THE PUBLIC IS CLEARLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH JAILING PEACENIKS FOR TRYING TO STOP WEAPONS SUPPLIES TO A GENOCIDAL REGIME ~ Andy Meinke ~ Woolwich Crown Court is a grim place even if you’re not on trial. No history like the Old Bailey or even a duck pond like Snaresbrook. Just a concrete block on land reclaimed from the marshes, which you have to walk past two prisons to reach and is connected by a tunnel to a third, so those sentenced can’t be rescued from the Serco van by their terrorist accomplices. Small chance of that from the peace campaigners and human rights activists gathered outside yesterday — so all hopes rested with the jury. And Glory Hallelujah did they deliver! Despite being caught red handed with actual paint and on camera smashing up an arms factory with sledgehammers, the twelve good and true found all six activists not guilty of Aggravated Burglary, three not guilty of Violent Disorder, and were unable to reach a majority of at least 9 to 3 on three remaining charges of Violent Disorder, six of Criminal Damage and one of inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent.  Sadly we anticipate the Crown Prosecution Service, pushed by the Government, will put them all through a retrial. But five of the six have been granted bail, a decision rather forced on Mr Justice Johnson because they’ve served more time in jail than he could give them without ripping up the sentencing guidelines. Sam Corner remains inside as the offence under section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 carries a maximum life sentence. Jury’s do not give reasons for their verdicts and are not allowed to reveal their deliberations. Nor is anyone allowed to carry out any form of research on actual jury decisions, so we cannot tell why they came to these conclusions. But we can guess pretty good, can’t we kids! With due respect to the forensic oratory of the team of barristers from Garden Court Chambers and thorough research by solicitors from Irvine Thavis Natas (ITN), the obvious truth is the great British public is clearly uncomfortable with jailing peaceniks for trying to stop weapons supplies to genocidal regimes. We shouldn’t get carried away, this is a London jury, I wouldn’t have fancied their chances in Canterbury or Stafford where other anti Elbit cases are due. But by making a spurious ‘terrorist connection’ the trial had to be held at the Bailey or Woolwich — and they didn’t choose Woolwich for the greater security. While we’re showing some objectivity: These defendants would still have got a jury trial under the current Levison/Lammie proposals to restrict peoples’ right to chose one. While not firmed up, the suggestion is that only cases with a prospective sentence of three years or more would entitle you to choose a Jury. Aggravated Burglary has a life maximum. In this case where it’s clearly ‘high harm’ and ‘high culpability’, the sentencing guidelines give a starting point of 10 years with a range of 9 to 13 after a contested trial. There are 18 people awaiting three further trials for the same incident, due between April and September. Their lawyers will be scrambling to Court to make bail applications in the aftermath of yesterdays’ verdicts (or failure to reach them). Trial 4 has a preliminary hearing on Friday. There are also the people awaiting trial for pouring paint in plane engines at RAF Brize Norton. Even those advocating resurgent British militarism may consider it cheaper to pay a sentry to guard the Nations’ hardware than to prosecute the scooter-born menace trying to graff it. To misquote Lloyd George, “A fully equipped Judge costs twice as much as a Dreadnought and is nearly as terrible”. It’s a lot to expect more miracles in quick succession, but in a year already filled with horrible shocks we can take hope that we may be seeing the start of a sea change in public opinion, not unlike that towards South Africa in the 1980’s, which will make the British state’s support for the overtly racist Israeli regime untenable. The post Filton acquittals: The start of a sea change appeared first on Freedom News.

