On Tuesday march 6th at 10 am four antimilitarist activists will be on
trial for a military train blockade in fall 2004. The public prosecutor
asks for a sentence of one year's imprisonment, while the activist's
lawyer pleads for acquittal. The trial has been postponed already three
times, the last two because of the absence of the witnesses (4 policemen)
for the prosecution without giving any reason.

With their nonviolent action the accused activists protested against and
wanted to call attention to the manoeuvres that Spanish military and NATO
is carrying out during the last years in the country. Their action forms
part of a continuing campaign against the military structures in general,
and in particular against the existence of NATO and other military
headquarters in Spain, especially the one in Betera near Valencia, one of
the several NATO Response Force (NRF) headquarters in Europe, claiming for
their conversion to social and ecological use.

We invite you to give support by sending emails to the court where the
trial is to be held , to the spanish ministry of defence, and to the NRF
HQ of Valencia (see email addresses below), expressing your concern for
the trial's outcome, defending the aims of their direct action and the
legitimacy of non-violent, civil disobedience actions.

Please head your message to the court address with the following court and
trial number:

JUZGADO DE LO PENAL NÚMERO 2
Procedimiento: Juicio oral 000526/2004


E-mail addresses:

- Spanish Ministry of Defence:  infodefensa@mde.es
- NATO Response Force HQ (Valencia):  medianrdcsp@hrf-valencia.org
- Court No. 2 of Valencia:  vadeeg_002@gva.es


alternativa antimilitarista – moc (valència)
c/ roger de flor 8, baix-dta
46001 valència
retirada -at- xarxaneta -dot- org // www.insumissia.org


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For further information, see also:

- Press release:
 http://www.stopthenato.org/m/zit/id_ses/8a6f251f/id_p/10/opt/read_e/id_s/654.html

- Video:
 http://www.beyondtv.org/pages/page.php/352/ftr/

- Pictures:
 http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/129110/index.php



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LETTER IN SUPPORT OF 4 NATO TRAIN BLOCKADERS ON TRIAL IN VALENCIA

I understand that on 6 March at 10 am four antimilitarist activists
will on trial at the Penal Court number 2 of Valencia. On 17 October
2005, these activists carried out an action of nonviolent civil
disobedience, blockading a NATO convoy which left from the cargo station
for manoeuvres in Zaragoza. These manoeuvres were a trial run for the
new headquarters of the NATO Response Force (NRF) in Valencia,
established under Bush's doctrine of "pre-emptive war". The
activists are accused of "public disorder", for which the public
prosecutor demands a sentence of 1 year of prison.

I consider these civil disobedience actions not only legitimate but also
socially healthy. They are nonviolent, appeal to shared social values
and give voice to opinions commonly marginalized from social debate.
Therefore, I object that these activists should be prosecuted and appeal
fortheir acquittal, especially considering that this specific action was
carried out with great care in avoiding harm to people: the military
train was stopped in the cargo station, the participants made themselves
highly visible from the first moment and at a reasonable distance from
the convoy, and ordinary rail traffic was not interrupted.

The only possible damages could be the ones occasioned to the deployment
of the NATO base of Valencia. This is an imposed and dangerous
installation that should be dismantled as soon as possible and its lands
given back to the town of Bétera to put them to social and ecological
uses. The aforementioned base, together with the possible installation
of the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance in Zaragoza, the NATO Tactic
Leadership Program (war pilots training) in Albacete, and the
enlargement of the US bases of Rota and Moron, deepens the involvement
of the Spanish state in an aggressive and militarist politics which its
citizens have massively rejected and that, anyway, is self-destructive
and immoral.

I support this action's call for non-coooperation with war preparations.
Disobedience to war means actively resisting the military machine and
the consciously made political decisions that force us to collaborate in
the preparation of war, often without even knowing about it. For example
through the millions of tax-euros that the military structure absorbs
daily.

Name:
Place: