Press conference on the anniversary of the G8 searches: Lawyers demand the cessation of the proceedings

Some of those charged in four §129(a) proceedings
c/o Coalition for the Immediate End to the § 129a Proceedings
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte e.V.
Greifswalder Straße 4
D-10405 Berlin

einstellung(at)so36.net
++49-(0)1577-4300652

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Germany-wide searches before the G8 summit on May 9th 2007, Katja Kipping (member of the German Parliament for the Left Party "Die Linke"), Pedram Shahyar (member of the Attac Coordination group) and the two lawyers Christina Clemm (Berlin) and Alexander Hoffmann (Kiel) demanded the cessation of the §129a proceedings against 40 left-wing activists. The invitation to the press conference was made by those charged in four different §129(a) cases.

Christina Clemm, a lawyer in the so-called "G8 case" and the most recent "mg case" said: "The searches could only be carried out because of the existence of the §129a legislation". If the Federal Prosecution had followed the current decisions of the Federal Court, there should never have been this extent of surveillance and searches."

Her colleague, Alexander Hoffmann, defense lawyer in the "Bad Oldesloe Case", criticised the role of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution: "The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution's direct participation in the police investigations went far beyond what was allowed". He reminded that about 2000 people are affected by these investigations. Against this backdrop he vehemently warned against misunderstanding the process of judicial review as an effective way of ensuring the protection of basic rights.

Katja Kipping, the acting party leader of the Left Party (Die Linke) and member of the German Parliament attributes these investigations in the "context of the restructuring of Germany's security architecture". This, says Kipping, "is particularly apparent in the relinquishing of the separation between police and secret services", as could be observed in the investigations". For this reason she rejected the new BKA law and demanded the abolishment of the "spy law" 129a.

Pedram Shahyar, member of the ATTAC coordination group, drew attention to a further aspect of this restructuring, the deployment of the German military within the country during the G8 summit. He summarised the investigations with the following: "The repression before the G8 summit was intended to split the social movements. Politically, the Federal Prosecution failed to achieve this." The ATTAC activist who had been called as a witness in the proceedings against Dr Holm et al the previous day, demanded the cessation of the proceedings and the deletion of the data that had been "unlawfully gathered".

A detailed overview of the extent of the surveillance in the four §129(a) cases can be found in the press conference press info: Pressemappe , with a table containing numbers of different surveillance measures that have been carried out (both in German)

Source: Some of those charged in four different §129(a) cases | 08.05.2008