Austrian animal rights activists imprisoned without charge.

Gadjodilo

This is a bizarre case. It seems the Austrian authorities have decided to come all heavy on animal rights activists. Please note: the people still locked up without charge are totally non-violent and have no criminal history at all. They just promote veganism. Yet anti-terrorist legislation is being used against them.

There is a petition here. I’ll rustle up an English translation in a few minutes.
http://www.pro-tier.at/freiheit/index.php
_____________________________________________________________________________

Austrian animal rights activists imprisoned without charge!

Around 6 a.m. on 21st May 2008, a total of 23 houses, flats and offices in Austria were raided by special branch police officers storming in like something out of a bad Hollywood gangster movie. The occupants were threatened by the intruders and shoved up against the wall and/or handcuffed. The police then searched the premises for hours without a warrant.

Ten people were arrested and are still in custody without any charges having been brought. All mobile phones, computers and documents have been seized, making campaign work impossible. Four organisations have been virtually destroyed by the police as even backup versions of address files have been seized.

One of these organisations, the Vegane Gesellschaft Österreichs (Austrian Vegan Society), is an EVU member. They educate people about the vegan lifestyle and are never involved in any criminal acts.

The official pretext for this action is legislation against terrorism and Mafia-type conspiracy to form a criminal organisation, but absolutely no evidence has been produced against any of the accused.

The behaviour of the police has been utterly appalling and even Austrian politicians are now asking whether the real reason is not a political one, as the Austrian animal protection movement has been so successful in recent years.

As of today, all ten activists are still in prison and five are on hunger strike in protest as no charges have been brought against them.

None of the four organisations has been accused of any illegal act, but they have been virtually destroyed for no reason by the police removing all the resources necessary for them to continue working.

http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/home/imprisoned-austrian-aras.php

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

got any links to the story written by meat eaters?

Imposter

In german:
http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3350390

According to that:
- Police broke in
- Arrested armed people
- they are been accused of being members of a mafia like org
- greens are defending them and trying to raise it in parliment

Gadjodilo

Mordances with the proletariat wrote: »

got any links to the story written by meat eaters?

I can't claim to know the dietary habits of every journalist in Europe but there's a good chance this one is a carnivore.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/05/animalwelfare.austria

Who's being caged?

A group of animal rights activists are on hunger strike following police raids in Austria

Victor Schonfeld guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 5 2008

Twenty-five years ago my feature documentary The Animals Film was shown during Channel 4's opening week and later around the world. It placed animal rights on the international agenda and inspired a generation of activists. Today in Austria a group of animal rights campaigners are in their third week in prison on hunger strike after unprecedented nationwide police raids.

At dawn on May 21, Austrian police broke down doors of homes and offices across the country and seized campaigners at gunpoint. Since then, 10 shelter workers, animal welfare teachers and public campaign organizers have been held for more than two weeks under suspicion of membership in "a criminal organisation". No charges have been pressed. The detainees are demanding they be charged or released.

One might be forgiven for thinking that unbeknownst to the outside world Austria has been riven by violence from activists desperate for an impact in a society indifferent to their cause. Yet Austria is the most progressive country in the world on animal rights. Laws have passed banning fur farms and wild animals in circuses, and phasing out all battery chicken farms.

These successes are credited especially to the leadership of one of the four hunger strikers - Martin Balluch, president of the Association Against Animal Factories, who has been a passionate advocate of public education and legislative change. Balluch has a double PhD in physics and philosophy and is a former colleague of Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University. In the sixteenth day of his hunger strike, he has been suffering from dizzyness, blurred vision, and stomach pain. When visitors left him yesterday warders locked him in a broom cupboard for several hours. This morning he passed out in the visiting room and guards stood by laughing before carrying him away on a stretcher.

