Dear friends and comrades!
Two months ago, three comrades were arrested while allegedly attempting to set three military trucks on fire. They have been detained on remand under heightened security ever since. Another comrade was arrested at home during a house search (see attachment for further details).
In the next few days, the Federal Court of Justice will decide which kind of actions can be applied to the "Anti-Terror Law". This could mean that in future, any critical expression against war, insufficient wages, Hartz IV laws etc. may be regarded as a "terrorist act".
We therefore ask you to protest against these methods of repression and mail or fax the attached mail to the Federal Court of Justice and/or the Ministry of the Interior.
Solidarity is a weapon! No-one can stop our social and anti-militarist campaign!
PS. We ask you to reply to this address, which is the contact for further questions
Gruppe: wegmit129a (wegmit129a [at] yahoo.de)
New anti-terror laws have been and will be passed in many countries around the world. On a European level, cooperation between police forces and intelligence institutions has been intensified. The alleged threat represented by Islamic terror organisations serves to legitimise the new laws. However anti-terror laws are aimed against all political opponents and therefore also – perhaps even especially – against left wing opposition. §§ 129a and b of the German Criminal Code are a clear are evidence of such developments.
In October, the Federal court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH), Germany's highest court, will decide under which conditions the special anti-terror laws - §§ 129a and b of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch - StGB) – can be applied. The background to this fundamental decision is formed by the preliminary proceedings against seven people alleged to be members of a "terrorist organisation" that calls itself "militante gruppe" (mg – see box). Since 2001, the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (Bundeskriminalamt - BKA) has been investigating the group. The highest police body with its staff of 5,000 was completely unsuccessful despite cooperation with other authorities, the use of undercover agents, telephone surveillance and police raids. On July 31, the police arrested 3 people, Axel H., Florian L. and Oliver R., who allegedly attempted to commit arson attacks on trucks belonging to the Federal Armed Forces. A few hours after the arrests, police raided the apartments and work places of a total of seven people, whereby another person, the sociologist Andrej H., was arrested under strong suspicion.
The construction of a "terrorist organisation"
The four arrested people were transported under maximum security by helicopter to Federal German Bar in Karlsruhe, where the responsible magistrate ordered detention on remand with the allegation of membership of a "terrorist organisation in accordance with § 129a of the German Criminal Code".
The special aspect of the construction by the persecuting authorities is the fact that no suspicion whatsoever existed for the three arrested people other than the actual attempted sabotage. To turn that into a terrorist act in accordance with § 129 a required their connection with the sociologist and the three people who were not arrested. The group of people had already been under police observation around the clock for almost a year, under suspicion of having written documents produced by the mg. The suspicion was explained by the apparent similarity of terms used in articles and academic papers with documents written by the mg. Andrej H. came under particular suspicion because he is alleged to have met one of the people arrested in Brandenburg under "conspiratorial conditions". For the police, "conspiratorial" means in this case that the accused did not have his mobile phone with him. By reverse logic, the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations (BKA) therefore assumes the alleged arsonists are members of the mg. They have been detained on remand for almost two months. Andrej H. was released on bail following strong public pressure, but faces the continuing threat of imprisonment.
Fighting anti-terror laws
However, many more people feel threatened who either had contact with the accused, or are critical of or active against the dismantling of the welfare state, militarisation and racist asylum-seeker policy. BKA investigations are running at full speed and nobody knows who will be the next person under investigation: Everyone is potentially suspicious.
Like anti-terror laws in general, § 129 a is intended to have precisely that effect: It forms the legal basis to comprehensively and preventively investigate political opponents – mainly perceived as left wingers – thereby also provoking insecurity and alienation.
That means that even if the BGH decides in October that the described case cannot be applied to § 129 a, and the cases must therefore be closed, the demand must be to abolish the law without substitution. The Left in Europe is called upon to fight against the further extension of the powers of the police and legal authorities in Europe, because if it becomes a threat in the future, the full force of anti-terror laws will be applied against it.
The "militante Gruppe"
The mg has been making itself heard in Berlin and Brandenburg for six years. In mid-2001, it committed an arson attack on the Daimler-Benz branch in Berlin and, in a letter announcing its responsibility, criticised the corporation's compensation policy towards forced labourers during the period of German fascism. The mg campaign's aims were oriented by the criticism voiced by many antifascist organisations and groups of survivors of the fascist policy of annihilation.
In the following years, the mg announced its responsibility for around 20 arson attacks and placed itself in the context of social conflicts. The fields of themes were racist German asylum-seeker policy, anti-militarism, the massive undermining of the welfare state and most recently the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.
To the Federal Court of Justice / To the Federal Minister of the Interior / To the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in ....
October 2007
Dear ....
On October 5, the Federal Court of Justice will decide to what extent § 129 a of the German Criminal Code can be applied. The background is the preliminary proceedings against alleged members of a "terrorist organisation" that calls itself "militante gruppe". In fact, current proceedings are based merely on an attempted arson attack and the production of written articles and academic texts that have similarity with announcements of intended attacks by the above group.
Four people have been arrested on the basis of these accusations. Three have been imprisoned on remand for over two months, while another is in danger of being detained in the event of an appropriate decision by the Federal Court of Justice.
We are extremely concerned about the actions of the federal authorities!
By using § 129 a, an instrument is being applied that allows people to be pursued and even arrested without sufficient grounds.
The burden of proof is thereby completely inverted, since the presumption of innocence is withdrawn, resembling the practices of a dictatorial regime more than a constitutional democracy.
We therefore regard the undermining of basic democratic rights in the Federal Republic of Germany as a cause for great concern and attention!
§ 129 a is applied under the slogan of the fight against terror and further anti-terrorist laws are being prepared. Even more people will be observed and pursued by repressive state bodies purely on the basis of suspicion. Many people's criticism of political developments, which has for instance increased as a result of the undermined welfare state and the federal government's participation in wars, is inevitably under observation by the authorities, as the above mentioned case indicates. Ultimately, any critically minded, active person feels suspicious and persecuted. Such wide-ranging intimidation of opposition movements by repressive state bodies is also more reminiscent of conditions in dictatorial states and has little to do with democratic society.
We therefore call for the responsible authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany to cease the current proceedings according to § 129 a and immediately release the prisoners from detention!
Together with civilised forces in Germany, we demand the abolition of § 129 ff without substitution and also the cancellation of the intended tightening of the state protection paragraphs!
Yours sincerely,
Addresses:
Bundesinnenminister Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble
Alt-Moabit 101
10559 Berlin
Telephone: +49 - 30-18 681-0
Telefax: +49 - 30-18 681-2926
E-Mail: poststelle@bmi.bund.de
Generalbundesanwältin beim Bundesgerichtshof Monika Harms
Brauerstraße 30
76135 Karlsruhe
Telephone: (0721) 81 91 0
Telefax: +49 – 721 - 81 91 59 0
Email: poststelle@generalbundesanwalt.de
To the German Embassy
Links:
[1] mailto:poststelle@bmi.bund.de
[2] mailto:poststelle@generalbundesanwalt.de