Subject: March 2, 2010 - first day of Austrian AR trial

it was a carnival atmosphere today at the first trial day. about 100 activists protested outside the courts with a drumming crew, loud hailer music and loud chanting. inside the court room, 80 people filled a packed court house.

never ever has there been such a media interest in any animal rights related event. all tv stations were swarming about, literally hundreds of paparazzi were chasing especially martin.

yesterday, the press conference of the defence was very well attended and very well covered in the media indeed. lots of superb articles filled today's newspapers. especially the tabloids reported really well. one of the biggest tabloid daily news had the trial on pages 2 and 3 in full colour. an interview with martin, a brilliant comment by a journalist and lots of facts summed up properly.

however, the state prosecutor opening the trial tried his utmost to make martin and the defendants look evil. he recounted hundreds of alf-like attacks, talked of Ronnie Lee, Barry Horne, Keith Mann, Gregg Avery, Heather Nicholson and Dave Blenkinsopp as if they were the hardest criminals and best friends of martin.

then he spoke of ogpi and shac, of lots of criminal damage and threats to Kleider Bauer and p&c, to vivisectors and hunters, arson attacks on circuses, fur farm liberations, you name it. it took him 90 minutes to get through his statement. his talk was ever so often completely disrupted by chants "liar!, liar!" and such from outside, well timed through information from inside the court room. also, at one point the whole court room started laughing at the prosecutor and he had to stop and wait it out.

the judge supported him by reading out the verdict of the supreme court, which had ruled that the defendants were rightly put on remand in 2008. that verdict included quoting radical emails and all. lawyers commented that the judge has made up her mind and that this will be the guilty verdict.

then was lunch break and many journalists, who had packed the room, left to write their story. only tomorrow will show which direction those stories will take. much depends on whether the prosecutor managed to turn media opinion around. at the moment, public sympathy is at an all time high!

in the afternoon, all 5 defence lawyers did their statements, which were good, by and large. all expressed utmost disbelief that such a charge could make it to court. some of the lawyers were really funny in their statements and all attacked the prosecutor fully. at 3:10 pm, the court was adjourned. outside there was still party mood with lots of music and good vegan food, which had been provided through dumpster diving.

tomorrow there is no court date, but a lot of media appointments. Thursday and Friday will be filled with a statement and an interrogation of martin.

if the defendants manage to keep the media and this positive atmosphere, it seems that no prison sentences can come out of this trial without large scale freak-out protests! but then, you never know.

Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 3:19 PM
Subject: News and Press from Austria

hei!

The first court date just stopped about 1 hour ago. Here a summary of what happened so far:

State attorney and the lawyers of the ar activists held their statements - all accused activists say they are not guilty. outside of the court was a demo that was noisy enough to be heard inside the court. The state attorney was interrupted often by "liar! liar" Shoutings from outside. Flying Ballons with anti 278a-slogans were visible inside the court. It seems as only media was allowed inside and not civil persons which means also no activists.

Videos from the demo in front of the court:
http://img169. yfrog.com/ i/9gu.mp4/
http://img15. yfrog.com/ i/jdy.mp4/

there have been a lot of solidarity actions:
demos in Helsinki, London, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and many other cities (full list to be published soon) . there have been banners hung in the streets in Vienna and Magdeburg
http://de.indymedia .org/2010/ 03/274673. shtml).
Pictures from finland:
http://oikeuttaelai mille.pp. fi/kuvat/ itavaltasolidaar isuusdemo/ austria-soli- 1.jpg
http://oikeuttaelai mille.pp. fi/kuvat/ itavaltasolidaar isuusdemo/ austria-soli- 2.jpg

The embassy in Munich seems to be still occupied - at least no falsification was spread on that. Fotos from a demo outside the occupation:
http://www.ad- hoc-news. de/generalkonsul at-demonstranten -belagern- oesterreichische s--/de/Regional/ 21096465

Indymedia writes that there was an action on the highway A2, whatever that means...

An activist that was leafleting against Kleider Bauer (campaign target) in Vienna was arrested and is free again now. The reason for the arrest is unknown to me.

some articles with photos:
http://www.kleineze itung.at/ nachrichten/ chronik/2304914/ prozess-tierschu etzer-bekennen- nicht-schuldig. story
http://diepresse. com/home/ panorama/ oesterreich/ 543556/index. do?direct= 543470&_vl_ backlink= /home/index. do&selChannel= 119
http://diepresse. com/home/ panorama/ oesterreich/ 543585/index. do?gal=543585& index=1&direct= 543556&_vl_ backlink= /home/panorama/ oesterreich/ 543556/index. do&popup=
http://derstandard. at/1267132081651 /Tierschuetzer- Prozess-Demos- zum-Auftakt
[inkl. video]

english info from indymedia:
http://at.indymedia .org/node/ 17304

That's the news so far. It's gonna be an exciting time and I hope that we all get inspired and encouraged to fight for animal liberation and against repression!

lets all hope that the 13 accused activists are feeling as well as possible in their condition.

best wishes and thanks to everyone helping to raise awareness to the court case so far!