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Earth Liberation Prisoners exists to provide information on people
imprisoned for actions in defence of the earth and its inhabitants. We
include people, animal and earth liberationists, those fighting on
anti-nuclear and peace issues, indigenous struggles, anti-fascists, MOVE
prisoners and more.
Quick links: prisoner address
listings & donate to support
funds.
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MOST RECENT
UPDATES
& Urgent ELP!
Bulletins |
As a lot of ELP supporters will be aware, at the
start of 2004 three American eco-activists admitted their roles in a
series of ELF actions which included the targeting of McDonalds &
Burger King, an SUV dealership and targets associated with urban
sprawl. Two of the three, John Wade and Aaron
Linas, ended up being jailed for their role. The third person was never
jailed and there is much speculation that this person was a police
informant. However ELP has never seen any evidence that the third person
was a police informant and hence we shall not name him until we have the
evidence.
With the two that went to prison ELP initially listed
both Aaron & John, but after a month or so, Aaron asked that his name
be removed from all prisoner lists as he was concerned that being seen to
be supported by ELP and other groups could effect his parole chances.
However just over a month or so ago, Aaron contacted the American
publication The Earth First! Journal asking to go back on their prisoner
list. The EF! Journal folk very kindly let ELP know of Aaron's letter and
we ourselves contacted Aaron to see if he also wanted to return to our
lists as well.
Today ELP received a reply to our letter from Aaron in
which he wrote he'd love to receive letters of support and he'd like to go
back on ELP's prisoner lists. Aaron also reported that he hopes that next
month he will be transferred to a halfway house and then soon after get
probation. So there is no time to delay in writing to Aaron! Please send
letters of support to:
Aaron Linas
38448083
FMC
PO Box
1600
Butner, NC 27509
USA
Also whilst your about it, don't forget Aaron's
co-defendant, John Wade, he also welcomes letters of support.
John Wade #38548-083
FCI Petersburg Low Satellite
Camp
PO Box 90027
Petersburg, VA 23804
USA.
Besides the great news that life is going well for
American Earth Liberation Front prisoner Aaron Linas, ELP also has some
other fantastic news. The Irish anti-Shell land rights prisoners have all
been released! Also Russian NRA prisoner, Larisa Valerevna Romanova has
been released from prison, her sentence served. And American Grand Jury
prisoner, Danae Kelly has also been released. However its not all good
news in Danae's case. ELP was hoping that one of the support groups,
supporting Danae, was going to put out a press release about her. However
this hasn't happened so ELP shall try and explain what has
happened.
At the start of October 2005 the police raided the
home of Danae Kelly looking for evidence against her. At the time everyone
thought it was intimidation tactics being deployed against her. However
just days after the raid the police announced that Danae was now
officially a suspect in the ELF arson case, which the Grand Jury was
investigating. They have removed her "partial immunity from prosecution"
and as a consequence of this she is no longer legally in contempt of the
Grand Jury and she has been released from prison.
For those who do not know "partial immunity from
prosecution" is a weapon used by the Grand Jury to take away American's
right to silence. Under the American constitution all Americans have the
right to silence and to avoid answering questions which may incriminate
themselves. The Grand Jury offers "partial immunity" meaning that the
activist can not incriminate themselves, but others still can incriminate
that person (hence the immunity is only partial) and so really "partial
immunity" means nothing other than to remove the right to silence (as the
right to silence only extends so far as to not incriminate yourself,
rather than not incriminate anyone else). Those that are offered partial
immunity from prosecution who still fail to answer questions are jailed
for contempt. By removing Danae's partial immunity she is no longer in
contempt of court, but anything she says may be used as evidence against
her. ELP will bring you more news on this as we receive it.
Tre Arrow's support campaign have released a
statement from Tre which they've asked people to freely circulate. Tre
wrote:
Hello to you all, it's Tre. I'm doing well here at
Wilkie. My lawyer and I have been working on the submissions to the
Minister. This is an intricate part of the appeal process. Even though
I've been committed for extradition by Magistrate Gill, the Minister of
Justice Irwin Cotler has the power to overturn her decision and not
extradite me to the US. I'm writing an affidavit stating the reasons why I
feel he should oppose my extradition. I will post this affidavit once it
is complete for all to read and pass on to others, if so
desired.
