peace activists milan rai and maya evans were at westminster magistrate's court this afternoon to answer charges of organising an 'unauthorised' demonstration in parliament square last october. for failing to give their dates of birth at the start of the trial, they were both held on 'contempt of court', and now a new hearing will happen on friday 20th april at 9.30am.
demo opposite court
maya and milan before trial
supporters after the hearing
milan and maya arrived at court today while a couple of dozen supporters staged an impromptu demonstration opposite the court.
they were there to answer charges of being organisers of the 'no more fallujahs' 24-hour peace camp in parliament square last october.
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/354676.html
they had several defence witnesses lined up (fellow organisers who had not been charged), and both were representing themselves in court.
at the start of the trial, they were both asked for their names and dates of birth. although happy to give names, both argued that they were not willing to give birthdates as it was unnecessary in law and because it effectively changed the relationship between state and citizen. it also allows authorities to connect databases.
the court clerk and the judge both affirmed that the two were required by law to give this detail, but milan pointed out that on a previous socpa conviction (as organiser of the 'naming the dead' ceremony opposite downing street in october 2005 - http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/326413.html), he had been tried and convicted without having to give these details, but if this particular court had a different view of the matter then he would accept the consequences.
well judge newton was not a happy woman, and so she called for the serco guards. the court sat in silence for several minutes while she looked more and more uncomfortable under the gaze of a couple of dozen supporters. as the public gallery was overflowing, several supporters were sitting in the small court bemused at this turn of events.
eventually a small phalanx of guards rushed in, and they had trouble identifying the suspects - perhaps they expected violence or abuse rather than the gentle co-operative pair they found.
court was adjourned for nearly an hour. a duty solicitor was assigned. milan and maya (in the cells) refused legal advice or representation, and when the court sat again, they stuck to their course.
judge newton called a hearing for 'contempt of court' for friday 20th april.
it is to be hoped that the proceedings don't begin with a request for their dates of birth, or we'll be into a strange legal/logical groundhog day scenario.
more later!
they were there to answer charges of being organisers of the 'no more fallujahs' 24-hour peace camp in parliament square last october.
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/354676.html they had several defence witnesses lined up (fellow organisers who had not been charged), and both were representing themselves in court.
at the start of the trial, they were both asked for their names and dates of birth. although happy to give names, both argued that they were not willing to give birthdates as it was unnecessary in law and because it effectively changed the relationship between state and citizen. it also allows authorities to connect databases.
the court clerk and the judge both affirmed that the two were required by law to give this detail, but milan pointed out that on a previous socpa conviction (as organiser of the 'naming the dead' ceremony opposite downing street in october 2005 -
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/10/326413.html), he had been tried and convicted without having to give these details, but if this particular court had a different view of the matter then he would accept the consequences. well judge newton was not a happy woman, and so she called for the serco guards. the court sat in silence for several minutes while she looked more and more uncomfortable under the gaze of a couple of dozen supporters. as the public gallery was overflowing, several supporters were sitting in the small court bemused at this turn of events.
eventually a small phalanx of guards rushed in, and they had trouble identifying the suspects - perhaps they expected violence or abuse rather than the gentle co-operative pair they found.
court was adjourned for nearly an hour. a duty solicitor was assigned. milan and maya (in the cells) refused legal advice or representation, and when the court sat again, they stuck to their course.
judge newton called a hearing for 'contempt of court' for friday 20th april.
it is to be hoped that the proceedings don't begin with a request for their dates of birth, or we'll be into a strange legal/logical groundhog day scenario.
more later!
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Comments
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Must of missed you!
10.04.2007 18:21
We came to find you after our little visit, but could not find you both. Maybe it was when you were in the cells!.
Keep up the good work.
Mell
MORE INFO
11.04.2007 15:12
this makes even less sense, as both milan and maya had accepted police evidence, had admitted to police that they were co-organisers, and were just two of around one hundred participants.
it seems that the more you want to challenge this law head on, the less inclined the authorities are to proceed.
very political decisions are constantly being made concerning the implementation of this law.
compare to previous and ongoing coverage about peaceful campaigner, barbara tucker, who has potentially 'confounded' the law with her notification and faces trials for alleged assaults and obstructions, rather than one of the nearly a hundred socpa reports for possible summonses against her. in more than a year since her first report, she has still not faced the court directly for alleged socpa breaches.
monthly indymedia coverage at
rikki
e-mail:
rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com
SOCPA
11.04.2007 18:14
The establishment do not really need to do much when there is no real opposition to SOCPA. Most of us want to avoid arrest, fines, prison, criminal record, confrontation, courts etc.
Apathy Rules UK
Brian B
Kangaroo court yet again???
12.04.2007 11:17
Apparently no one organised this event and they were charged with participating... who was caught with their pants down? Which bent judge?
Because the new rule of thumb is to ban all protesters from the zone through contempt of court bail conditioning... maya and Milan were bailed to out of Westminster, similiar to the Ant who was banned outside the M25... to where Babs was banned to all of England bar Parliament Square by some silly wench named DJ Right.
What an absolute farce.
When will the mainstream media start to report the news to the sheeple and allow them to become people who can digest the truth and come to their own conclusions and act accordingly?
WAKE UP!
xxx
Charity
Over-charging
03.05.2007 05:59
Usually this grubby transaction would be handled by the prosecution and defence lawyers but as Maya and Milan were acting in person the prosecution had no option but to reduce the charges unilaterally as they would have been unable to offer any evidence on the more serious charge and so risked the case being dismissed.
Michael