TRIAL SEEN AS PART OF INCREASED BILATERAL COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UK AND TÜRKIYE ~ Tom Anderson ~ The trial of six members of London’s Kurdish community, charged with membership of the proscribed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is ongoing at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) in London. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges of being members of the banned organisation and some face additional allegations relating to arranging and addressing meetings in support of the PKK. On the day hearings started (5 January), the London Kurdish Community and their supporters demonstrated with banners outside the Old Bailey. The trial is due to take up to three months and the defendants are Ercan Akbal (56), Ali Boyraz (63), Agit Karatas (24), Berfin Kurban (31), Turkan Ozcan (60) and Mazlum (also known as Mucahit) Sayak (28). The home raids and arrests coincided with a simultaneous police raid on the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) in Haringey, sparking protests and hunger strikes. A number of high profile arrests of Kurdish people had preceded this, as well as raids on Kurdish Community Centres and media organisations across Europe during 2024. This heightened repression of Kurdish movements in Europe came at a time when Türkiye was stepping up its air and ground assaults on the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan and drone attacks on North and East Syria. The arrests also took place just two days before the 29 November assault on Aleppo by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). Türkiye hoped to use this assault and subsequent takeover of power from Bashar Al-Assad to strengthen their influence in Syria and further the role of its Syrian National Army (SNA) proxies in efforts to destroy the Rojava revolution.  PKK has been a banned organisation in the UK since 2001, when the Blair government added it to the list of proscribed organisations following pressure from the Turkish state. The arrests came in the wake of a meeting in London between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, when they announced new UK/Türkiye bilateral cooperation and trade ties. The PKK was founded in the 1970s as a Marxist-Leninist anti-colonial party aiming to end the Turkish state’s violence, discrimination, denial of identity and forced assimilation policies aimed at Kurdish people. In 1999, the movement embarked on a path toward its new paradigm based on three concepts: Women’s freedom, an ecological society and democratic confederalism, a form of stateless direct democracy. These ideas have inspired the movement ever since, and built a foundation for the Rojava revolution in North and East Syria, which began in 2012, and the struggle for democratic autonomy within Türkiye’s borders.  WHY NOW? The PKK and its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan have been trying to make peace with the Turkish state over the last year and the Party officially disbanded itself and ceremonially destroyed some of its weapons in 2025. The movement has never carried out any sort of armed operation on UK soil, and the Kurdish-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces received tactical support from the UK armed forces during their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). In 2020, the Belgian Supreme Court ruled that EU anti-terrorism legislation cannot be applied to PKK.  The fact that the Crown Prosecution Service puts resources into criminalising members of the UK’s Kurdish community can be explained, just like in the case of last year’s proscription Palestine Action, in geopolitical terms. The complicity of the British police with the Israeli embassy over Palestine action is well documented, and details are still emerging. Türkiye, for its part, is a NATO member and a key UK and EU ally, despite Erdoğan’s efforts to strip away the vestiges of liberal democracy within Turkey and to centre authoritarian power around himself as President. The Turkish state wants to crush the Kurdish freedom movement, both within its borders and across the border in North and East Syria, whereas Keir Starmer appears to be keen to enact repressive policies at home to further what he sees as UK foreign policy interests. At the same time, Starmer’s Labour government has presided over a shift in the way dissent is being dealt with in the UK. For decades euphemisms like ‘domestic extremism’ or ‘aggravated activism’ have been used to criminalise radicals while differentiating them from those they dub terrorists. However, since the proscription of Palestine Action last year the state has seemed ready to straight-up call people terrorists. Obviously, the PKK has been on the proscribed list for a quarter of a century already, but there haven’t been many actual prosecutions related to it. The state’s readiness to use terrorism legislation to counter dissent is likely to have fed into the CPS decision to prosecute.  The Kurdish People’s Assembly of the UK in a public statement is calling for “sustained solidarity” as “a refusal of isolation and criminalisation, and an affirmation that political identity, association, and community organisation are not crimes.” The post Kurdish community members plead ‘not guilty’ to PKK charges appeared first on Freedom News.