Balluch's lawyer, Stephan Traxler, has been shown excerpts from a police surveillance dossier of several thousand pages concerning minor acts of vandalism against fur shops and food establishments perpetrated by unknown persons over recent years - incidents of windows broken, stink bombs set off and locks glued. In no instance were people hurt or attacked and no evidence linking the vandalism with the detainees has been offered. Traxler says the police action is obviously politically motivated. Animal rights campaigners staged protests yesterday at Austrian embassies in London and two dozen other cities on three continents. Tomorrow Judge Toifle Goster will decide whether to extend the detentions.

It is shocking that such things are happening to human beings in a country at the forefront of animal welfare reform. Whatever the outcome in court, it is the cause of public legal campaigning about animal rights in Europe which has been set back. As Balluch wrote forebodingly some time ago, "the moment the politicians can portray you as terrorists and are believed, they have won this battle, no matter what." When he collapsed this morning he was saying "I simply cannot believe this can happen in Austria."

The police have seized campaign office computers, paper records and mobile phones. The planned launch of an initiative for an Austrian constitutional amendment about animal welfare has had to be postponed. It's hard not to conclude that was the objective of the police action.

"The idea of freedom of expression is threatened in Austria," says Elisabeth Sablik, a zoologist friend of Balluch. "This is not a case about illegal animal rights activities. It is because the movement has been too successful."

Gadjodilo

Imposter wrote: »

In german:
http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3350390

According to that:
- Police broke in
- Arrested armed people
- they are been accused of being members of a mafia like org
- greens are defending them and trying to raise it in parliment

They weren't armed!

Gadjodilo

This is my best stab at translating that petition at http://www.pro-tier.at/freiheit/index.php

It's crappy - I'm relying mainly on Google Translate.

PETITION to the
Federal Ministry of Justice
Dr. Maria Berger

Dear Ms. Justice Minister!

In the early morning hours of 21 May 2008, there was a concerted nationwide police operation involving 23 house searches for animal rights activists. Ten people were thus remanded in jail. To this day, there are no practical or reasonable grounds for the arrests and detentions of the prisoners.

The Association of Austrian animal welfare organizations - pro-tier.at wishes to register the strongest protest at this. Both the police operation as well as the pre-trial detention is grossly disproportionate. In some of the cases the doors were forced open without any warning. After police stormed the apartments and houses, masked units with pistols entered the flats. This was followed by massive verbal and physical intimidation and humiliation.

The reason for these raids under the Prosecutor Penal Code Section 278a (formation of a “criminal organization”) above, a paragraph, otherwise the only gangs or mafia structures used. Details on these ominously, criminal association 'authorities so far remained guilty. The detainees have been charged with various offences for which there is no evidence. It is surely not acceptable under any legal system that people are held in custody without valid reasons. The police hoped to get some incriminating material from the seized computers, mobile phones, files and documents. This is a gross violation of citizens' rights. Where is the presumption of innocence?

The suspicion is obviously that for political reasons, the Austrian animal welfare and animal rights movement should be criminalized. The reputation of the organizations in the population has sustained damage. By the NGOs infrastructure and base their donations will be taken to cut them any possibility in terms of their concerns. On the other hand, denied the Association of Austrian animal welfare organizations - pro-tier.at explicitly! Our goal is to promote animal welfare in Austria by legal means. We reject any form of violence, including those of the executive against the detained activists.

Dear Dr. Berger, we call on you to release the ten detained animal rights activists immediately!


I urge the immediate release of the ten wrongly imprisoned animal rights prisoners

Red fields are required to ensure the validity of the petition.

Nachname=Surname:
Vorname=First name:
Adresse=Address:
PLZ=Postal Code:
Geburtsdatum=Date of birth
Bemerkung=Note:

Of course, all data is solely for the purposes of the petition, and not for advertising or other such purposes.

ircoha

while this is the best reason yet for voting no on 12th, what is it doing in Green Issues?

oscarBravo

Good question - moved. Beyond me what it has to do with Lisbon, though.

