* Benefit meal at Hanover Square squat, Monday 6th March*
* Benefit party at the Common Place, Friday 10th March*
* Benefit party at the Common Place, Friday 10th March*
----------VIOLENT REPRESSION OF ANARCHISTS
BY THE SPANISH STATE CONTINUES------------
: On the 4th Feb people were beaten and 9 arrested outside a squat party; 3 remain in prison and face serious charges related to the alleged injury of a cop:
: On the 9th Feb 3 others were arrested, 2 of whom remain in custody accused of sabotage and arson attacks on institutions connected with the prison industry:
: Meanwhile 4 of the group known as the 'Barcelona 6' who were arrested in 2003 are still being held while the prosecution prepares its case against them, and face sentences of between 5 and one hundred years in prison:
[more info below]
These solidarity events are being held to raise awareness and funds for their defence !
* Food and social at the Hanover Square squat, Monday 6th March - info about prisoner support and Catalan delicacies.....
* Party at the Common Place, Friday 10th March - bar from 6pm, skankin roots and reggae tunes from 'Moonstomp' plus guest DJ's from 7pm til late.......
--------------------------------
Free the prisoners from 4th February. Barcelona - Latest communiqué from the support group of the 4F prisoners :.
In the Early morning of the 4th February, at number 55 St. Pere Mes Baix in Barcelona, police violently arrested 9 people outside a party. Three of them are still in prison, two accused of attempted murder and the other of "attack against the authorities" and incitement to attack. According to official sources, an officer of the Guardia Urbana (municipal police) was injured and is in a coma induced by doctors for theraputic reasons.
In a press conference, the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, gave a first account of the events which asserted that the injury was provoked by a flowerpot coming from the building where the party was held. Sixteen hours later, the police contradicted this declaration claiming that the blow could have come from any flying object. The next day, the latest official version emerged, saying that it was the people that were arrested in the street that attacked the policeman with stones.
Which of these three versions should the public believe? If we take the first version of the police proclaimed by Clos, it would mean that none of the arrested could be responsible for the blow that wounded the policeman. Apart from this, until now there has not surfaced any forensic report about what happened apart from the police´s own, so that it is not possible to decide between the various versions of the police and that of the city council (which is co-prosecuter in the case).
The accused deny absolutely the charges which have been brought against them. Eyewitnesses and arrestees agree in saying that a group of people were argueing with three police officers outside the door of the party when the latter started to hit out, after calling for backup. In the same moment, the group which included the accused arrived at the scene and also started to recieve blows. During the incident, the policeman fell down injured, and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) arrived and continued the arrests and the beatings. It should be added that the police, after shouting "halt or I shoot", shot their guns whilst pursueing those that were fleeing from the blows. Those arrested continued being beaten, both in the moment of their arrests and during the time in police stations, hospitals and whilst being transported. The results: severe bruising all over the body, head wounds, black eyes, and for two of the arrested people, broken arms.
The version of the story that the media has turned into public opinion reduces it to a mere confrontation between the police and a few young squatters. Nevertheless, the reality is a result of the particular local context - a barrio that has been reduced to a state of absolute degradation by the urbanistic politics of the city council. It is not the only barrio of Barcelona whose inhabitants are victims of property speculation and violent harrassment by property companies in which the council is complicit and participates. The absolute insensitivity to social realities in these areas has lead the council to launch a heavy deployment of police to repress whatever form of response might come from the inhabitants who are affected by expropriations, lack of facilities, and in general, the destruction of their barrios and their social networks. It would not be an exxagertion to speak about the criminalisation of poverty.
Police violence has been made particularly explicit in the barrio of St. Pere, and many in the neighbourhood who viewed the police charge from their balconies were shocked by the brutality of the repression against the youths in the doorway of the building and those who were just casually passing by. The majority of these witnesses only agree to talk about what happened in private, frightened because of the impression the police actions left, and because since that day there are police contiually in the doorways to their houses. The next day unjustified identifications were continuing, as were threats towards certain of the inhabitants, and anyone who might 'look like a squatter'. Examples of agressions were "would you rather i kill you here or that it do it in Zona Franca (industrial area)?", punches, kicks to the ankles, and even taking off the shoes of one victim whilst and intimidating them whilst each cop stamped on their feet. To justify the malice with which they were acting, they claimed that the injured policeman had died.