A RECORD 100 DISPLAY CASES WERE HIJACKED FOR BERLIN DEPORTATION CONFERENCE ~ from antifawerkstatt ~ The Tiergarten District Court has once again dismissed criminal proceedings for adbusting with fake police posters. A penal order had been issued, and a court date was set for November 6. The proceedings, which had dragged on for over two years, have now been dismissed. According to the Interior Ministers’ Conference in Berlin in February 2023, the communications guerrilla group “Against German National Police Violence” (GdP) hijacked a record-breaking 100 advertising display cases in S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations. They placed their own posters in these displays, designed as part of a police image campaign. The adbustings addressed police violence, racism, and deportations. Despite already having issued a penalty order for 60 daily rates of €30 each (a total of €1,800), the court now declined to proceed with the case. “We probably drew too much attention to police arbitrariness at the last court case in August!” said Kai N. Krieger from the Workshop for Antifascist Actions (W2A), who coordinated the solidarity work. The Interior Ministers’ Conference took place in Berlin in June 2023. This was a good opportunity to demonstrate to the public that this was a meeting of deportation ministers. The communications guerrilla group “Against German Nationalist Police Violence” (GdP) therefore organised the largest adbusting campaign in years in Berlin. The group hijacked a near-record 120 advertising display cases in subway and S-Bahn stations. The group designed the posters themselves. The style was inspired by the police’s official “110% Berlin” campaign. Illustrated with a document shredder, one of the poster motifs featured the slogan: “Our reappraisal of racism. 110% not.” The activists combined an image of a special task force (SEK) blowing down doors with the statement: “Deportation to a war zone? Gladly! 110% violence.” A PR advertising image of a young policewoman at a desk with a file folder is combined with the slogan “Racism? Let’s deport! 110% goodbye.” The police responded to the action with an immediate manhunt. Unfortunately, the officers arrested two people. They were searched, interrogated, and detained at the station until the early hours of the morning. According to the file, the State Security Service explained to the investigating federal police officers by phone on the day of the action that adbusting with self-brought posters was not a criminal offence. “If you don’t steal or break anything, it’s neither theft nor property damage,” explained Sam A. Hax at the time. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office had already issued a dismissal notice in 2020, which the adbusting scene promptly published as “Darfschein” (permission to allow) and which remains in effect today This was preceded by arbitrary and disproportionate police measures. From 2015 to 2019, the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) attempted, with enormous effort, to criminalise adbusting through house searches and reports to the Counter-Terrorism Center. After determined solidarity efforts, a failed court case in 2019, as well as dozens of parliamentary inquiries and extensive media coverage in 2020 and 2021, the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office quietly dropped all criminal proceedings against satirically altered advertising posters.  Nationwide Repercussions Public prosecutors from other cities have also followed Berlin’s example of not prosecuting satirical poster activism. For example, in Erlangen in 2021, Stuttgart in 2021, and Göttingen in 2024. In December 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court even declared three house searches illegal for anti-militarist adbusting. In a recent case heard at the Tiergarten District Court on August 25, 2025, the court was also unable to reach a verdict and discontinued the proceedings. However, after the adbusting campaign for the 2023 Conference of Women Interior Ministers, the Federal Police were unfazed by this legal situation. According to the file, the first idea for criminalisation came to them while searching the suspect. The person had a BVG day ticket with him. This ticket had not been validated. The police immediately initiated criminal proceedings for “obtaining services by deception.” The public prosecutor’s office quickly dropped the case: “There is no law in Germany that requires a valid ticket in police stations,” explained Kai N. Krieger, spokesperson for the Workshop for Antifascist Actions. But the cops blithely continued their investigation. They simply acted as if they had no knowledge of the legal situation and accused the activist of theft and property damage. They forced the company who owned the advertisements to report even the smallest, presumably old, damage to advertising display cases. Furthermore, the Federal Police, with at least two officers, spent nine months analysing video camera recordings at the train stations affected by the operation. “I would be happy if they were as dedicated to searching for my next stolen bike…” said Kai N. Krieger. “Maybe I should write slogans about police brutality and racism on it to get the cops interested?” No damage to property, no theft. Finally, the Federal Police handed over the investigation to the State Security Office (LKA 521). This office, too, suddenly, despite better judgement, insisted on the allegations of damage to property and theft and handed over the investigation results to the public prosecutor’s office. However, the LKA received a setback from there. The public prosecutor’s office discontinued the proceedings regarding these charges saying: “With regard to the offences of June 13, 2023 (sic!), the evidence of damage to property cannot be provided with the certainty required for indictment. […] The proceedings are therefore discontinued with regard to the allegations of damage to property and theft pursuant to Section 170, Paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.” A new allegation was needed. Officers noticed that one of the posters featured a press photo from the Saxony police. It depicts a police officer smiling at the camera from her desk. The group “Against German Nationalist Police Violence (GdP)” captioned the poster with the slogan: “Racism? Let’s deport!” The LKA 521 found that this violated the police officer’s right to their own image under Section 22 of the Art Copyright Act. A parliamentary inquiry in the House of Representatives by Niklas Schrader revealed that the case had become a political issue. The public prosecutor’s office had initially declined jurisdiction. However, once the case was referred again to the public prosecutor’s office they now felt they had jurisdiction and requested a penal order. A penal order landed in the mailbox of one of the arrested individuals in the spring of 2025. The charge: violation of Section 22 of the Art Copyright Act. The Tiergarten District Court imposed a fine