Solidarity with Anarchist Grand Jury Resisters

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Friday October 19, 2012 11:36

by Elric - Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

19 October 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

Solidarity with Grand Jury Resisters

The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America stand in
solidarity with three anarchist activists who have been incarcerated
in a United States federal detention center in SeaTac, Washington for
refusing to provide testimony about fellow activists before a federal
grand jury.

The three activists--Matt Duran, KteeO Olejnik, and Leah-Lynn Plante--
have refused to provide testimony, and for this they have been
incarcerated, and could be held up to eighteen months. They have been
found guilty of no crime, but are being punished only to coerce their
testimony. This is 21st century McCarthyism.

Federal grand juries have a long history of being used to attack and
disrupt political movements and activists. They are secret
proceedings, and those subpoenaed to testify have no right to legal
counsel in the grand jury room with them. The government can thus use
the proceedings to gather intelligence, an abuse of their original
purpose of being a protection against prosecutorial misconduct.

Subpoenas were served to activists in July, when the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and a Joint Terrorist Task Force conducted a series
of raids on activists' homes in several cities in the Pacific
Northwest. Warrants were issued seeking computers, phones, black
clothing and "anarchist literature." In essence, political literature
in the homes of political activists is deemed suspicious.

These events were likely triggered by property damage during this
year's May Day protest in Seattle, Washington, when a door at the
federal courthouse was damaged. Out of this, the federal authorities
spun a web of "terrorism" to justify heavy-handed tactics against
activists in order to gather intelligence.

We believe that it is clear that the government is using the grand
jury process to coerce political activists to give names and provide
intelligence, and punishing them with incarceration when they refuse.
We demand that these grand jury with hunts end, and that the
activists be released immediately.

An injury to one is an injury to all. Today it's anarchists, but
tomorrow it may be some other radical current victimized by the power
of the capitalist state. Solidarity must be our weapon against the
state.

We stand in solidarity with the imprisoned activists and all others
who refuse to provide information to the grand jury, and we salute
the courage of activists who would rather go to prison than cooperate
with a government witch hunt.

For more information about the activists and their cases, go here:
http://www.supportresist.net/

###

Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html

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Solidarity with Anarchist Grand Jury Resisters