Finally, something should be added about the ambiguous role which the "Narco Peña Acultural" played. (anarko peña cultural = occupied building where the party was held). For the City Council it is easier to arrest a few South American youths who looked like squatters than have to justfy their responsibility about this piece of their property. It´s inhabitants used it for mafia-style practices, and it is very difficult to believe that the police would ignore such action (for more information see
http://www.liberinfo.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&s)
None of this is casual, the escalation of violence which the different police forces are employing since some time, and more concretly since the entry in force of the laws of civismo (public spirit) and zero tolerence, and the definitive deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra, and is taking itself out very clearly around certain groups and places in which the interests of the City Council collide with the people who live there.
We demand the liberty without charge of the prisners. and end to abuse and torture and that they give us back our barrios
If you want to help with legal costs: La Caixa 2100-3002-01-2105267123
IBAN: ES66
BIC/SWIFT: CAIXESBBXXX
----------------------------------
Freedom for Ruben and Ignasi! Held on 'preventative detention' since 9th Feb
Around eight o'clock on Thusday morning (09/02/2006) a comrade got arrested as he was going home from work. Several masked up men belonging to the antiterrorist police stormed the place where he was working and forced him into a van. Our comrade got driven to his house in the neighbourhood of Horta where a house raid began. The police took fingerprint samples from all over the house and took away computers, hard drives, and paperwork. During the raid also another comrade is arrested but he is then released without charges the following day. At the same time another comrade's house is raided in the center of town and he is arrested. On the same day a picket in front of the police station where our comrades were kept gathers around 150 people. On Saturday 11th the two comrades declared in front of the judge who confirmed their arrest decreeing preventive imprisonment waiting trial. They are being accused of public disorder and several acts of sabotage including an arson attack to the Sabadell Bank and to the C.I.R.E. (Centre de Iniciatives por la Reinsercio), an enterprise which exploits cheap prison labour in Catalunya. The main investigation in fact is focused on the CIRE, which has been targetted several times in the past among which a low intensity bomb on the 17th January 2005, an arson attack on the 22nd October 2004 and an unexploded bonb which nevertheless caused the evacuation of the entire building. On Friday 10th, people gathered in front of the court house where the two were waiting to declare, the police brutally charged the group of people sitting outside, causing various injuries. On Sunday people met again for a demo outside the Modelo prison where the comrades were being kept, but once again the demo got charged by the police and Ruben, one of the two comrades got ghosted to Brians prison. On Tuesday Ignasi got trasferred to the prison of Quatre Camins.
Ruben Masmano Bernel, (Modulo 1 de C.P. Brians), C.P. Can Brians, Apartado 1000, 08760 Martorell, Barcelona, Spain See Ignasi below for details...
Ignasi Antolino Perez, (Modulo 4 de C.P. Quatre Camins), Apartado 335, 08430 La Roca del Valles, Granollers - Barcelona, Spain
Organise and take action now against Spanish embassies, consulates and companies!
The relevant Spanish institution responsible for the detainees can be faxed FAX: (Spain Int. code +34) 93 556 99 13. A useful Spanish phrase to include is "EXIGIMOS LA LIBERTAD INMEDIATA DE NUESTROS COMPANEROS RUBEN E IGNASI!", which means we demand the immediate release of our comrades Ruben and Ignasi. Please send details of any actions taken:
coordinadora@riseup.net
If you want to help economically the bank account is the following:
Banco Oficina D.C. Número de cuenta, BBVA 0182 - 4209 - 47 - 0201518073
for more info check the web page www.presosalacalle.tk or write to coordinadora@riseup.net
----------------------------------
Freedom for the 'Barcelona 6' - the situation of the six anarchists - Rafa, Roger, Carol, Joaquin, Igor, Teo and Iñigo -who were arrested in Barcelona September 16th 2003.
