτιμά ομολογίες δοσμένες υπό λευκά βασανιστήρια και απειλές, έναντι νηφάλιου σκεπτόμενου λόγου που εκφέρεται στο δικαστήριο. Πως οι προκαταλήψεις τους και η στρεβλώσεις τους τους τυφλώνουν απέναντι στην γελοιότητα της υπόθεσης.

Όπως ένα κατηγορούμενο το έθεσε: “Αντίθετα με την υπόθεση Tarnac, όπου η έρευνα σκόπευε στο να βρει τα υπεύθυνα για το σαμποτάζ, εδώ οι ζωές μας χτενίζονται λεπτομερώς ώστε να αποπειραθούν να τις κάνουν να ταιριάξουν στο αφήγημα που ήδη έχει φτιαχτεί και ανακοινωθεί από το DGSI”.

Αυτή η δίκη λαμβάνει χώρα στο πλαίσιο της βίαιης καταστολής αγώνων και κοινωνικών διαμαρτυριών στην Γαλλία, τόσο φυσικά, με εγκλήματα κατά ατόμων, και την “τρομοκρατική” ταμπέλα στους πολιτικούς αντιπάλους.

Η υπόθεση της 8ης Δεκέμβρη πηγαίνει παραπέρα: το κεντρικό ζήτημα δεν είναι η επέκταση της “τρομοκρατίας” στο σαμποτάζ, αλλά περισσότερο η δημιουργία νομικών δυνατοτήτων για την καταστολή επαναστατικών πολιτικών εκφράσεων με το “πριν-του-τρομοκρατικού” πλαίσιο. Πρόκειται για επαναφορά του εγκλήματος σκέψης.

Ανησυχούμε όλα!

Άτομα των ZAD, φεμινίστριες, αντιφασιστ@, αντικαπιταλιστ@, οικολόγ@, αντιρατσιστ@ και άλλα αναρχοπάνκ άτομα της επαρχίας,

ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΓΙΝΟΥΜΕ ΑΝΤΙΤΡΟΜΟΚΡΑΤΕΣ!

ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ ΜΕ ΤΑ ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΟΥΜΕΝΑ ΤΗΣ 8ης ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΗ!

Communiqué from the Internationalist Network Serhildan

translated from serhildan (8 nov.)

Communiqué in support of the december 8 defendants

Communiqué from the Internationalist Network Serhildan in support of the December 8th defendants, whose trial was held from October 3 to 27 in Paris. The trial comes almost three years after their arrest, and many of the defendants have already been imprisoned in pre-trial detention and subjected to numerous acts of prison violence – from repeated strip searches to 16 months in solitary confinement for Libre Flot, finally released after a 37-day hunger strike.

Reports on the trial were published on the Blog des Comités du 8/12.

The trial of the December 8 defendants ended on October 27. Seven people appeared in court, charged with ” terrorist criminal association”. This high-stakes trial could lead to a broadening of the legal definition of terrorism to include left-wing protest movements. While the defense was unanimous in calling for the defendants to be acquitted, the anti-terrorist prosecutor requested prison sentences ranging from a two-year suspended sentence to 6 years’ imprisonment with a committal order for Libre Flot. The final verdict will be announced on December 22.

Even the liberal media recognize that the case against them is shaky to say the least. A group of people who didn’t all know each other, with no concrete project demonstrated despite months of surveillance by the DGSI. As in the Tarnac case in 2018, which ended in a judicial fiasco and the acquittal of all those charged, the terrorist project is constructed like a fable from disparate elements woven around the fact that the accused used tools on a daily basis to protect their privacy and encrypt their communications. A large homemade firecracker, paintball games and, at the heart of the trial, Libre Flot’s internationalist commitment to Rojava.

Since his arrest, Libre Flot has been repeatedly questioned about his reasons for going to Rojava and the knowledge he would have acquired there. During the trial, the judge insisted that he must have returned traumatized. Libre Flot asserts that he did not return traumatized and that what interested him, and brought him a lot during his stay in Rojava, was Democratic Confederalism. “What I want to share is a political experience”. He also denounces the indifference to the current bombardment of Kurdistan by Turkish military aircraft. It is precisely the political ideas of Libre Flot and the other accused that interest the court, in the absence of concrete facts to accuse them of. In police custody, Libre Flot was asked whether he used the word “comrade”, or whether he defined himself as a libertarian.

Since 2014, dozens of internationalists from France have traveled to Rojava to take part in the process of building a society based on basic democracy, women’s liberation and social ecology. It is these internationalists, many of whom have contributed to the fight against Daech, who are in the DGSI’s sights. Those who have left for no political purpose, solely to take part in the armed struggle against Daech or for Islamophobic reasons, are not worried. Against a backdrop of growing social protest in France, it’s hardly surprising that the spread of the ideas of social revolution in Rojava, and of international unity between socialist forces around the world, should rattle the tyrants who rule us.

Repression of the political ideas of the Kurdish movement has a long history in France. We recall that recently, between 2021 and 2022, as part of the investigation of those indicted on March 23, 2021, over 800 people were questioned by the DGSI. 11 of them were convicted of membership of the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union. They are now appealing against this decision.

In response to this attempt to intimidate and criminalize internationalism, we say that it only strengthens our determination to continue our work in solidarity with Kurdistan, and to spread the ideas and practices of the Rojava revolution and bring them into dialogue with our local struggles.

Freedom for the accused!

Feminist speech during the 27th oct. gathering

from soutien812.net

FEMINIST COMMUNIQUE

We are speaking to you this Friday, October 27, as feminists from different backgrounds, as those close to us and supporters of the December 8 affair.

October 27, the famous, the desired October 27 that we have wished for with all our hearts because it marks the end of the trial of our comrades and, we hope, the end of three long and terrible years of suffering and judicial harassment. We call for the acquittal of all those charged on December 8 for the terrorist conspiracy of which they are accused.