What is crucial in this stage of the appeal is for
you, all my supporters, to write a letter of your own to the minister of
justice. I'm asking as many folks as possible to do this in order to show
the Canadian government, the US government, the Minister of Justice, and
citizens throughout North America and the world that I have tremendous
support including overwhelming opposition to my extradition to the United
States.
This letter writing campaign entails a two-pronged
strategy. We want to put gentle yet persuasive pressure on the minister to
oppose my extradition, and also let him know that these letters are
simultaneously being sent to the editors of local newspapers throughout
Canada, the USA, and beyond. By doing this, it will not be as easy for the
minister to turn a blind eye to the letters concerning my politically
motivated extradition if he is cognizant that many voters throughout
Canada will be reading these letters in their local newspapers. It will be
harder to extradite me if there is published wide-spread outcry about the
injustices and persecution I face. The letter should include:
- Please address the letter to the Minister of
Justice, Irwin Cotler.
The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of
Justice
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0H8
-
Please have your letters sent to the Minister, my lawyer Tim, and the
editors by November 7th.
- The letter should be hard copy, not email
(exception: your letter to the editor can be in email format)
- Please
send a hard copy of your full-length letter to my lawyer, Tim Russell, so
he has a legal record of who has sent a letter, and it's contents.
Tim
Russell
c/o McCullough, Parsons, Blazina
2nd floor, 1011 Fort
St
Victoria BC V8V 3K5
- Send an abbreviated version of your letter
(no more than 400 words so that it is more likely to get published and not
edited) to your local newspaper(s) editor. If you reside outside of
Canada, please consider sending an additional letter to the editor of a
Canadian city or town of your choice;
- Include your name, your
occupation, and/or status in the community;
- Include how you know me
and/or your relation to me, how long you've known me, your impression of
my character, your experience with me, or your knowledge of my involvement
in non-violent activism;
- Please let the Minister know that you are a
voter, and that you are sending a copy of this letter to your local
newspaper's editor;
- Please express your opinion as to why you feel I
shouldn't be extradited (that this would be a disgrace to Canadian
justice, the fact that the US is trying to sentence me to life
imprisonment, that I am declared my innocence, and the only evidence
against me are the words of three "witnesses" who exchanged testimony for
less than 3.5 year sentences, that I am being targeted and persecuted not
because I am guilty but because I have been involved in effective activism
that has garnered enormous public support, that I can't get a fair trial
because of wide spread media bias, that my diet will not likely be
honored, etc...)
- Please be polite and respectful and non-accusatory
as we don't want to do anything to jeopardize him being sympathetic to my
case.
- Make sure the letter includes your signature.
- Please use
tree-free or 100% post consumer recycled paper for your letters and
envelopes. The trees, wildlife and rivers thank you!
Once you have sent your letter to the minister, a copy
of this letter to my lawyer Tim, and your abbreviated email version to
your local newspaper's editor, please send this email to at least two
other people who would be willing to do the same. We are aiming for at
least 2000 letters to be sent to the minister and local newspapers. This
figure is achievable!!! However, it can't be done without you. We are
making an effort to tally the numbers of letters sent to the Minister and
are planning on posting this to our website: http://www.trearrow.org/. Please, once you have sent
your letters, send a quick email to clerk@telus.net and put in the subject
line: letter to Minster, and in the body: your name (or initials, if you
would rather) and the city you are from. If you would like to include an
email copy of your letter, please do so, and we will post some of the
letters on the website.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul for
your love, support, and help with this crucial part of my appeal. These
letters could be the pivitol factor in achieving my freedom.
namaste tre
NOTE: Please pass on Tre's message to at least two
other people you know. We can easily get 2,000 people writing letters for
him, but its down to us to make that happen. Please write your letter in
support of Tre and then ask at least two others to do the same. YOUR
LETTER COUNTS!
ELP supporters may like to know that eventually, after
years of the repeated lies and deceit by Justin Samuel, the transcripts
of what Justin Samuel actually told the police have been made public.