After 5 days in police custody without the possibility of contact with their lawyer, 5 of them were moved to F.I.E.S. units. Teo was freed on bail; Iñigo escaped and now has an international arrest warrant issued for him.
The four remianing prisoners have suffered increasing repression with more and more beatings, segregation and threat of being moved or “ghosted” constantly from prison to prison. This practice is a manoeuvre of the prison authorities to make even more unbearable the daily life of prisoners, de-structuring the few relationships that one manages to create. The 5 anarchists together with other prisoners began a series of protests denouncing the brutality of this prison regime at the end of last year which resulted in more reprisals.
On November 5th 2004, after 14 months of being imprisoned in remand, and with a 3000 € bail, Roger was released.
After more than 2 years in prison the prosecution made their requests for the punishment of the comrades earlier this year.
They ask for a fine of 9 million pesetas for Teo and a sentence of between 5 and 10 years in prison; For Roger also a significant fine and a sentence of more than 50 years; For Rafa, Carol, Ígor and Joaquín they want multiple fines and for some of them more than 100 years in prison...
THESE PENALTIES ARE TANTAMOUNT TO A LYNCHING OF OUR COMRADES AND ATTACK THE WHOLE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT
Background to Arrests
On September 16th 2003, the Guardia Civil carried out six arrests of anarchists in Barcelona. The operation was signed by the National Court judge Ruiz Polanco.The firsts steps of repression started at 4 AM when two apartments were raided, one in the Horta neighborhood and the other in Camp de l’Arpa, which ended in 4 arrests.This assault caught the comrades unaware in their beds. In one of the apartments where Joaquin and Igor were arrested, the Guardia Civil blocked the street and occupied the building in a military manner, going to the first floor and “opening” the door with an explosive device.Once an indefinite number of agents were inside, equipped with bulletproof vests, spotlight helmets and dressed in plain clothes, they subdued them with blows and insults, and threatening all those who were there. When they got them immobilized, the “brigada de información” (political police) entered and started the interrogation and the searching of the apartment, even using a dog trained to find explosives.After some three hours, Joaquin and Igor were blindfolded and put inside a camouflaged vehicle, driven to the Comandancia General of the Guardia Civil in Madrid.At the same time as this first assault, another was taking place on the apartment where Carol and Rafa lived, also sleeping in their bed. When they realized what was happening, they already had automatic weapons pointing at them by that gang of mercenaries.What follows is more or less the same that happened to the first two comrades: handcuffed facing the floor, insulted, threatened, immobilized... After that, they were also put in two cars, blindfolded and transferred to the same horror museum.
Four hours after those first arrests, two more took place, one in the “Old quarter” where Inigo lived, another one in Raval, where Teo lived.The first one was the more “quiet” searching and arrest, but the most traumatic for his family, since they were in the apartment, and they were the ones that told him that the Guardia Civil was looking for him. Since Guardia Civil knew that the parents were with him, they entered after knocking the door and not showing any weapons, just searching with arrest warrants. After the searching of his room, two hours later, Inigo was put in a car and also driven to Madrid. Simultaneously, Teo suffered the assault in a very different manner. They didn´t knock on the door, neither making the door explode, but sledgehammered it open. The comrade was awake preparing for his daily things, and his housemate was in bed. Suddenly they realize they are lying on the floor and subdued by blows. Then a searching that will last three hours starts, after having identified the person living with Teo, letting him go with the threat that he can´t be seen in the surroundings if he doesn’t want to get arrested too. When the searching came to an end, as with the others, Teo was put on a car, blindfolded and handcuffed, and a quick but never ending trip to Madrid starts.During the transfers to the interrogation cells, all of them are threatened, punched, insulted...