As feminists, we have been responding throughout these three years. From denouncing “unfounded arrests and the pressure exerted on people seeking to exercise their right to criticism and protest” to opposing state repression, by asserting “our fear and anger in the face of the government’s security race“, we were there on October 3 at the opening rally of this gigantic trial, whose flamboyant contours made the “empty shell” of this investigative case even more obvious. We were there during the month-long trial, our eyes sometimes glazed over, and we smiled when we saw how some of the defendants had to explain their big, virile, funny, sometimes not-so-smart behavior to 3 lady judges, who looked down on them and didn’t quite understand what was going on. But if we felt the need to continue to fight our battles in our own communities, it’s by our comrades’ side that we stand proud.

We are particularly feminist, our feminism is intersectional, and our political interests are not limited to sexist and sexual violence. We are where it is expected, and where it is less expected. Cases of political repression concern us. Cases of repression concern us. We will always be there, and we will give our unfailing support to all victims of a police state that wishes to muzzle our struggles, of a capitalist and patriarchal state that exploits us and places us in service. We will always be there to offer our criticism and analysis, wherever patriarchy takes shape and is exercised. If this trial has revealed the importance of our feminist struggles, it is indeed to society as a whole and to our institutions that this importance has become visible. To the point of dazzling us.

We reclaim the right to criticize our institutions.

During this trial, when a political criticism of the judicial institution was made by one of the defendants, a judge was amazed: “Do you believe in justice?“

Just saying that this state institution has sexist, racist and classist biases, is enough for judges to feel attacked, and for suspicion to grow. “Justice is rendered in the name of the French people!” chanted like a cloak of invinsibility or a protective talisman.

A shiver ran through all of us then. Hum, sweat. Bad film.

We have to say it loud and clear: we too are critical of institutions. And that’s the basis of all democratic functioning: criticism of the way the city works concerns everyone, and is necessary to improve the institutions, when it comes to improving them. If we wanted to speak their language, we’d call it “civic duty“.

“Never agree with the world as it is”, says Mr Arnaud at the end of his argument. This is what we’re talking about here, this moral right or duty that we have to defend, and yet we’re told that it’s not for their ideas that the accused are on the stand.

We must criticize, and we must denounce the oppressions committed by Justice, the Police, the Prison. Too many of us have been saying it for too long: prisons are full of poor, racially discriminated people. The majority of police surveillance and violence is carried out on people from working-class neighborhoods, or from ultra-marine departments, and the majority on people who are not perceived as white. This surveillance and violence are not only more frequent, regular and ordinary, they are also of an intensity that is incomparable with that experienced by more bourgeois, and white people. And when police crimes are reported, “Justice” almost invariably dismisses them. The same goes for the murders committed by representatives of the state in French prisons. The videos are lost, the officers don’t respond, they don’t show up in court, the elements are not gathered to establish the truth about the facts.

We’re used to seeing the judiciary cover up violence committed by other government departments. It’s as if the Judiciary’s only purpose were to bring the truth to light, and to do it fairly and equitably for everyone.

Crimes are “non-existent” when committed by policemen or prison guards. But when poor, punk people whose lifestyles are far removed from the norms of the bourgeoisie, and they’re assimilated to the “ultra-Islamo-left”, then they don’t need to have raised their voice at a policeman to be accused of wanting to kill him. A policeman, or any other “representative of the state” for that matter, as the judicialization note of DGSI says: there’s no need to specify the target, as long as it appears to be part of this united bloc of “state institutions“. So an enemy is designated. And here, it’s come back again and again and again, to the point of memorizing all the transcripts of the recordings, these words and this anger against the actions of the police becoming proof of guilt.

So yes, we have a hard time trusting state institutions.

This trial didn’t help. And it was hard to hear during the prosecutors’ closing arguments that the defendants were accused of not questioning themselves enough. It’s a bit hard to hear, if I may say so. Coming from those who have continually protested that this could be a possibility.

So, yes, we’re scandalized that throughout the trial it’s a lot of anger, criticism, political books and subversive reading that’s being reproached, analyzed and hammered out. We are outraged that we have to explain ourselves on the stand about the books in our libraries.

Should we take note of the many elements of computer security revealed in this affair and go to cryproparties we’ve been told about and put the readings that could become incriminating and put them under Tails when we get home? Or should we assert our right to criticism loud and clear? We choose the second option. The first seems counterproductive.

We noticed and observed that in this trial, many women surrounded the defendants, so we’re not surprised. Most of the women who suffer the violence of the carceral system are relatives of those on trial, punished or locked up. It’s mostly women who are found in the visiting rooms, “nearly 9 out of 10 visitors are women. While this is to be expected in the case of spouses, since men account for 96.6% of the prison population, it’s more surprising in the case of other relatives (8 times out of 10 a mother) or brothers and sisters (3 times out of 4 a sister)“.
They stick around to support their loved ones, they take care of them.But there are also women and gender minorities in prison: many of them have fought against the patriarchal violence they suffered, sometimes “using violence” to get away with it. And all non-cisgender people experience transphobia at its worst in prisons. Prisons are not solutions for us; we denounce their violence and ineffectiveness. Our feminism is anti-carceral, we act to transform behavior and our culture, we want to fight oppression as a system, not the people who perpetrate it. Because we know that the realities of prisons today don’t improve lives, they just keep a system running where the poor are punished, and the bourgeois punish, and get rich on the system. Because when you’ve got a penny in this capitalist world, you’re not afraid of going to prison. We’re better than that. So yes, we’re saying it, even if it seems reprehensible: we criticize state institutions: the actions of the French police, justice system and prisons increase the racist, classist and sexist violence in our lives. Even if sometimes, we find no other solution than to ask for the recognition and action of Justice when we are in danger, or victims of reprehensible acts, and we can’t blame ourselves. Despite this, we are not fooled: the State is not our ally in the fight against oppression, it is rather our political enemy, and so much better if this ruffles the hair of Mr. Prosecutor