Gadjodilo

ircoha wrote: »

while this is the best reason yet for voting no on 12th, what is it doing in Green Issues?

I think you'll find many greens regard cruelty to animals as another way in which we abuse the world.

Gadjodilo

oscarBravo wrote: »

Good question - moved. Beyond me what it has to do with Lisbon, though.

No problem with the move.

I don't know where the mention of Lisbon arose. Nothing to do with me, folks.

jmayo

Maybe the Austrian police would do better if they actually searched for missing children/people
Did any of the houses searched have cellars ?

humanji

Gadjodilo wrote: »

They weren't armed!

Were you there? as it stands, the full story hasn't come out. The vegan organisations could be a cover story, some people in the organisations could be implicated in something and the whole lot were taken in for questioning, or it could be a huge cock up. It's a little early to be assuming anything.

ircoha wrote: »

while this is the best reason yet for voting no on 12th, what is it doing in Green Issues?

Well, the treaty hasn't passed yet and this happened, so logically if the treaty passes this will never happen. Or, maybe it's got nothing to do with the treaty at all.

Imposter

Gadjodilo wrote: »

They weren't armed!

Translate this for me then:
...weil das Einsatzkommando bei den Hausdurchsuchungen Türen eingetreten und bewaffnet Leute aus ihren Betten geholt habe.

The bolded word being the important one for anyone knowing how to use a dictionary.

lostexpectation

there have been accused of setting fires and stuff, i couldn't find any details of the fires, but it seems the austrian government has done a random sweep

azi

Imposter wrote: »

Translate this for me then:
...weil das Einsatzkommando bei den Hausdurchsuchungen Türen eingetreten und bewaffnet Leute aus ihren Betten geholt habe.

The bolded word being the important one for anyone knowing how to use a dictionary.

What a difference an "e" makes... This means that the raiders were armed, not the raidees. "bewaffnete" would reverse that

manic56

In my opinion animal rights activists are the scum of the earth.I'm glad to see the authorities in Austria coming down so hard on them.I wouldn't even blink if they were executed without trial.

BurnsCarpenter

manic56 wrote: »

In my opinion animal rights activists are the scum of the earth.I'm glad to see the authorities in Austria coming down so hard on them.I wouldn't even blink if they were executed without trial.

Get off the fence FFS!

Gadjodilo

azi wrote: »

What a difference an "e" makes... This means that the raiders were armed, not the raidees. "bewaffnete" would reverse that

Very interesting point. Ich spreche(?) keine(?) Deutsch so I'm not in a position to argue. What I do know is that this guy is not the type to own weapons - at all. Anyway, who brings guns to bed, FFS?

Gadjodilo

*ignoring the smell of trollsh1t*

More background on this.....
This is a message from one of the detainees, Dr Martin Balluch. He's on hunger strike. They're still in prison. It'll soon be one month since they were locked up and still no charges have been pressed against them.

In case people here are hesitant about this, these people are NOT radicals. They're not going around vandalising labs or sabotaging horse racing events. They're totally peaceful and law abiding. The only thing is they've notched up a number of successes in Austria vis-a-vis fur farms and battery farms over the last couple of years so they're starting to make some people feel uncomfortable.
____________________________________________________________

My message to the international animal rights movement

On Wednesday 21st May, my life was to change drastically. We had prepared a new campaign on a constitutional change for animals,which would have gone for a vote in Parliament at the beginning of July. The campaign was to be launched the very next day. For this campaign we had managed to unify just about the whole movement in Austria to pull on the same string. As many of you, who know me, will have expected, this is one of my primary aims, to unify the movement for double strength.

But the campaign was not to be. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, police launched the most violent attack ever in Austrian history against a social justice movement and against NGOs. Hundreds of armed police officers smashed in the doors of 21 different homes, of 6 different NGO offices and of our warehouse of demo material. 25 people were arrested and questioned by police. 10 people were put on remand since, one of them me.

In order to "catch" me, police not only broke into my home, but also in the home of two of my brothers and my girlfriend's.

Black clad, masked up officers stormed through the broken down door and run, guns drawn, to our beds. They pointed their guns at my head and pulled me out of my bed naked. My brother was pushed onto the wall and had the gun put into his neck.

One of the 10 people police intended to put on remand was not at home. So they phoned him, and guess what? Trustingly, he went to the police station suspecting nothing evil. Till today, 19 days later, he is still rotting in a cell, not knowing why. Incidentally, he is campaigns director of the well known animal welfare group "Four Paws", which has offices in 6 different countries.

After police had arrested us, they searched all our homes, including those of my brothers, who are not involved in the animal rights
movement. Police mainly took computers, but also brochures, books, videos and mobile phones.

You would be forgiven to think that this massive police operation was the state reaction to a high level of animal rights related criminal activity. But instead, fact is that ALF activity in Austria is on a much much smaller scale than in all other countries with a big animal rights movement.

You would also be forgiven to think that police must have had information that dangerous ALF-attacks were about to happen, or that they would discover firebombs or terrorist material. But again, you could not be more wrong. They had no such information, they did not even look for such material. They were only interested in computers, books and videos, i.e. in stuff that says something about the attitude of those people they had arrested. This is what this case is about: the attitude of people, no specific crimes.

If the police had any evidence against any of the arrestees regarding crimes they supposedly here committed, they would have said so by now. But the arrest order says something else. We all were arrested for "forming a large criminal organisation with a hierarchical structure like a company".

And the crimes this organisation under the name ALF supposedly has committed, is EVERY SINGLE animal rights related crime that ever happened in Austria! This sounds like a joke, but it is not. Every single animal rights related crime ever, every lock glued, every tyre punctured, every window broken and so forth, but also – believe it or not – every run-in, every home demo and every undercover investigation without criminal aspect, to every topic imaginable, from vivisection to fur,
factory farming, circus, the lot, is supposed to have been done by our criminal organisation.

You would expect that if police and the State Prosecution suspect you of such heinous crimes, they would come to you after your arrest and question you. But wrong again. Ever since I have been put on remand in a cell, I have never been asked by anyone any question related to this case. My solicitor has demanded to see the police evidence, and so for we have seen some 2500 pages. And in all those pages, some animal rights related crimes of the last 2 years are forensically analysed, even a bite lock that was put on a door was investigated for DNA traces. And no evidence against any of the 10 arrestees was found. Also, police has listened to our phones, had us under surveillance, put cameras pointing at our front doors, have put V-men into our groups and have read all our emails. For 2 years! And still, they have found no evidence. So they started the huge police operation, desperate for something to use to charge us of anything, and be it tax fraud.

My arrest and remand is "justified" as follows. There is some albeit comparatively little, animal rights related criminal activity. Hence, there must be a big, hierarchical organisation run like a company, which is responsible for it. Further, since I have been active in the movement for decades, since I have international contacts and since I am influential in the movement and have run many campaigns, I must be the head of this organisation. Full stop.

That is it. That is the evidence. Can you believe it? I can't, but for all I can see, it seems to be reality.

How is it possible that I am sitting on remand for such a ludicrous "suspicion"? Good question. For 2 weeks I was given no reason why I was arrested. Then I could see the "evidence" and was put before a judge last Friday 6th June. The prosecutor read out the list of all animal rights related crimes and non-criminal actions in the last 11 years, which took a while. Then he said I am suspected to lead a criminal organisation, which is responsible for all of them. Then my solicitor said that there is no evidence. Then I wanted to give a statement, but the judge did not allow me to do so. She just handed me a prepared verdict, which said that I have to remain on remand for another 4 weeks, then she will consider my case again. And that she did with all 10 arrestees, including the
campaigns director of Four Paws International.