Intimidation and Torture
We can talk about the case of Rafa, who during his transfer, was taken out the car, forced to kneel down and had a gun put to his head, threatened to be shot there and then. Also, in the case of Igor, he was punched and a gun scrubbed on his head during the transfer.Everyone more or less suffered, even since the first hours, the threats, blows, humiliations, insults...without even having arrived to the dungeons of democracy. As Counter-Terrorist Law was applied, they were kept isolated during the maximum of five days, as with “only” three days the weren’t happy enough, and judges are always happy to please the police when they ask for an extension of 48 more hours.During the 120 hours they were isolated and lied to about the people they have in the cell next to theirs. They were forced to stand for many hours with their arms raised and facing the walls, deprived of sleep, with the lights on all time...in the interrogations, different levels of pressure were put on them according to the charges everyone had, it wasn´t an equal treatment for all of them.Besides the physical weakening and the psychological pressure they suffered in the cells, they also encountered the tortures they suffered when being taken to the interrogations. Hooded policemen entering the cells, blindfolding the comrades, and making them walk stooping to provoke a feeling of physical insecurity which alters the nervous system.They were forced to do countless flexings, crouching for hours while being pushed and threatened to be kicked if they fell to the floor. Questions were shouted at them, repeated time and again and again; they were threatened with being hooded, electrodes, the bathtub (having the head dunked in a tub of excrement, a method of torture used in Spain for political prisoners), and the arrest of more people they knew; blows and the use of drugs were used to force down their will...all that was what our comrades suffered at the Guardia Civil facilities, in order that they signed the statements that were written before their arrests.
After the days of isolation had passed, and having obtained self-incriminations, they were taken to declare in front in the National Court. Being a saturday, they do so in front of the judge in duty Baltasar Garzón. They are charged with being part of an armed terrorist organization, breaking bank windows, putting explosive devices on different symbols of the State and Capital, illegal possession of weapons, possession of explosive substances and flammable materials, planning to murder the journalist Luis del Olmo, a La Caixa bank manager and a catalan police spokesperson, planning to do many robberies and sending a package-bomb to the greek embassy of Madrid on September 8th 2003.
As some of them were still under the isolation regime of the Counterterrorist Law, only three of them were able to declare with their lawyers and the other three without them. Finally after the 5 days Teo was freed without bail and with small charges of damages. After some time, the rest of the relatives and lawyers are given the right to see the comrades in the cells.
They were all transferred to the prison of Soto del Real. The comrades were in groups of two in different cells, and Carol remained on the female admission module. They talked to each other through the bars of their cells and when they coincided on the medical checks or other penitentiary steps, until, some days later, they were scattered to many different prisons:Carol to the women prison of Brieva (Ávila). Joaquín to Navalcarnero; Igor stayed at Soto del Real, Rafa to Valdemoro and Inigo to Aranjuez.Their situation within the prison is “normal”, bearing in mind the FIES regime.
On September 17th 2004, just one year and one day after their arrests, all of them were called to declare again in the National Court.This was mainly done to inform them of the exact charges, the “organizations or movements which they belong to” and the ranks of involvement and leadership.The strategy of our comrades has been that of not defending every specific charge; and on the contrary, telling their participation or not in some specific case; also, saying that they´re not in such an organization or band called “Extreme Left-Wing and Libertarian Anarchist Movement”, as the summary of the case says. They have also reported the physical and psychological tortures that they suffered during the days they were isolated; also reporting that they were denied their right to a lawyer, only being able to talk to a trusted lawyer in the National Court after the interrogations in the Guardia Civil facilities.The case, after having been dealt by two different judges, is now in the hands of the judge of the Instruction Central Court number 1 of the National Court, Fernando Grande-Marlasca Gómez.
Here are their addresses:
Carolina Forné Roig, C.P. de Ávila, Ctra. Vicolozano-Brieva, s/n., 05194 Brieva, Ávila, Spain
Rafael Tomás y Gaspar, C.P. de Topas Ctra. n-630, km. 314,
37799- Topas, Salamanca. Spain
Igor Quevedo Aragay, C.P. Madrid V Soto del Real, Apdo. 200, Colmenar Viejo 28791, Madrid, Spain
Joaquin Garces Villacampa, C.P. Madrid IV, Ctra Nacional V km 27,7, 28600- Navalcarnero - Madrid, Spain
Bank Account details for financial support:
BBVA 0182-7028-21-0201530482.
