Call for solidarity
Manifestation on the 23rd of September in Gothenburg

On the 23rd of September the 23 year old bicycle-repairman from Amsterdam, Maarten Blok, will have his trial following the 2001 EU-summit in Gothenburg. Although he can easily prove his innocence in Holland he is being extradited to Sweden, where the infamous Gothenburg Court will decide on his faith. His Dutch support group is trying to organize a manifestation on the same day and is calling on different groups in Sweden and abroad to come and protest against the miscarriages of Justice after the summit, repression and the criminalisation of demonstrators and activism in general.

The idea is to hold the manifestation in front of the Gothenburg Courthouse. Therefore we are looking for support. We would like to give the manifestation some international depth; we hope to get some interesting speakers and are also looking for cultural content, such as music and film. Ideas about performance and actions are welcome. We are planning to give our presence some colour and are preparing to make ourselves heard.

We're hoping to get your support in finding people for the program and especially in finding ways to reach people to let them know about this manifestation. The more people will come the stronger our statement will be. Also a group of Dutch (and other foreign) activists will be coming to the city in support, and they are looking for places to sleep during there stay. This will be from the 22nd of August and stay until after the trial.

If you want to know more about the support group, Maarten's case or actions that we did in the past you can check out the website www.supportmaarten.org
or www.stodmaarten.se

***

This is the latest (3.9.) update of Maarten's case. In the end of the
message there's also an address to which you can send him support letters.

If Maarten is found guilty and convicted (prison, in the worst case) it will
affect the atmosphere of following trials. As far as I know, two weeks later
there will be a trial against ex-police chief Håkan Jaldung, who was
responsible of surrounding of Hvitfeldska school (demonstrators'
accommodation space) a day before the demos.

Two Finnish men are also charged for trying to break out from the surrounded
school - "violent rioting". These men only participated in the non-violent
break-out attempt by white overalls. Charges were temporarily postponed
until Case Jaldung is clear and over.

If Maarten is found guilty in violence against policeman and if Jaldung is
released, our situation here in Finland doesn't look too promising either.
So, pressure to Sweden as much as possible! These trials, as well as other
Gbg2001-cases - are not dealed with on juridical, but political basis. No
more political prisoners in Gothenburg.

***

Today (3-9-2004) Maarten had a hearing about his Häkte (remand)
imprisonment, untill the date of his trial.

His lawyer argued that as Maarten had been able to move freely for the last
3 years in Holland, and he had a place to stay in Gothenburg, there wasn't a
good reason for not releasing him, untill the 23rd of September. He also
stated that there was no chance Maarten would flee, as he had reported
himself to the Amsterdam Courthouse just several days before.

The prosecutor said that as in Holland there had been actions for and by
Maarten not to be extradited, which he held against him. He was also rather
angry about the video shown, as evidence by the defence, which he saw
yesterday for the first time. He confirms that it is Maarten standing
casually on the containers, on the tape, while not hitting a police-officer.
But he concluded that this must have happend at a later stage. This is in
fact impossible as this was the last moment when people climbed the
containers, and Maarten was arrested directly after he was pushed off.
Something which is confirmed by witnesses, but was not of much interest to
the prosecutor. The case-report was gone through step by step, as the
prosecution cliamed that contradictory statements by officers were not off
much importance as police can also not recall all details all the time. That
is not say the police witnesses cannot be trusted on other accounts.

The hearing lasted about 2 hours after which the judge took at least 15
minutes bihind closed doors, to decide. Eventually Maarten was sent back to
remand prison, because he wasn't sure Maarten woouldn't attempt to flee.
Maarten will be therefore be in the Gothenburg remand-prison untill his
trial comes up. An institute which has been critisized by Amnesty
International for years now.

You can still write to Maarten at the following address:


Maarten Blok
Häktet
Box 216
40123 Göteborg
Sweden