So, what is behind all this? I think behind all this is the most fundamental attack on animal rights movement ever in the history of our movement worldwide. Let me explain. About 11 years ago, we embarked on a new type of campaigning in Austria. We used the classic grass roots campaign tactic with media work and civil disobedience actions for legal reforms. And we were very successful indeed. First, we banned fur farms, then wild animal circuses, then battery cages and vivisection on apes, and at last rabbit cage farming. Theses successes caused a lot of concern for powerful groups in society. After the hen battery cage ban was achieved in 2004, we started to feel an increasing amount of police repression. The anti-terrorist police department started to watch us and slander
us by releasing statements how the suspect us of criminal activity. Also, police restricted our rights to protest ever more. Then the Minister of the Interior publicly called us a violent group. We tried to sue him for it, but he turned out to be immune to law suits as a minister. But he admitted in Parliament when questioned that his accusation was based on wrong assumptions. We publicly called him a liar, but, revealingly he did not react.

Or so we thought. At about the same time a special police squat was formed and started a major surveillance operation on us, i.e. on a number of different animal rights groups, NGOs and individuals. The rest you know already.

Since, after years of intensive surveillance, police could find no evidence of any criminal act, they had to come up with suspicion of an offence that does not need concrete evidence. For that they used a recently introduced law against terrorist groups and the mafia. This law says it is illegal to form a big (i.e. more than 10 people) organisation, which is hierarchical and run similarly to a company, which aims to influence politics or economy, and which was for that aim at least also and at least occasionally, criminal acts. Since we do run campaigns to influence politics and economy, and since there is some sort of animal rights related criminal activity, even if not related to us, on a very low level and of no serious kind but still, the State Prosecution is using the law now – for the first time in history against an NGO. And don't forget: some of those "crimes" recounted by the State Prosecution include flyposting, run-ins, blockades and undercover investigations inside factory farms. This is a very worrying development. Police is using an anti-terrorist law against legitimate and non-criminal political campaigning.

Amnesty International has voiced concern. A Green Party MP has visited me in prison and the Greens have put critical questions to the minister of the interior in Parliament. But he refused to comment. Instead, the state prosecutor released a statement to media that we are suspected of committing arson and "gas attacks", in order to slander us.

This is a political trial, a full scale attack on legal and legitimate reformist law campaigns, which were successful. Please protest against those criminals, who are behind this attack on us, and who are probably high up in government.

I support this protest as much as I can. Immediately after my arrest, I went on hunger strike. Apart from before my court hearing in order to be able to attend, I have not eaten since. I am on my 19th day today. I have been in prison hospital for the last week, have blurred vision and fell unconscious once already. I have been told that soon they will start force-feeding me.

I need your help. I count on you. Thanks for all the support you have given us already. Please trust that there really is no evidence whatever of criminal activity against me. There is none now, and there never will be any.

DDr. Martin Balluch
Association Against Animal Factories
From prison hospital in Vienna, Austria

Gadjodilo

A letter from Chris, another of the people who have now been locked up for one month and five days without charge.

Letter from Christian from his prison cell

I’ve been in prison now for four weeks – for no reason! The first week I was in prison in Innsbruck after police officers searched through our house, in which my wife and our three children live, for four hours. During the house search I had to sit with handcuffs in the kitchen.
On Thursday, May 29th, 2008 I was moved to a prison in Wr. Neustadt.

Wr. Neustadt seems to be rather more “comfortable” – if a prisoner can use that word – in comparison to Innsbruck.

The vegan food in Wr. Neustadt is much better than in Innsbruck. During my whole week in Innsbruck I just got brown bread and one or two times plain rice and salad from which I had to wash off the marinade because nobody could tell me the ingredients of the food. When I asked for vegan food, the officer and the doctor told me “We are a prison and not a Wellness Hotel!”. Here in Wr. Neustadt they cook for vegans too. For example today we had tofu for the first time.