IBAN (International Bank Account Order):
ES58 0182 7028 2102 0153 0482BIC
(Bank International Code): BBVAESMMXXX
Find more info and news on the cases of all of these comrades at http://www.presosalacalle.tk/
BY THE SPANISH STATE CONTINUES------------
: On the 4th Feb people were beaten and 9 arrested outside a squat party; 3 remain in prison and face serious charges related to the alleged injury of a cop:
: On the 9th Feb 3 others were arrested, 2 of whom remain in custody accused of sabotage and arson attacks on institutions connected with the prison industry:
: Meanwhile 4 of the group known as the 'Barcelona 6' who were arrested in 2003 are still being held while the prosecution prepares its case against them, and face sentences of between 5 and one hundred years in prison:
[more info below]
These solidarity events are being held to raise awareness and funds for their defence !
* Food and social at the Hanover Square squat, Monday 6th March - info about prisoner support and Catalan delicacies.....
* Party at the Common Place, Friday 10th March - bar from 6pm, skankin roots and reggae tunes from 'Moonstomp' plus guest DJ's from 7pm til late.......
--------------------------------
Free the prisoners from 4th February. Barcelona - Latest communiqué from the support group of the 4F prisoners :.
In the Early morning of the 4th February, at number 55 St. Pere Mes Baix in Barcelona, police violently arrested 9 people outside a party. Three of them are still in prison, two accused of attempted murder and the other of "attack against the authorities" and incitement to attack. According to official sources, an officer of the Guardia Urbana (municipal police) was injured and is in a coma induced by doctors for theraputic reasons.
In a press conference, the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, gave a first account of the events which asserted that the injury was provoked by a flowerpot coming from the building where the party was held. Sixteen hours later, the police contradicted this declaration claiming that the blow could have come from any flying object. The next day, the latest official version emerged, saying that it was the people that were arrested in the street that attacked the policeman with stones.
Which of these three versions should the public believe? If we take the first version of the police proclaimed by Clos, it would mean that none of the arrested could be responsible for the blow that wounded the policeman. Apart from this, until now there has not surfaced any forensic report about what happened apart from the police´s own, so that it is not possible to decide between the various versions of the police and that of the city council (which is co-prosecuter in the case).
The accused deny absolutely the charges which have been brought against them. Eyewitnesses and arrestees agree in saying that a group of people were argueing with three police officers outside the door of the party when the latter started to hit out, after calling for backup. In the same moment, the group which included the accused arrived at the scene and also started to recieve blows. During the incident, the policeman fell down injured, and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) arrived and continued the arrests and the beatings. It should be added that the police, after shouting "halt or I shoot", shot their guns whilst pursueing those that were fleeing from the blows. Those arrested continued being beaten, both in the moment of their arrests and during the time in police stations, hospitals and whilst being transported. The results: severe bruising all over the body, head wounds, black eyes, and for two of the arrested people, broken arms.
The version of the story that the media has turned into public opinion reduces it to a mere confrontation between the police and a few young squatters. Nevertheless, the reality is a result of the particular local context - a barrio that has been reduced to a state of absolute degradation by the urbanistic politics of the city council. It is not the only barrio of Barcelona whose inhabitants are victims of property speculation and violent harrassment by property companies in which the council is complicit and participates. The absolute insensitivity to social realities in these areas has lead the council to launch a heavy deployment of police to repress whatever form of response might come from the inhabitants who are affected by expropriations, lack of facilities, and in general, the destruction of their barrios and their social networks. It would not be an exxagertion to speak about the criminalisation of poverty.
Police violence has been made particularly explicit in the barrio of St. Pere, and many in the neighbourhood who viewed the police charge from their balconies were shocked by the brutality of the repression against the youths in the doorway of the building and those who were just casually passing by. The majority of these witnesses only agree to talk about what happened in private, frightened because of the impression the police actions left, and because since that day there are police contiually in the doorways to their houses. The next day unjustified identifications were continuing, as were threats towards certain of the inhabitants, and anyone who might 'look like a squatter'. Examples of agressions were "would you rather i kill you here or that it do it in Zona Franca (industrial area)?", punches, kicks to the ankles, and even taking off the shoes of one victim whilst and intimidating them whilst each cop stamped on their feet. To justify the malice with which they were acting, they claimed that the injured policeman had died.