During this month-long trial, we have been made aware of a struggle, that of Camille, the only woman to be charged. It has grown in importance, and had its victories, sometimes because it has been repeated and fought hard. We know that this battle had to be waged throughout the judicial investigation. Having shared an intimate relationship with the main defendant, she first had to fight not to be reduced to her place in this relationship. She had to defend herself, and fight to be considered for herself, for her voice to be heard and taken seriously. For self-determination. So, the public prosecutor and the judges listened to her, understood as they went along that the questions that didn’t concern her, didn’t concern her, and said that she wasn’t being prosecuted for being THE companion. But as her lawyer, Maitre Chalot, would say, she is perceived in the case through the prism of a blind love affair, and is always thought to be more determined by passion than by reason, calling into question the credibility of her word and denying her the possibility of independence. And right up to the end. She has had to fight to defend herself against stereotypes, to put nuance into every portrait we’ve tried to pin on her, to render them ineffective by bringing complexity to them. There’s been La Compagne, then, defending herself to claim the right to be heard, La Manipulatrice, the one most imbued with a violent ideology and who insidiously influences the group, and La Passionnée who supports unconditionally without thinking for herself.

We can’t accept being caricatured according to these sexist stereotypes. While they often confine us to infantilizing roles, assigning us to silence, when we are cast in the role of the perfidious or passionate woman, they can also put us in danger.

The judge has shown no hesitation when it comes to examining women’s intimacy. The investigation will note that Camille has no children, whereas this will not be mentioned for her companions of misfortune, as her lawyer will point out.

So, yes, our battles are fought everywhere, and our criticisms seem necessary.

After the exposure imposed by incarceration, interrogation and extremely intrusive surveillance to which the accused were subjected, they had to fight for their dignity, to be heard, to be believed. And during the trial, the judge was astonished to ask: “Do you have the impression that no one is listening to you?” Yes, that’s true. Just count the number of times a single question is asked. There must be a dozen times for favorite questions. This surveillance and control procedure against our comrades was strongly contested by the defense during the trial, on a number of points. Why were so few recordings retransmitted? Why is it so difficult to access the original recordings? Why are the agents who produced most of the PVs in the case file not questioned? Why is the prosecutor so aggressive when the defense seeks to balance the rights of the parties in this trial? Virtually all the defense’s requests have been relegated to the end of the trial – in other words, rejected. No, what we saw during these 4 weeks of trial was not at all a “search for the truth“. On the contrary, it’s been a war of discourse, with many – relatively unsuccessful – attempts to match words and actions to pre-established suspicions.

So yes, our criticisms seem necessary.

We’ll be told that, no, it’s not the commitment to Rojava we’re talking about here, and yet Rojava, rojava, rojava… like a noisy duck in the background.

We claim to be feminist internationalists, and we draw on the reflections and analyses of our Kurdish, Iranian and Chilean comrades, and of all the women who fight daily for life and freedom and against a mortifying world.

An internationalist comrade who visited Rojava said: “I’m touched both by the internationalist spirit of these women and by their historical perspective. Despite the constant threat of war and nameless patriarchal violence, they intend to fight not only for their own liberation, but for that of women the world over.”

Woman, life, freedom. We will remain standing.

Other speeches during the 27th oct. gathering

from soutien812.net (29th oct.)

SPEECH FROM MANU (ACCUSED)

[inspired by “Salut à toi” by Les Béruriers Noirs, NdT]

Thanks to you who come from far away, who sometimes had to steal the train
Thanks to all you “writers”, so many articles, posts and columns, it makes feel good.
And thanks to all the cooks, for lunch, dinner and all the breaks

Thank you to all the cartoonists, your pencil strokes warm the heart.
Thanks to all you agitators, your whistles and grunts make them twirl
Thanks to all the musicians, concerts and freestyles, we can hear you from far away.
Thanks to all the banner-makers, graffiti artists and rioters [casseurs]

Thanks to the newspapers that support us, so that the general public understands
And thanks to you, L’Envolée, for breaking the chains of all those locked up.

Thank you, Love to all the families, friends and anonymous people
Since the beginning no one has given up, repression isn’t just for the accused
And thank you all for your smiles, hugs, strength, arms and laughter.

Special dedication to the prosecutors, clerks, judges and assessors.
Your fantasies have come true, we’ve built friendships
Thanks to the rest of you for your solidarity, without it we’d have all became crazy
And for squats and hospitality, buddies are better than Levallois-Perret

In short, so many thanks to you all, and just so there’s no doubt about it
We’re sending it back to you too, receive it well, this A of love in a circle of links

Sorry for the ones I missed,
Thanks to you, thanks to you, we feel armed – eh… LOVED! [AIMÉ·ES]

COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE TOULOUSE COMMITTEE

At the heart of the indictment are 3 places of struggle, emancipation and conflict. The sivens zad, rojava and the pum squat in toulouse.

First there’s the zad of sivens, the ecologist struggle where punk and hyppies came together to try to oppose a dam project in 2014 in the tarn department. “These are the best and worst memories of my life”, says one defendant. Where we discovered a form of resistance through the occupation of a forest, to make it the place of our utopia, we also discovered the mortifying authority of the State ready to raze, crush and illegally drain a forest, an area of life and biodiversity to assert an idiotic project to serve Agro-industry. We have seen desolation and death through the violence of the forces of law and order who wanted to chase us away at all costs: ransacking, humiliation, injuries and finally the death of a young demonstrator on the night of October 25. We still don’t have the words to tell you all about it.