Every day in prison is virtually the same. At six o’ clock the neon light in the cells is switched on. We must make the beds before seven and during the day we are only allowed to lie on the bed completely dressed and not covered with the blanket. At seven we get breakfast. The vegans get bananas, brown bread, margarine and jam.

At about eight o’ clock the first prisoners are allowed to go out in the courtyard – one hour a day and that is the only hour outside. While in the prison in Innsbruck the court was just made out of asphalt and you could just see fences and walls, here in Wr. Neustadt there is some grass and even a tree, a rowan tree.

Monday and Thursday we go outside a little bit later because these days we can shower in groups of four to eight prisoners. When we are outside one officer and three or four cameras observe us. Most prisoners walk very slowly or just sit down and smoke. I walk very fast because I’m used to much more exercise. I often lap the other prisoners by about thirty rounds. I try to enjoy and use the only hour outside as well as possible.

This is the only time that I spend with other prisoners, apart from the person I share my cell with. Other prisoners are here because of e.g. robbery and grievous bodily harm. Many of them have to stay in prison for a long time. That makes the situation that I’m here because of the accusation that I’m part of a “criminal organisation” even more grotesque than it already is.

It seems that I’m the only non-smoker in the prison. Since my arrest on Wednesday, May 21st I shared with five different people a cell, three in Innsbruck and two in Wr. Neustadt. Four of the five were on some kind of drug withdrawal, all were chain smokers.

The persons who are on drug withdrawal are very strenuous. The prisoner with who I share the cell right now e.g. had to vomit into a bucket in the upper bunk bed from Sunday night to Monday every 15 minutes, while I was lying in the lower bunk bed. Although I do not understand people who take drugs and I’m completely against drugs, I feel sorry for these people here.

At about half past eleven we get lunch. At about five in the evening we get dinner. During the morning I write, read or draw mostly. After lunch I often watch TV. At half past two pm I always watch Spongebob on TV.

Some days ago I got to have a sketch pad and water colours in my cell. I’m drawing a portrait of myself and a portrait of my cell mate, because he asked me to. I also started to draw portraits of my three children from their photos that I have with me here.

Since I was arrested I have written nearly a hundred pages, something like a diary and thoughts about my arrest. I also answer all the letters from my family and from relatives. I get lots of post, this week I already got about ten postcards and four or five letters – I enjoy getting post, especially from my wife and my children.

The worst here in prison is that I’m separated from my beloved wife and my beloved children. I cannot describe how much I miss them. My oldest son is Samuel, 10. He was so shocked about my arrest that by his first visit he could not stop crying. Noah is five years old. I cannot forget how he was waving me, when I got arrested. My daughter Talia, 2, is the youngest. I’m very concerned about my relationship with her. Our relationship could be seriously damaged as a result of this separation. I have to force myself to stop thinking about these thoughts, or I feel like I’m losing my mind with worry. Karin, Talia, Noah and Samuel, you cannot imagine how much I miss you.

Apart from the pain not to be allowed to be with my wife and my children, I’m concerned about our future after the arrest, especially about our financial situation.

Although I work most of the time on my art – you can see it on www.radikalkunst.net - I have also worked for the last ten years as restorer for an archaeologist. There I do the cleaning, preservation and restoration of archaeological discoveries – mainly from the Middle Ages. I hope very much that I can carry on with my work there after my release – which should actually be right now, because I’m innocent.

I can carry on with my art here in the prison too, although I don’t have the material and the tools, I can draw and design – and I can write. My cell is about 2.5 x 6 metres. In it there is a bunk bed, two closets, one shelf, one table, two chairs, one washbasin and one partitioned off lavatory. There is also a window with bars. In the cell we also have a television set and a radio, which I didn’t have in Innsbruck where I stayed a whole week.

In Wr. Neustadt I’m in cell 9 and my prisoner number is 91001.