Finally, something should be added about the ambiguous role which the "Narco Peña Acultural" played. (anarko peña cultural = occupied building where the party was held). For the City Council it is easier to arrest a few South American youths who looked like squatters than have to justfy their responsibility about this piece of their property. It´s inhabitants used it for mafia-style practices, and it is very difficult to believe that the police would ignore such action (for more information see
http://www.liberinfo.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&s) None of this is casual, the escalation of violence which the different police forces are employing since some time, and more concretly since the entry in force of the laws of civismo (public spirit) and zero tolerence, and the definitive deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra, and is taking itself out very clearly around certain groups and places in which the interests of the City Council collide with the people who live there.
We demand the liberty without charge of the prisners. and end to abuse and torture and that they give us back our barrios
If you want to help with legal costs: La Caixa 2100-3002-01-2105267123
IBAN: ES66
BIC/SWIFT: CAIXESBBXXX
----------------------------------
Freedom for Ruben and Ignasi! Held on 'preventative detention' since 9th Feb
Around eight o'clock on Thusday morning (09/02/2006) a comrade got arrested as he was going home from work. Several masked up men belonging to the antiterrorist police stormed the place where he was working and forced him into a van. Our comrade got driven to his house in the neighbourhood of Horta where a house raid began. The police took fingerprint samples from all over the house and took away computers, hard drives, and paperwork. During the raid also another comrade is arrested but he is then released without charges the following day. At the same time another comrade's house is raided in the center of town and he is arrested. On the same day a picket in front of the police station where our comrades were kept gathers around 150 people. On Saturday 11th the two comrades declared in front of the judge who confirmed their arrest decreeing preventive imprisonment waiting trial. They are being accused of public disorder and several acts of sabotage including an arson attack to the Sabadell Bank and to the C.I.R.E. (Centre de Iniciatives por la Reinsercio), an enterprise which exploits cheap prison labour in Catalunya. The main investigation in fact is focused on the CIRE, which has been targetted several times in the past among which a low intensity bomb on the 17th January 2005, an arson attack on the 22nd October 2004 and an unexploded bonb which nevertheless caused the evacuation of the entire building. On Friday 10th, people gathered in front of the court house where the two were waiting to declare, the police brutally charged the group of people sitting outside, causing various injuries. On Sunday people met again for a demo outside the Modelo prison where the comrades were being kept, but once again the demo got charged by the police and Ruben, one of the two comrades got ghosted to Brians prison. On Tuesday Ignasi got trasferred to the prison of Quatre Camins.
Ruben Masmano Bernel, (Modulo 1 de C.P. Brians), C.P. Can Brians, Apartado 1000, 08760 Martorell, Barcelona, Spain See Ignasi below for details...
Ignasi Antolino Perez, (Modulo 4 de C.P. Quatre Camins), Apartado 335, 08430 La Roca del Valles, Granollers - Barcelona, Spain
Organise and take action now against Spanish embassies, consulates and companies!
The relevant Spanish institution responsible for the detainees can be faxed FAX: (Spain Int. code +34) 93 556 99 13. A useful Spanish phrase to include is "EXIGIMOS LA LIBERTAD INMEDIATA DE NUESTROS COMPANEROS RUBEN E IGNASI!", which means we demand the immediate release of our comrades Ruben and Ignasi. Please send details of any actions taken:
coordinadora@riseup.net If you want to help economically the bank account is the following:
Banco Oficina D.C. Número de cuenta, BBVA 0182 - 4209 - 47 - 0201518073
for more info check the web page www.presosalacalle.tk or write to
coordinadora@riseup.net ----------------------------------
Freedom for the 'Barcelona 6' - the situation of the six anarchists - Rafa, Roger, Carol, Joaquin, Igor, Teo and Iñigo -who were arrested in Barcelona September 16th 2003.
After 5 days in police custody without the possibility of contact with their lawyer, 5 of them were moved to F.I.E.S. units. Teo was freed on bail; Iñigo escaped and now has an international arrest warrant issued for him.