The prosecutor is talking about the most recent form of ultra-left-wing violence. We remember whole afternoons trying to build huts in the woods, developing all sorts of crazy tactics to slow down the construction work, and above all the endless debates between vegans, breeders, naturalists, citizens, squatters, feminists, party-goers – in short, an experience of direct democracy, where we evolve and grow together in a struggle.

It wasn’t an incredible experience either, we don’t want you to think it was paradise, but for those of us who stayed, it left such a deep impression on us that the links we built there are still strong and unite us to this day. We could almost thank the PNAT for bringing us together again 9 years later.
But we don’t forget, when we were being chased or our caravans destroyed, we were already being told that we were terrorists, that repression costs us and damages us.

Then there’s Rojava, a territory that today extends into northeastern Syria, home to Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, etc. from different religions. Known as a combat zone against DAECH since 2014, it is also a testing ground for Democratic Confederalism, an alternative based on a stateless system theorized by Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). Remember this, too, imprisoned and isolated by the Turkish state since 1999, he has been fighting for decades for recognition of Kurdish culture, its language and its right to exist, which resonates with those of thousands of political prisoners in Turkey (mayors, elected representatives, teachers, human rights activists, journalists, etc.).

The PKK is not a terrorist organization, as the Turkish state would have us believe and as PNAT would have us believe, without recalling the context and the thousands of deaths caused by this Turkish dictatorship, a NATO country, which never stops searching, torturing, locking up, murdering and bombing Kurds in Turkey, but also in North-East Syria and Europe.

In Rojava, the experimentation of this political system is based on the complexity of this territory: being able to live together in the same space, regardless of religion or culture, developing a respectful economy based on solidarity, giving women the same rights as men, offering everyone the possibility of self-defense, listening to young people, but also ecological and democratic foundations, and restorative justice; in the civilian sector as well as in the army.

Finally, the Pum squat, where 2 of the defendants were arrested on December 8, 2020, and which is said to be a hangout for the violent ultra-left. A huge squat with one hectare of hangars in the middle of Toulouse, opened just before the confinement and which will have lasted 3 years. In this city on a forced march towards gentrification, disfigured by the ambitions of a mayor in the service of the arms and aeronautics industries, housing is unaffordable for thousands of poor people.

Keeping a squatted living space free from the antisquat militia, journalists and cops is no mean task in Toulouse today.

At the Pum we were able to host, experiment, organize and share a lot of stuff without getting too annoyed, until December 8, 2020. After our friends were locked up, we had no choice but to stand together and support each other. In the midst of all this turmoil, we continued to do what we believed in, we didn’t want the repression to stop us, we pulled out all the stops, we got a bit exhausted. And Mr. Prosecutor and Madam Judge, it was a bit more than “activities open to all” or “workshops”. We were trying to share political values and operating methods. We questioned our systemically oppressive relationships, we welcomed openly while assuming radical political values, we tried to build self-management, we put solidarity into action.

We’re not going to lie either, there were a few contradictions, we liked to party a bit too much and sometimes it was a bit dirty. But what we’ve got left, and what won’t be taken away from us even if the pum no longer exists, are those links that are once again so strong that they continue to unite us and bring us together. It’s that powerful solidarity that, whatever the prosecutors may say, isn’t a “watchword” but a political and human force. Zurab and Abdel come to mind. It’s also the feeling that, in the heart of a city, we are able to live out our autonomy and resistance to a world that oppresses us.

SPEECH FROM THE MOTHERS OF THE ACCUSED

We, the mothers of those charged on December 8, didn’t know each other, but we’re all caught up in the same turmoil, and we want to bear witness.

Scattered across the 4 corners of France, they didn’t all know each other, yet they have been charged with ” terrorist criminal conspiracy “: the December 8, 2020 defendants.

Our children’s life choices, which may differ from our own, are guided by humanist, altruistic and solidarity values (support for migrants, homeless people, people with disabilities, animal protection, nature…), values that we have instilled in them.

These values have led them to take up environmental causes with suffering or persecuted populations.

December 8, 2020 was a cataclysm for all of us. Since then, our lives have been turned upside down and bracketed. This is what brought us together, to share our stupefaction, our incomprehension, our wounds, and to support each other.

Supporting our children through this ordeal has become our main concern. We deplore the way they have been portrayed and, even more so, the fact that they may have terrorist intentions or a desire to cause harm to others.

This ordeal has given us a better understanding of our children’s commitments, and our confidence in them remains intact.

Gathering in front of the Tribunal – October 27

from soutien812.net

*photo of the gathering in Paris the 3rd of oct.*

We were over a hundred people present on the last day of the hearing, after 4 weeks of trial. Many of those close to the defendants: family and friends. Coffee, tea, homemade juices, a few brochures, singing and good mood. There were several speeches, which we reproduce here. Several organizations were also present: feminist collectives, Réseau d’Entraide Justice et Vérité (truth and justice network : network of collective organizations against violence and state crimes, NdT), Les Mutilées pour l’Exemple (mutilated as an example : association of people hurt during the yellow vests movement, NdT), NPA (political party, NdT), Soutien aux Inculpé-es du 15 Juin Limousin (support committee of the 15 june accused from Limousin), etc. The verdict will be delivered on December 22… the suspense is at its height. You can read the hearing reports here.

COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE SOUTIEN812 COLLECTIVE

You’ve already got to get inside this 160-metre-high, 120,000m2 skyscraper, which is as straight and transparent as… Justice? One thing’s for sure, though, and that’s that this tall building undeniably leans… to the right! You have to pass an initial bag check, then a second with X-rays and walk-through metal detectors, monitored by dozens of cameras and police armed with assault rifles. You’re searched again in front of the room, itself guarded by cops, paid to wait all day and stare at women coming out.