of 60 daily rates of €30 each, a total of €1,800. The defendant appealed the penalty order; the district court initially set a court date for November 6th. Section 23 of the German Art Copyright Act explicitly lists exceptions when a person’s image may be used without their consent. One of these exceptions is so-called “portraits from the area of contemporary history.” According to Kai N. Krieger, this is precisely such an image: “The police officer knowingly allowed herself to be photographed for a press photo, which the police still use to recruit new recruits.” Thus, she is not depicted as a private individual, but rather as part of the police’s public self-portrayal: “And it is precisely this public self-portrayal that adbustings satirically address. Of course, this image can be used for that purpose! The fact that the district court is using this section to criminalize satire critical of the police is a scandal!” But the trial never came to fruition. The Berlin adbusting scene was undeterred by the criminal proceedings and simply carried on. For example, during the 2024 European Football Championship several mega-billboards in major train stations were targeted. Adbusters pasted speech bubbles onto the posters. They made the policewoman pictured utter self-criticisms like, “…I’m so sick of this racist business!” and “…we’re actually just a bunch of state-paid violent criminals!” This campaign also received media feedback. Here, too, according to the file, the police invested a massive amount of manpower in watching videos. An officer at the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) 521 believed he recognized the second suspect from the action at the Interior Ministers’ Conference. Hoping to have a clear, easily prosecutable incident, the public prosecutor’s office dropped the ongoing proceedings against this individual for copyright infringement after the Interior Ministers’ Conference. They applied for a penal order for the adbusting action at the European Championships. This was a mistake, as it turned out. The trial against the second suspect for the European Championship campaign took place on August 25, 2025. Accompanied by a solidarity campaign, a rebellious audience, and lively media interest, the court dismissed the proceedings due to their triviality in exchange for a donation of €900.00. The fuss didn’t go unnoticed. Things were happening behind the scenes. Two weeks after the trial, the defendant in the adbusting campaign at the Interior Ministers’ Conference received a dismissal offer in exchange for a donation of €900. “Suddenly, the court and the public prosecutor’s office were no longer so concerned about pursuing adbusting campaigns that criticised the police!” Kai N. Krieger rejoiced. Our conclusion: Appeals against penal orders make sense. Public relations work on court cases also makes sense. Conducting court cases makes sense because they have an impact on other proceedings. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Machine translation The post Germany: Charges dropped against adbusters appeared first on Freedom News.

MATROZOU 45 RE-OCCUPIERS SENTENCED TO 77 MONTHS TOGETHER WHILE 79 DEFENDERS OF THE PROSFYGIKA COMMUNITY GO ON TRIAL TODAY ~ Kit Dimou ~ In Athens, the trial continues today of 79 defenders of the Prosfygika community who resisted a police raid in 2022. On Tuesday, four participants in the re-occupation of the Matrozou squat in 2020 were sentenced to 77 months in prison between them. The Prosfygika community is an occupied neighbourhood in the heart of Athens with over 400 residents. The area was invaded on 22 November 2022 by anti-terror units, who arrested anarchist Kostas Dimalexis in connection with an arson attack by an anarchist group in July 2022; while Kostas was eventually found not guilty and released after a year of prison, his 79 comrades who participated in the defence of Prosfygika against the raid face heavy charges, including breach of the peace, assault on police officers, carrying offensive weapons, and illegal possession and use of pyrotechnics. On Tuesday, the iconic Matrozou 45 reoccupation case reached its conclusion. The four comrades who participated were found guilty and sentenced to 77 months in prison in total; they are currently on parole until appeal. The attempted reoccupation on 11 January 2020 involved two of the three squats operated by the Koukaki Squat Community. This was an initiative resisting the far-reaching gentrification and touristification of this traditionally proletarian neighbourhood. Along with the Panaitoliou squat, it had been evicted a month earlier. This was part of the provocative ultimatum announced by the right-wing New Democracy government, demanding all illegally occupied spaces in Greece to be abandoned by 6 December 2019, the anniversary of the police murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos in 2008 which sparked a historic uprising in the city.  The re-occupation failed, as crowds outside the squats were brutally attacked by police and driven out of the neighbourhood in an operation that lasted several hours. The  comrades inside defended themselves tooth and nail, leading to six police injuries, but were ultimately arrested. As opposed to those involved in the Panaitoliou reoccupation, who were unanimously found not guilty, the Matrozou comrades were treated exceedingly harshly by the court. While initially only facing misdemeanour charges, the charges against them were upgraded to felonies after public expressions of outrage by Prime Minister Mitsotakis, government ministers and the Police Union. At trial, no extenuating circumstances were taken into account. Even the prosecutor’s recommendation that the accused only serve half their prison time was not accepted by the president of the court.  The trials are taking place against the background of recent evictions and re-occupations of famous squats — Evangelismos and Kasteli hill in Crete, and Ano-Kato in Athens. In the Athens Polytechnic, another ultimatum is currently threatening three long-standing occupations on campus with eviction. The post Greece: Harsh sentencing for squatters  appeared first on Freedom News.