The four remianing prisoners have suffered increasing repression with more and more beatings, segregation and threat of being moved or “ghosted” constantly from prison to prison. This practice is a manoeuvre of the prison authorities to make even more unbearable the daily life of prisoners, de-structuring the few relationships that one manages to create. The 5 anarchists together with other prisoners began a series of protests denouncing the brutality of this prison regime at the end of last year which resulted in more reprisals.
On November 5th 2004, after 14 months of being imprisoned in remand, and with a 3000 € bail, Roger was released.
After more than 2 years in prison the prosecution made their requests for the punishment of the comrades earlier this year.
They ask for a fine of 9 million pesetas for Teo and a sentence of between 5 and 10 years in prison; For Roger also a significant fine and a sentence of more than 50 years; For Rafa, Carol, Ígor and Joaquín they want multiple fines and for some of them more than 100 years in prison...
THESE PENALTIES ARE TANTAMOUNT TO A LYNCHING OF OUR COMRADES AND ATTACK THE WHOLE ANARCHIST MOVEMENT
Background to Arrests
On September 16th 2003, the Guardia Civil carried out six arrests of anarchists in Barcelona. The operation was signed by the National Court judge Ruiz Polanco.The firsts steps of repression started at 4 AM when two apartments were raided, one in the Horta neighborhood and the other in Camp de l’Arpa, which ended in 4 arrests.This assault caught the comrades unaware in their beds. In one of the apartments where Joaquin and Igor were arrested, the Guardia Civil blocked the street and occupied the building in a military manner, going to the first floor and “opening” the door with an explosive device.Once an indefinite number of agents were inside, equipped with bulletproof vests, spotlight helmets and dressed in plain clothes, they subdued them with blows and insults, and threatening all those who were there. When they got them immobilized, the “brigada de información” (political police) entered and started the interrogation and the searching of the apartment, even using a dog trained to find explosives.After some three hours, Joaquin and Igor were blindfolded and put inside a camouflaged vehicle, driven to the Comandancia General of the Guardia Civil in Madrid.At the same time as this first assault, another was taking place on the apartment where Carol and Rafa lived, also sleeping in their bed. When they realized what was happening, they already had automatic weapons pointing at them by that gang of mercenaries.What follows is more or less the same that happened to the first two comrades: handcuffed facing the floor, insulted, threatened, immobilized... After that, they were also put in two cars, blindfolded and transferred to the same horror museum.
Four hours after those first arrests, two more took place, one in the “Old quarter” where Inigo lived, another one in Raval, where Teo lived.The first one was the more “quiet” searching and arrest, but the most traumatic for his family, since they were in the apartment, and they were the ones that told him that the Guardia Civil was looking for him. Since Guardia Civil knew that the parents were with him, they entered after knocking the door and not showing any weapons, just searching with arrest warrants. After the searching of his room, two hours later, Inigo was put in a car and also driven to Madrid. Simultaneously, Teo suffered the assault in a very different manner. They didn´t knock on the door, neither making the door explode, but sledgehammered it open. The comrade was awake preparing for his daily things, and his housemate was in bed. Suddenly they realize they are lying on the floor and subdued by blows. Then a searching that will last three hours starts, after having identified the person living with Teo, letting him go with the threat that he can´t be seen in the surroundings if he doesn’t want to get arrested too. When the searching came to an end, as with the others, Teo was put on a car, blindfolded and handcuffed, and a quick but never ending trip to Madrid starts.During the transfers to the interrogation cells, all of them are threatened, punched, insulted...