You have to put up with the condescension and contempt of these people who think they’re above everything, especially us. Starting with Madam President, or should we say Her Highness, who, when asked to speak louder because she couldn’t hear, replied: “I won’t allow you to apostrophize me like that, go through a lawyer if you have something to say to me“. And who takes undisguised pleasure in leaving us standing in front of her until we are completely silent, before allowing us to sit down… welcome to middle school, or the army.

Violence on the part of a judiciary that has been complicit from the outset, refusing outright, without any justification, all requests from the Defense for access to information held by the DGSI. A basic request: to interview 1207SI and 856SI, two DGSI officers who had written more than 150 suspicious minutes. Under the pen of certain agents with fertile imaginations, a “chouette team” (nice team, into english, NdT) becomes a “shot team“; and a few blows with hammers and a spatula become a two-hour shooting session. When a video from an espionage device could have raised doubts on this point, it is “involuntarily” destroyed by the DGSI. Unprecedented, according to one lawyer.

Just as doubt could have been removed about the statements made in police custody by obtaining the videos. But, despite the testimonies of threats, despite the “technical cuts” during which the cops manipulated you, and despite the almost unanimous contestation of the remarks made during these custodies, once again this was refused by the Tribunal.

In other trials, such as that of the Barjols [link in french], the Court had authorized it.

“What kind of contempt is this ?” a lawyer finally snapped. What code are these people above? We’re told: “The police do their job well, there’s no doubt about it”. What kind of tautology is that? We’re here to doubt, and so is your court.“

But no! These people seem to be above the law and won’t have to answer for their actions. They’ll be able to carry on writing false minutes and white notes that send people to prison. And the Tribunal gives them carte blanche.

The violence of the questions put to each defendant “personality interviews” with social class prejudice : what are your resources, do you have dependents, do you have addictions… whose purpose is clearly expressed: “we’ll take this into account when making our decision“. So it’s social status which dictate the sentence.

Behind her honeyed smile and false politeness (“it’s just to get to know you better“), the judge indulges in moral lessons on lifestyle choices (squatting, nomadism, moonlighting…) and gives advice ranging from psychological to career guidance. Permanent infantilization.

The questions always come back to the themes of anxiety (about the future, confinement, fascism…), stays in ZADs, violence, resentment towards the police or institutions. The subtitle is clear and nauseating: you have traumas and anti-cop hatred, which makes you fragile and dangerous. Or how the horrors committed by the forces of law and order are turned on their head in an attempt to criminalize the companions of December 8th.

The violence of being compared to the Islamic State, jihadism and the far right, under the pretext of the catch-all accusation of terrorism! An assimilation maintained by Darmanin and illustrated by the Prosecutor’s slips of the tongue, confusing a defendant with Mohamed MERAH.

The violence of having to show your guts, your problems, your intimacy, of being forced to expose your life to justify yourself to people who have locked you up and bruised you. The additional violence of having to use their language, their codes, be polite, coherent, not have a lapse of memory, when every unexplained word is subject to suspicion… These are their rules, and you either bend to them or you pick up the pieces.

The violence of knowing that all this is not an exception, a “blunder”, but the way French justice works. Explaining for an hour about one’s opinions of justice because one had the audacity to quote a sociologist to explain one’s refusal to submit to the personality investigation and the psychological and psychiatric expertises.

“You give the impression that you were almost angry that we were trying to get to know you,” we are reproached. The urge to get angry: I had just experienced the worst violence of my life (anti-terrorist arrest, detention, strip searches)!!!! But you have to stay calm: “I prefer to speak for myself when it comes to defining myself.“

Staying calm in the face of aggressive-sounding judges: “This letter speaks volumes about your convictions. The issue here is to violently attack institutions. Justice is one of them. You criticize justice and don’t trust it? As a judge, I must ask you: do you recognize French justice?” What’s the answer to that? Fortunately, we’re reminded that: “We’re not here to judge you on your political opinions, and there are no trick questions.“

And yet. With each passing day, the absurdity becomes clearer, and the trial becomes more and more like a CNEWS show (french information mainstream television channel, NdT). But the Tribunal doesn’t seem to realize this. Witnesses on Rojava, on communication tools, on prison isolation, are manhandled by the Judges while the prosecutors scroll on their phones. Total indifference.

And in the face of all this, the supporters filling the room have to keep quiet, swallow their anger, or risk temporary exclusion (as happened on day 2). But rest assured, “justice is done in the name of the French people“. Amen.

You have to armor yourself against all this violence. Above all, you need support to hold on. Laughter in the room, fingers snapping and feet tapping, sandwiches too good for the break, derision, drawings and caricatures that make you feel good, hugs…

But we also need political support! Because this December 8 trial concerns us all.

Anti-terrorism is the vanguard of France’s fascization process. Not a day goes by without terrorism making the headlines. And the more the authorities talk about it, the less we understand what it really means. What we do understand, however, is that the panel of terrorists is constantly expanding until it reaches its real objective: to disqualify all political opposition.

Never before has it been so clear that anti-terrorism is designed to toughen up the entire repressive apparatus of the state, as the state needs to redouble its violence to maintain itself. Social violence, economic violence, violence by the police, in prisons and in the courts.

Terrorize the poor, terrorize foreigners, terrorize opponents, and terrorize the masses. Anti-terrorism is the most effective tool for governing by fear.

For three years we have supported those charged on December 8, and for three years we have expressed our solidarity with the targets of anti-terrorist repression:

Solidarity with the Kurdish activists currently on appeal, who have been harshly repressed by the anti-terrorist justice system, while Erdogan pursues his ecocidal and genocidal policy in Kurdistan.

Solidarity with those revolted by Nahel’s death, who faced a deadly deployment of anti-terrorist forces.