When I see the children’s programme that I watch at home with my children, I have to cry. Even pictures from happy families or children or the words “family”, “children” or “home” are enough to frustrate me and make me cry. I think my time in prison would be much easier if I didn’t have a family from who I’m separated. On the other side my family is one reason why this imprisonment without any charges has to end rapidly.

Although I’m desperate because I’m separated from Karin, Talia, Noah and Samuel and although I’m afraid about our financial situation, it is sure that I will come out of prison alive.

Not so for millions of animals every year who die after their imprisonment. And doing something artistically and active against this injustice is a criminal offence?

From prison, greetings for Karin, Talia, Noah and Samuel, I love you!

Chris

Gadjodilo

So..... the truth finally comes out. This breakthrough has only happened in the last couple of hours.

It seems that they were trying to frame the activists for burning down a hunting lodge. But the hunters themselves now admit that they overheated the stove and that one of their members lied.
--- In Freedom_for_Austrian_Activists@yahoogroups.com>
> Lets get this out there!
> paula
>

---

>
>
>
>
>
> Hunger Strike: Day 41: 30th June 2008
> Austrian Arrests, New Development: Public Prosecution Fabricates Arson Attack
>
>
> In an attempt to justify remand custody and draconian police measures, a hunting cabin, which burnt down as a result of an over heating stove, was used against the animal protections as an accusation of arson. This scandal comes just weeks after it was revealed that the prosecution falsified a statement of a crown witness
> On May 21 2008 masked and armed officers of the Austrian elite squad WEGA broke into homes and offices of NGO workers and organisations at the crack of dawn. Since that day, 10 people arrested in the raids have been detained in remand custody. One of the detainees, president of VGT (Association against Factory Farms) Dr Martin Balluch has, also since that day, been on hunger strike. He is presently being artificially fed. A string of human rights violations against these animal protectionists has caused outrage and strong criticism towards Austrian authorities from the international community and concerned Austrians. The authorities claim, and therefore in turn the Austrian media as well, that the animal protectionists are responsible for an arson attack.
> This accusation of arson came as a surprise to animal protection circles as, especially in recent years, there has been no report of arson with an animal rights connection in Austria. In the prosecution file, withheld until now from the defense, the worst suspicions can be confirmed: The allegedly animal rights motivated arson attack was in fact a hunting cabin fire caused by hunters themselves as they let a stove overheat. The public prosecution have bent the facts in order to provide a reason for mistreating and imprisoning innocent animal protectionists!
> Following Facts can be found in the Police Files:
> The hunting cabin burnt down on 11.11.2007 at approximately 7 p.m. The prosecution states that it happened between 11 and 13.11.2007.
> The time of the fire was deliberately extended to 13.11 because, according to the surveillance reports, the VGT president Dr Martin Balluch was in the same area on that day. The deliberate time extension thus provided an opportunity to construe a suspicion. However, the public prosecution failed to disclose that Dr Balluch was in the area in order to document illegal pheasant enclosures and that he was in constant Telephone contact with the state appointed animal welfare ombudsman throughout the day. The pheasant enclosures were indeed reported to the authorities on the very next day.
> The public prosecution claims that the arson was animal rights motivated, despite the fact that the fire expert assessing the incident stated that the probable cause of the fire was the overheating of a non-insulated stove placed against a wooden wall. There was no indication of arson.
> Hunter lies in an effort to protect himself
> During the first police interview the hunter responsible for the hunting area in which the cabin was located, told police that he did not light the stove on the day of the fire. Only a few days later, the same hunter admitted to police that he had lied. Out of fear that he would be made responsible for the burning down of the cabin, the hunter admitted that he, along with other hunters had indeed lit the stove on the same day as the fire. He told police that the fire had been burning fiercely for hours before the cabin caught fire.
> One hunter belonging to this particular group even wrote to the insurance company and emphasised “the fire was not caused by a third party as claimed (this would ensure that the insurance company would pay), it was instead caused by hunting staff belonging to the hunting society, […] who heated the wood stove too fiercely.“
> In order to make the animal protectionists appear responsible, a letter claiming responsibility was fabricated and mentioned in the police files. No such letter exisits. The fire was mentioned only in an animal welfare magazine.
> Defense lawyer for Dr Martin Balluch, Mag. Stefan Traxler: “It begs belief how the facts have been twisted and fabricated here in an attempt to accuse my client. But, now it’s out in the open: there was no arson attack. I therefore expect that my client be released immediately and that his confiscated property and that belonging to the organisation VGT be returned without delay. We will be suing the persons responsible for damages.“
>
>
>