And they are available for your viewing at http://www.supportperter.com/ The low life piece of
treacherous filth, Justin Samuel, has for years been telling people that
he isn't really a sell-out police informant who would of happily of seen
his co-defendant jailed for over eighty years just to save his own
miserable neck. But now, once and for ever, the lies of Justin Samuel can
be exposed for what they are. Check out http://www.supportperter.com/ and erase from your mind
any doubt of Samuel's betrayal.
Just over a month ago, on the 21st of August 05,
ELP reported the brutal assault, by a prison officer, against eco-remand
prisoner Stephen Marshall after Steve refused to accept a non-vegan
meal, which contained the fried corpse of a
murdered chicken. In support of Steve, ELP asked everyone to contact the
American prison system asking that Stephen be moved to another prison and
also demanding that Steve be given an a proper vegan diet. ELP thanks
everyone who did, so kindly, respond to our request. The response was
amazing. In fact so many people responded the prison system ended up
sending out a standard reply to anyone who e-mailed them. And to show you
didn't waste your time contacting the prison system, just over a month
later, ELP is delighted to report that Steve has been moved. Today a North
American based ELP volunteer received a letter from Steve saying he has
been moved to Portland, Oregon. Of course following his transfer Steve now
faces a new problem. He has no money in his commissary, which means he can
only get the minimum 2 envelopes a week and because of this he is finding
it hard to let people know about his change of address. However ELP can
tell you that Steve's new address is:
Stephen Marshall
#691374
11540 NW Inverness
Drive
Portland, OR 97220
USA
So please write to Steve at this address. Also please
remember that the American prison system is very bad about forwarding on
mail to prisoners, who change address, so following his move Steve will
not be receiving any of his letters of support sent to his old address.
Therefore please send urgent letters of support to Steve, to his new
address, enclosing a self-addressed envelope so he can reply to you. And
if you can spare it, a few American dollars sent to Steve would also be
helpful. And finally, if you live in Portland, OR, please consider
visiting Steve as well. He'd love to see you. In a recent letter to ELP
Steve wrote "Thank you very much for all of your support! It makes me feel
good that someone actually cares about my situation and what I'm up
against." Help make Steve feel good, send him a letter today.
Today four British animal rights activists where
charged with blackmail over an incident involving a farm involved with the
breeding of guinea pigs for vivisection. Three
of the four, John Smith, Jon Ablewhite, and Kerry Whitburn, have all been
remanded into custody. The fourth defendant, Josephine Mayo, has been
given conditional bail.
As has been widely reported in the British media, the
incident of alleged blackmail occurred after persons unknown removed a
body from a graveyard. The removed body was a deceased family member of
the people who ran the guinea pig farm. Those who have been charged today
have not been charged with removing the body, or causing any criminal
damage to the graveyard, but the charges relate to an incident which
occurred after the body was removed which the police have described as
blackmail. It is not known who removed the body from the graveyard. ELP
has very limited details of what the incident of blackmail actually
involved. But all those arrested are known animal rights activists and we
urge everyone to send urgent letters of support to:
John Smith TB4887
HMP Birmingham
Winson Green
Road
Birmingham B18 4AS
England
Jon Ablewhite TB4885
HMP Birmingham
Winson Green
Road
Birmingham B18 4AS
England
Kerry Whitburn TB4886
HMP Birmingham
Winson
Green Road
Birmingham B18 4AS
England
As ELP supporters are aware, former Italian ALF
prisoner, Sergio Maria Stefani, has been wrongfully accused of involvement
in a letterbombing campaign linked to the
anarchist grouping FAInformale. A few days ago, Sergio, and eight other
people, were committed to trial. The others who have been committed
are:
Marco Ferruzzi
David Santini
Simone del
Moro
Stefano del Moro
Claudia Cospito
Danilo
Cremonese
Valentina Speziale
Massimo Leonardi
Many of the defendants in this case are linked to the
Italian Anarchist Black Cross and were targeted merely because the Italian
ABC published a press release from the FAInformale. ELP is committed to
both supporting Sergio and defending the rights to free speech and we urge
everyone to support all the defendants in this case. Naturally ELP will
bring you further updates on the progression of this case as and when we
receive them.