Solidarity with the defendants on June 15, 2021 in the Limousin region, suspected of having offered to a million French people a few days without television.

Solidarity with the anarchist companion Ivan, arrested by the SDAT, incarcerated for 1 year (preventive), accused of burning vehicles of big companies and diplomats.

Solidarity with Kamel Daoudi, placed under house arrest for life to satisfy the torturous impulses of the Ministry of the Interior.

Solidarity with Boris, under anti-terrorist investigation for setting fire to a 5G antenna in Besançon.

Solidarity with S, arrested in Limoges with the help of the DGSI, then sentenced to 3 years in prison on suspicion of setting fire to gendarmerie vehicles.

Solidarity with the comrades of the Metz Radical Pride, one of whose members was targeted by an anti-terrorist arrest last May.

Solidarity with George Ibrahim Abdallah, illegally detained by France for over 40 years.

Solidarity with the comrades arrested by the SDAT in link with Lafarge.

And more generally, solidarity with all comrades targeted in recent years by intelligence, surveillance, administrative dissolutions and anti-terrorism. From Russia to Palestine: let’s not let ourselves be anti-terrorized!

For the past four weeks, we’ve been at this Tribunal, alongside the people charged on December 8. And for 4 weeks, the defendants have been tirelessly repeating:

There was never any plan for terrorist action! There was never any paramilitary training! There was never a group, nor a leader!

All these accusations are false and have been fabricated by the DGSI and then validated by magistrates who are hard to separate from the cops.

This trial has brought to light the violence of the DGSI. The methods used to obtain false confessions in police custody, the erroneous minutes, the manipulation of transcripts and the withholding of essential information. Arrests with assault rifles, hoods over the head and straitjackets. Police custody, manipulation, lies, threats, drugs to alter consciousness, sensory deprivation and threats of sexual assault.

Many of these acts are crimes, for which the DGSI will never have to answer.

This trial will also have revealed the extent to which the PNAT prefers confessions made under white torture and threat, to considered words spoken in court. How their cognitive biases and perversity blind them to the ridiculousness of this case.

As one defendant put it: “Unlike the Tarnac case, where the investigation is designed to find those responsible for sabotage, here our lives are being examined with a fine-toothed comb to try and make them fit the narrative that has already been announced and pre-constructed by the DGSI“.

This trial takes place in a context of violent repression of struggles and social protest in France, both physically, through crimes against individuals, and symbolically, through the “terrorist” characterization of political opponents.

The December 8 affair goes even further: the main issue is not to extend “terrorism” to sabotage, but rather to create legal possibilities for repressing revolutionary political expression in the “pre-terrorist” framework. It’s thoughtcrime that is being reintroduced here.

We’re all concerned!

ZADists, feminists, anti-fascists, anti-capitalists, ecologists, anti-racists and other anarcho-punk country folk,

LET’S NOT BE ANTI-TERRORISTS!

SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE CHARGED ON DECEMBER 8!

Communiqué from the Serhildan internationalist network

from soutien812.net

As the Internationalist Network Serhildan, a network of solidarity with the struggles of Kurdistan and the Rojava revolution, we would like to send our warmest greetings to the comrades who are currently facing repression, in a world where states wage wars for which we must pay, if not flee or die.

A system that ensures immeasurable wealth for the few, and exploitation for the many, from famine to burnout. A system that makes our planet uninhabitable for a large part of humanity.

Faced with such gloomy perspectives, it’s fair to organize and struggle against this system. To find ourselves accused of terrorism by a state that protects a system of such violence is a sign that we have succeeded in shaking it. And when the cracks open, it reinforces our determination and our confidence in our collective strength. Even the liberal media recognize that the prosecution case in this trial is shaky, to say the least. Yet this trial represents a major challenge not only for the co-defendants, but for the entire left-wing protest movement.

At the heart of the charges is the internationalist involvement of one of the defendants in Rojava. Since 2014, dozens of internationalists from France have traveled to Rojava to take part in the process of building a society based on grassroots democracy, women’s liberation and social ecology. It is these internationalists, many of whom have contributed to the fight against Daech, who are in the DGSI’s sights. Those who left without any political aim, solely to take part in the armed struggle against Daech or for Islamophobic reasons, are not worried.

In a context of growing social protest in France, it’s hardly surprising that the spread of the ideas of social revolution in Rojava, and of international unity between socialist forces around the world, should shake the tyrants who rule us. Repression of the political ideas of the Kurdish movement has a long history in France.

It will be recalled that recently, in 2021, as part of the investigation into the March 23 defendants, over 800 people were questioned by the DGSI, 11 of whom were later sentenced for membership of the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization.

In the face of this attempt to intimidate and criminalize internationalism, we respond that it only strengthens our determination to continue our work of solidarity, spreading the ideas and practices of the Rojava revolution and bringing them into dialogue with our local struggles.

Strength to our defendants comrades!

Day 16, Friday October 27: last day, last lawyer speeches and last words from the defendants

from Paris-luttes.info

Today, it was the turn of B., S. and F.’s lawyers to plead.

The day began at 11 a.m. on the courthouse square, where a gathering was held in support of the defendants! Speeches were made by various groups supporting the December 8 case and other anti-terrorism cases, by relatives of the defendants, by feminist groups, and by groups from the mutual aid, truth and justice network (Réseau d’Entraide Justice et Vérité : network of collective organizations against violence and state crimes, NdT)… It was ended in song, while delicious wraps of support were enjoyed by the two hundred people present.

Inevitably, the courtroom was full to bursting, with a good fifty people unable to get in but staying out in front anyway.