Gadjodilo

Latest news on this.

1. They're all still locked up and will be for at least two more
months. Still no charges.

2. There seems to be a vindictiveness to the behaviour of the
Austrian authorities. Some of the detainees are locked up with
violent criminals and drug abusers with all the risks that this
entails.

3. Their lawyer admits that far from being able to work effectively
for their release, he is now fighting a rearguard action to keep the
remaining activists from being locked up too.

4. This is an open letter to the European Commission President José
Manuel Barroso protesting about the behaviour of the Austrian
authorities. It was signed by hundreds of groups and individuals all
over the world as well as three MEPs.
http://austriasolidarity.com/showart.php?articleid=6886

BlaasForRafa

Gadjodilo wrote: »

So, what is behind all this? I think behind all this is the most fundamental attack on animal rights movement ever in the history of our movement worldwide. Let me explain. About 11 years ago, we embarked on a new type of campaigning in Austria. We used the classic grass roots campaign tactic with media work and civil disobedience actions for legal reforms. And we were very successful indeed. First, we banned fur farms, then wild animal circuses, then battery cages and vivisection on apes, and at last rabbit cage farming. Theses successes caused a lot of concern for powerful groups in society.

DDr. Martin Balluch
Association Against Animal Factories
From prison hospital in Vienna, Austria

If the arrests are unjustified then this will be exposed when any cases go to court and no doubt there will be a public enquiry into exactly whats going on.

I have to say I have little sympathy for some of these vegan/vegatarian activist groups though. They start off with media-friendly campaigns like anti-fur etc. but at the end of the day their final aim is to make eating meat illegal. Theres an almost religious fervour to it in that they wish to impose their way of life on every one else.

Theres a lot of propaganda coming from the pro-veggie/vegan side at the moment, lets see if there are any prosecutions or whether it really was a massive state over-reaction in which case heads should roll.

Gadjodilo

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

If the arrests are unjustified then this will be exposed when any cases go to court and no doubt there will be a public enquiry into exactly whats going on.

I have to say I have little sympathy for some of these vegan/vegatarian activist groups though. They start off with media-friendly campaigns like anti-fur etc. but at the end of the day their final aim is to make eating meat illegal. Theres an almost religious fervour to it in that they wish to impose their way of life on every one else.

Theres a lot of propaganda coming from the pro-veggie/vegan side at the moment, lets see if there are any prosecutions or whether it really was a massive state over-reaction in which case heads should roll.

Blaas,

This is a fundamental breach of human rights and you should not be allowing your personal judgment cloud the basic issue. They will be locked up for at least 4 months with no charges. Under the law being used to detain them, they can be locked up for a whole year.

There are many causes I disagree with but I wouldn't lock their advocates for 12 months with no charge. That's fascism.

G.

BlaasForRafa

Gadjodilo wrote: »

Blaas,

This is a fundamental breach of human rights and you should not be allowing your personal judgment cloud the basic issue. They will be locked up for at least 4 months with no charges. Under the law being used to detain them, they can be locked up for a whole year.

There are many causes I disagree with but I wouldn't lock their advocates for 12 months with no charge. That's fascism.

G.

On that I agree, internment without trial is wrong whether it be the North in the 70's, guantanamo or austria.

What I'm trying to convey is that I would find it easier to have sympathy for them if they weren't trying to impose their way of life on me and everyone else.