Intimidation and Torture
We can talk about the case of Rafa, who during his transfer, was taken out the car, forced to kneel down and had a gun put to his head, threatened to be shot there and then. Also, in the case of Igor, he was punched and a gun scrubbed on his head during the transfer.Everyone more or less suffered, even since the first hours, the threats, blows, humiliations, insults...without even having arrived to the dungeons of democracy. As Counter-Terrorist Law was applied, they were kept isolated during the maximum of five days, as with “only” three days the weren’t happy enough, and judges are always happy to please the police when they ask for an extension of 48 more hours.During the 120 hours they were isolated and lied to about the people they have in the cell next to theirs. They were forced to stand for many hours with their arms raised and facing the walls, deprived of sleep, with the lights on all time...in the interrogations, different levels of pressure were put on them according to the charges everyone had, it wasn´t an equal treatment for all of them.Besides the physical weakening and the psychological pressure they suffered in the cells, they also encountered the tortures they suffered when being taken to the interrogations. Hooded policemen entering the cells, blindfolding the comrades, and making them walk stooping to provoke a feeling of physical insecurity which alters the nervous system.They were forced to do countless flexings, crouching for hours while being pushed and threatened to be kicked if they fell to the floor. Questions were shouted at them, repeated time and again and again; they were threatened with being hooded, electrodes, the bathtub (having the head dunked in a tub of excrement, a method of torture used in Spain for political prisoners), and the arrest of more people they knew; blows and the use of drugs were used to force down their will...all that was what our comrades suffered at the Guardia Civil facilities, in order that they signed the statements that were written before their arrests.
After the days of isolation had passed, and having obtained self-incriminations, they were taken to declare in front in the National Court. Being a saturday, they do so in front of the judge in duty Baltasar Garzón. They are charged with being part of an armed terrorist organization, breaking bank windows, putting explosive devices on different symbols of the State and Capital, illegal possession of weapons, possession of explosive substances and flammable materials, planning to murder the journalist Luis del Olmo, a La Caixa bank manager and a catalan police spokesperson, planning to do many robberies and sending a package-bomb to the greek embassy of Madrid on September 8th 2003.
As some of them were still under the isolation regime of the Counterterrorist Law, only three of them were able to declare with their lawyers and the other three without them. Finally after the 5 days Teo was freed without bail and with small charges of damages. After some time, the rest of the relatives and lawyers are given the right to see the comrades in the cells.
They were all transferred to the prison of Soto del Real. The comrades were in groups of two in different cells, and Carol remained on the female admission module. They talked to each other through the bars of their cells and when they coincided on the medical checks or other penitentiary steps, until, some days later, they were scattered to many different prisons:Carol to the women prison of Brieva (Ávila). Joaquín to Navalcarnero; Igor stayed at Soto del Real, Rafa to Valdemoro and Inigo to Aranjuez.Their situation within the prison is “normal”, bearing in mind the FIES regime.
On September 17th 2004, just one year and one day after their arrests, all of them were called to declare again in the National Court.This was mainly done to inform them of the exact charges, the “organizations or movements which they belong to” and the ranks of involvement and leadership.The strategy of our comrades has been that of not defending every specific charge; and on the contrary, telling their participation or not in some specific case; also, saying that they´re not in such an organization or band called “Extreme Left-Wing and Libertarian Anarchist Movement”, as the summary of the case says. They have also reported the physical and psychological tortures that they suffered during the days they were isolated; also reporting that they were denied their right to a lawyer, only being able to talk to a trusted lawyer in the National Court after the interrogations in the Guardia Civil facilities.The case, after having been dealt by two different judges, is now in the hands of the judge of the Instruction Central Court number 1 of the National Court, Fernando Grande-Marlasca Gómez.
Here are their addresses:
Carolina Forné Roig, C.P. de Ávila, Ctra. Vicolozano-Brieva, s/n., 05194 Brieva, Ávila, Spain
Rafael Tomás y Gaspar, C.P. de Topas Ctra. n-630, km. 314,
37799- Topas, Salamanca. Spain
Igor Quevedo Aragay, C.P. Madrid V Soto del Real, Apdo. 200, Colmenar Viejo 28791, Madrid, Spain
Joaquin Garces Villacampa, C.P. Madrid IV, Ctra Nacional V km 27,7, 28600- Navalcarnero - Madrid, Spain
Bank Account details for financial support:
BBVA 0182-7028-21-0201530482.
IBAN (International Bank Account Order):
ES58 0182 7028 2102 0153 0482BIC
(Bank International Code): BBVAESMMXXX
Find more info and news on the cases of all of these comrades at
http://www.presosalacalle.tk/ 
e-mail:
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