(translation) VGT - What the Austrian Justice Minister told
Pamela Anderson
- A translation from the homepage of www.vgt.at
the most effective Austrian AR/AP society.
VGT = Association Against Animal
Factories (Verein Gegen Tierfabriken) .
- Click on English flag to read
some other information in English.
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Original German version (+ photos) can be
seen under :
link :
http://www.vgt. at/presse/ news/2009/ news20090519m_ 2.php
and
English link :
http://www.vgt. at/presse/ news/2009/ news20090519m_ 2_en.php
Translation :
Date : 19. May, 2009, Vienna, Austria
What the
Austrian Justice Minister told Pamela Anderson
Justice Minister assures
Pamela Anderson “Nobody will be charged in Austria just for being involved in
campaigning for animals”. Will the case be dropped?
Following the recent
meeting between Austrian Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner and American
actress Pamela Anderson, the press reported that the Justice Minister had
assured Pamela Anderson that there will be no charges for people just for being
involved in campaigning for animals.
Given that the final police reports
consist exclusively of legitimate campaign work on behalf of animals, it follows
that there can be no charges.
VGT emphasises that the final reports cite
normal campaign work as evidence for the existence of a criminal organisation.
VGT’s DDr Martin Balluch commented: “The results of the police
investigations have now been submitted and I assume that our Justice Minister
has seen them. They contain nothing but normal campaign work. If the Justice
Minister’s statement was intended to be taken seriously, then it can only mean
that the case will be dropped”.
And further: “According to the final
reports a person is suspected of belonging to a criminal organisation when:
* He or she politely informs a company of an intended campaign should the
company not address issues of animal cruelty that they are responsible for.
* He or she takes part in legal activities against fur, hunting or
vivisection.
* He or she gives talks about animal welfare in schools or
organises conferences on this subject.
* He or she does an investigation at
a factory farm.
All this is normal campaign work. People are feeling
insecure, they have been followed, spied on, attacked, locked up and now they
are threatened with prison.”
Therefore we call on the Justice Minister to
state clearly whether this case will go to court and if so, following her
statement, what evidence could the charges possibly be based on?
Why
does her Ministry refuse to comment?
PLEASE FORWARD
Pamela Anderson Press Release!
We are getting loads of positive media about the repression against the Austrian animal welfare movement. Today, Pamela Anderson came out in support of the animal activists threatened with prison and it immediately went into all the papers (front page of some of them):
http://www.united-creatures.at/pages/20090512pamelaanderson.pdf
Media Actions
The VGT are holding regular media actions, such as the one in the link below:
http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2009/news20090505m_en.php
The Greens have done a press release in very strong words against the police repression.
The pressure is really on for the Ministry of Justice to drop these ridiculous charges.
Please help the animal welfare movement in Austria by writing to the Austrian Ministry of Justice. You can use the sample letter and find the address to send it to at the following link (please be sure to cc office@vgt.at :
http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2009/news20090421m_en.php
Many thanks for your help
Paula
(Austria)
May 12, 2009
Subject: news on repression in Austria
the campaign against the repression in Austria is in full swing. a
number of new developments:
today, Pamela Anderson came out in support of the animals activists
threatened with prison:
http://www.united- creatures. at/pages/ 20090512pamelaan derson.pdf
guatanamo-like action outside the ministry of police with good media
reports:
http://www.vgt. at/presse/ news/2009/ news20090505m_ en.php
yesterday, there was an absolutely brilliantly radical 2 page article in
the leading political weekly in Austria against repression and
explicitly to drop the procedures against the activists. the article
quotes the head of amnesty international, the labor justice
spokesperson, the head of the institute of criminal law at the
university of Vienna, an anonymous source from police, a member of the
data protection commission at the cabinet of the PM and the security
spokesperson of the Greens all with radical statements in our favor.
the minister of justice yesterday called off the meeting with vgt
representatives and shifted the appointment for a week. tomorrow, we
have the next action outside her ministry.
last week, 85 Austrian ar/aw groups signed an open letter to the
minister of justice, which is historical, as never ever have so many
groups signed on to one single appeal:
http://www.vgt. at/hinweise/ 20090506offenerB riefJustiz. pdf/Brief. pdf
there is loads more in the pipeline.
while we lay punch after punch, neither the police nor state prosecution
even comment when being asked by journalists. we are having a field day,
our enemy is just keeping still hoping to survive the onslaught.
we are receiving daily 5 - 10 more signatures of international groups in
support of the open letter. we will present them within the next weeks,
so keep them rolling in.