Pleadings

The lawyers point out that all the defendants have experienced the whole procedure very violently, at the end of which we just find the spectre of ultra-left-wing terrorism. But why, how could they be terrorists? Where is the plan? Where is the intention? In May 2020, when the investigators saw these facts, the project could not necessarily be ruled out. But afterwards, throughout the surveillance, the investigators clearly saw that there was no plan to continue with these supposedly problematic acts. We don’t arrest them at the time, because we don’t think they’re doing anything that dangerous, and to wait and see what their plans are. One of them is denied accreditation for several months, probably because he or she is on file, then miraculously obtains accreditation, all of a sudden, in the hope that its use will advance the investigation. But no, it doesn’t, he doesn’t do anything with it except for professional use. So, we see that there’s no project and we arrest them, considering that in May 2020, yes, these were very, very dangerous facts.

They set out to prove that there was no plan, no terrorist criminal association, that the airsoft games were not paramilitary training, that the defendants had not been inspired by a charismatic leader to arm themselves and get their hunting licenses even before meeting this so-called leader. Finally, no, F. did not go to Rojava with the aim of returning to import the armed struggle, that this was pure fantasy on the part of the DGSI.

As on the previous day, it is explained that they acknowledge having produced explosives (which they have always called “firecrackers”, but given that firecrackers explode, the word chosen by the courts will be “explosive”) for one of them, and having played airsoft for the other, but they dispute the narrative surrounding these acts. There is no tracking, no named or supposed target.
They show the errors and biases of the investigation, with a few examples. A handwritten notebook with descriptions of paramilitary training, when in fact it was the notebook of a cop who had come to search. The one from an expert saying he’d never heard of this explosive recipe in Europe, whereas a visit to YouTube shows that it’s used all over the French countryside. Learning that the recipe is very complicated to make, whereas the basic product used to make firecrackers can explode in a wide range of conditions, and without using the right recipe. That having anarchist brochures makes you a terrorist.

The investigation was carried out solely for the prosecution, making it an unfair trial. They pointed out that all the defense’s requests (access to videos of police custody, sound recordings, hard disks, etc.) had been refused during the investigation and at the hearing; and that the judges’ questions suggested that they had been made only to confirm the DGSI’s construction. Certain elements are not in the file, including 99% of the wiretaps, and documents have even disappeared, even though they were in the hands of the investigators. As one of the lawyers put it: “it’s hard to contradict the emptiness [of the investigation]”.

The defense deconstructed the terms “terrorist” and “ultra-left”: the first is a term that governments use to designate an enemy with whom no dialogue is possible (and who can therefore be deprived of certain rights in the process); the second has no precise definition, but is a sign that the defendants are being tried for their political opinions. The defendants have political opinions, but there has been no intimidation or terror, which is what is supposed to happen in a terrorist criminal association.

The pleadings also focus on the conditions of detention, and in particular LibreFlot’s 16 months in solitary confinement and 43-day hunger strike to get out. They all asked for acquittal on the charge of terrorist conspiracy. They are asking that if the defendants are sentenced for the offences they admit to (illegal possession of weapons, manufacture of explosives, refusal to use encryption codes, etc.), they be recharacterized as non-terrorists, and that no ban on carrying weapons or registration in the criminal record be imposed, so that those who practice shooting sports or fireworks can continue to do so. They also demanded that they should not be registered on the FIJAIT (Fichier des auteurs d’infractions terroristes, terrorist offenders file, NdT), and that sentences should be such as to prevent them all from returning to prison, taking into account the 3 years they have just (very badly) lived through.

The defendants speeches

Finally, the defendants take the stand one after the other. They reaffirm that this “disproportionate judicial storm” has been ruining their lives for three years, and that they are not terrorists. They express their fear of being judged, of being branded terrorists, and of having to carry this stigma for years to come. They need time to rebuild their lives, and aspire to “live in harmony with each other”, and are “proud of the struggles waged and the ideas defended”. “The future is not violence but solidarity”!

Despite the chairwoman’s reprimands, the audience applauded each speech, concluding with shouting “LIBERTÉ! LIBERTÉ!” (FREEDOM, FREEDOM!)

Deliberation is scheduled for Friday December 22 at 10am.

DAY 16 – another report to complete the one from paris-luttes

from mastodon @soutien812

DAY 16

This second day of pleadings ended in tears, rage, applause and cries of FREEDOM! FREEDOM!

After a long and touching defense speech of rare humanity by Ms BOUILLON on F’s life, his isolation in prison and his hunger strike, we still won’t have the final word on the #8december affair. The President of the Tribunal, Brigitte Roux, has postponed the verdict until… December 22nd.

Reserve your day now! Until then, let’s redouble our solidarity and actions! Several support evenings are already planned.

The quality of the pleadings and the lawyers’ in-depth knowledge of their clients have made it possible to nullify the extreme demands of the #PNAT.

Where the prosecutors show a carnivorous cruelty and don’t budge from their scenario, it was necessary, long and hard, to go back over the real facts, the chronology, the personality, of each accused to put them back in their context.

The reports will soon be available on the support blogs.

A huge thank you to all our friends and comrades who have supported and accompanied us through this police and judicial delirium. Nothing is won yet, but we hope that the terrorist charges will be dropped. The future of struggles depends on it.

Day 15, Thursday October 26: closing arguments for 4 of the defendants

from Paris-luttes.info

The last two days are devoted to the lawyers’ closing arguments. Contrary to what was announced at the start of the trial, the judges will not deliver their verdict on Friday evening, but either early next week or at a later date. We’ll probably know that on Friday, the last day of the trial. On Thursday, the lawyers for L., M., C. and W. are present.

The first lawyer begins by explaining that everyone comes to this trial as they are, with their backpacks on, as she says. Herself, her client, the other defendants, everyone. Everyone came as they were, and introduced themselves, answering questions as best they could and according to their personalities. The gist of the case and the defense is: there was no violent action, just friendship and solidarity, there was no terrorist criminal association (Association de Malfaiteurs, AMT).