Turkish ELP have changed e-mail
address. Their new e-mail address is: yesilanarsi@yahoo.com Their
website remains www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm
Former Belgium Animal Liberation Front prisoner,
Geert Waegeman, appeared before a commission to see if he should be
returned to prison, following a breach of his
probation by being arrested during a solidarity demonstration in support
of two other Belgium ALF prisoners. If Geert is returned to prison it will
be for two and a half years. The commission was split over their decision
whether Geert should return to prison or not and so he has been freed to
return before the commission next month when his fate will be declared.
For more information contact Belgium ELP elp_bel@hotmail.com
Despite all the bad news, ELP does have some good
news. The Swedish Seven (the SHAC prisoners jailed in Sweden) have all
been released pending trial. Also released pending trial is Italian
anti-fascist activist Flavio Tratto and Scottish anti-globalisation
prisoner John Mackie. Flavio is under house arrest whilst the others are
free. Thank you to everyone who supported them.
Salvatore Signore of the Leece Five has been
transferred in a new jail. ELP has been
informed that as a result of this transfer his prison conditions have
become better and that his mail is not being as heavily censored as it
was. Salvatore's new address is:
Salvatore Signore
Casa Circondariale di
Sulmona
Via Lamaccio 21
67039 Sulmona (AQ)
Italy
Eco-defence activist Charles Jordan has been
released from prison and transferred to a half-way house pending his
trial. Speaking to an ELP volunteer on the phone he sounded well and
said many times how much it meant to him to get letters from around the
world. (Remember YOUR letters of support really do mean a lot to the
prisoners). On the phone Charles also said that he and Steve Marshall have
had an additional charge placed against them, "conspiracy to construct a
destructive device." ELP is currently trying to find out what sort of
minimum sentence this new might carry and if anyone knows please contact
us. Remember, despite Charles transfer to a half-way house he and Stephen
are facing very serious charges and the police have indicated they have at
least three police informants who will stand up and speak lies about them.
Also please remember that despite Charles transfer to the half-way house
Steve remains inside. Please send letters of support to:
Stephen Marshall 68511-065
Federal Prison Camp
Sheridan
PO Box 6000
Sheridan
OR 97378
USA
ELP recently learnt that following Steve's recent
assault, by a prison guard, because Steve refused to accept a non-vegan
meal, Steve started a hungerstrike. ELP believes that this hungerstrike is
now over but please write to Stephen as a matter of urgency as its vital
he is reminded he is not alone and we are backing him 100%. Also please
continue to demand the prison does supply Stephen with an adequate vegan
diet.
In Spirit of Freedom September 2005, ELP reported
that British animal rights activist Fiona Cresswell failed to attend her
own trial and in her absence she was found guilty of damaging a badger
trap. Following her conviction Fiona handed herself into the police
and earlier this week she was given a non-custodial sentence. ELP
understands that Fiona maintains her innocence and intends to appeal
against her conviction.
Peter Young releases a statement on the Grand Jury
situation in San Diego:
"As I sit in a Madison, Wisconsin jail on federal
Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges, 5 years after Justin Samuel entered a
Grand Jury room to offer a „full, complete and truthful statement‰ against
me regarding my alleded involvement in 6 mink farm raids in 1997, it is
yet another burden upon me to hear of a current debate à a debate on
whether to lend support to two of the three people jailed in San Diego for
refusing testimony to a grand jury. One, Nicole Fink, the girlfriend of
the aforementioned informant, Justin Samuel. The other, Justin‚s friend
and vocal apologist à David Agranoff. Justin‚s one man PR machine in his
attempt to reintegrate into the animal liberation movement. I‚m told this
subject of support is one of much discussion. I feel it unfortunate that
we find this debatable. That on the subject of snitches and those who
enable them to walk among us, when it is not us that suffer the direct
effects of informants we sit back and debate the issue from the comfort
zone." Click
here to read more >>
ELP has heard a rumour that Spanish Eco/Antifa
activist Amanda Cerezo Garcia may have been released from prison. Does
anyone know if these rumours are true or not? If anyone has any
information about Amanda please let ELP know as soon as
possible.
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