The DGSI and PNAT wanted to put together a story, but no one was there to clarify and explain it: they refused to let the investigators come and testify and explain the elements of the investigation. They wiretapped these people for 2 to 3 years, with nothing concrete and explainable coming out, apart from the 2020 accusations. Indeed, no facts subsequently confirmed that there would be a plan of violent action underway or about to be made. But they’re so overwhelmed at PNAT, you’ll have to take their word for it. There’s no doubt about it, they’re saving lives “it’s Superman by day, Batman by night”.

At the time of the defendants’ arrest, Darmanin boasted that he had foiled an imminent ultra-left-wing attack. The lawyer points out that it was acknowledged during the investigation and this trial that there was nothing imminent, and that no attack was foiled – everyone agrees on that.

All the lawyers, for each defendant, will come to explain how there is no AMT, and no possible AMT a fortiori for the person they are defending. “There’s a middle ground, the material facts (airsoft game, production of firecrackers, possession of weapons), but no beginning and no end. There is no group, no project, no objective”. In addition, it is necessary to demonstrate terrorist or at least voluntary action and intent, to each one’s project. If the Black Bloc becomes terrorist, the PNAT has a bright future ahead of it, as does tagging ACAB in a bar toilet.

Words about the end of the world, isolating oneself, insulting the police came out of the wiretaps, to justify that these buddies are dangerous, but we have to remember the period: after a year of yellow vests (Gilets Jaunes), a pension reform, the murder of Georges Floyd, confinement, the global security law (loi Sécurité Globale)… A lot of people were saying these same things.

In relation to the much-quoted wiretapping, it’s pointed out that the villain in airsoft games is called “the enemy”. So here’s why this word is heard, and it doesn’t necessarily evoke a supposed internal enemy: the police. What’s more, it’s hard to consider an attempted 2-day airsoft game, which isn’t completely done for lack of equipment for each person, as paramilitary training. If they had wanted to train, they would have done so much more, and we would have heard it on the wiretaps.

As for the explosives, how can we consider that they wanted to make explosives in a premeditated way when they wanted to make firecrackers once the stock was finished (and the stores closed because of confinement) by taking what they had on hand and ordering, with their credit card, on the Internet, at a moment’s notice, the missing hydrogen peroxide, and by looking up the recipe on the Internet, and doing this inside their home, without any particular protection.

In this case, there is zero demonstration, zero proof, zero causal link with a violent action. The conviction sought by the PNAT is defamatory for them. The FIJAIT (Fichier des auteurs d’infractions terroristes, terrorist offenders file), which would put them on file and impose obligations for 20 years, has been requested, even though they are not a danger to anyone. Among other things, they would have to declare in advance any travel abroad, and any change of address, for a period of 10 years. The lawyers show, by repeating the facts evoked in recent weeks, that there is no link between the acts and a potential project, so there is neither material nor intentional element. What’s more, the supposed clandestinity does not exist. All of them made all their purchases, administrative requests (for shooting permits, for example) and travel arrangements in their own name.

Confessions made in police custody are called into question because of the problematic way in which they are made, and the “technical breaks” (the whole “off” of the police custody) that take place, without being noted, and above all whose content is not noted, even though we can see that there is no continuity between the answers before and after these breaks.

Next, the question of probation. The PNAT gave no reasons for this. All have strictly complied with their judicial controls.

This Friday, there will be a support gathering in front of the court from 11am, followed by the lawyers’ closing arguments of B., S. and F.’s lawyers.

DAY 14 – another report to complete the one from paris-luttes

from mastodon @soutien812 (1st part, 2nd part)

Today we are witnessing the #PNAT requisitions. From the outset, Benjamin CHAMBRE declares that everything said on the stand is a story constructed by the defense to conceal the reality, which would be that of the #DGSI.

All evidence of the prosecution’s incoherence is swept aside, the lawyers designated as accomplices, the witnesses and supporters scorned, the journalists complacent. Never before have we seen such a rapid flow of lies.

We half-recognize the same rhetoric we hear from the far right: lawyers equated with their clients, the media disproportionately “left”, and the ultra-left a historical threat, going back 200 years to political violence in the world, to justify the alleged dangerousness of the #8december defendants.

He defines the terrorist threat: zadists, blackblocs, antifascists, anticapitalists, etc. It equates this threat with the ultra-right and jihadism.

PNAT’s political project is undoubtedly pre-fascist, and it’s up to everyone to confront it.

Strength to the defendants and their supporters.

Join the gathering this Friday at 11am in front of the Tribunal (Porte de Clichy).

Don’t let us be anti-terrorists!

*******

The second part of the #PNAT closing argument is recited by Déborah COHEN. She will rewrite the whole fiction to which the authorities cling, reusing ad infinitum all the snippets of conversation and words violently extorted by the #DGSI.

A story full of lies that are unbearable for loved ones. By pure strategy, she violently reaffirms F’s terrorist projects and the complicity of each person under investigation, making it possible to make the accusations stick, which would collapse without this supposed “leader” who recruited and trained his friends.

She meticulously denied all the arguments of the defense and disqualified a “collective defense as a whole” devoid of coherence.

This recital of unhealthy and deliberately erroneous imagination lasted 2 hours.

Sentences requested: registration with the #FIJAIT (terrorist offenders file), and 10-year ban on holding weapons.

L.: 2 years suspended sentence
M.: 3 years, including 2 years’ probation
C. 3 years, including 3 years’ probation
B. 3 years, including 3 years’ probation
W. 4 years, including 3-year suspended
S. 5 years, including 3-year suspended sentence
F. 6 years’ imprisonment with deferred committal order

Sentences out of touch with the real facts. And above all, the opening of the grail so eagerly awaited by the government: a conviction for militant terrorism.