Non-governmental organisations express concern about what may be a case of state repression of social activism
On 21st May 2008 at 6 a.m., heavily armed police officers from an elite unit stormed 21 homes and the offices of a number of non-governmental organisations in Austria. Breaking their way in, the masked police surrounded frightened civilians in their beds at gun point. Ten people were arrested and have been held in custody without specific charge since that day. Despite the statement by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior that "The measures taken by the police (.) were in no way directed against animal welfare or animal welfare organisations", the removal of computers, documents and other assets has effectively crippled some of the organisations involved.
Those asking the media to look at this case draw attention to the fact that Amnesty International (1) and the Austrian Green Party have reacted strongly, questioning police methods and the treatment of detainees, particularly the absence of actionable evidence justifying "strong suspicion" (dringender Tatverdacht) or the "reason (or grounds)" (Haftgrund) for the arrests. Detainee accounts of what has happened are alarming: see, for example, this appeal sent out by Martin Balluch on June 9.
In recent years, milestone reforms in animal law have been achieved in Austria including bans on fur farms, battery cages for hens and the use of wild animals in circuses.
Should those who have achieved advances that are an example to the rest of the world be blamed for all the unsolved cases of damage to property in Austria over the last eleven years?
"All citizens have the right to actively stand up for or demonstrate against something. It is particularly important to stand up for animal rights because animals cannot stand up for themselves. People must do it for them. Animals, like all the defenceless, rely on this protection." (Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Prize for literature 2004)
Should organisations acting for animals that have always operated peacefully and within the law have their functioning hampered by the seizure of their material?
The undersigned (4) express deep concern at what appears to be an attempt to criminalise the animal advocacy movement and to stifle the political freedom of those involved in it.
(1) Statement by Amnesty International
http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2008/news20080605_1_en.php
(2) Appeal sent out by Martin Balluch http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2008/news20080613_2_en.php
(3) Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek comments Austrian police raids http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34576〈=en
(4) Signatories
Organisations: http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34906〈=en
Individuals: http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34907〈=en
***CONTACTS***
Varda Mehrotra
Bunny Huggers. 54 Manor Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7EH e-mail
varda@bunnyhuggers.org.uk
Those asking the media to look at this case draw attention to the fact that Amnesty International (1) and the Austrian Green Party have reacted strongly, questioning police methods and the treatment of detainees, particularly the absence of actionable evidence justifying "strong suspicion" (dringender Tatverdacht) or the "reason (or grounds)" (Haftgrund) for the arrests. Detainee accounts of what has happened are alarming: see, for example, this appeal sent out by Martin Balluch on June 9.
In recent years, milestone reforms in animal law have been achieved in Austria including bans on fur farms, battery cages for hens and the use of wild animals in circuses.
Should those who have achieved advances that are an example to the rest of the world be blamed for all the unsolved cases of damage to property in Austria over the last eleven years?
"All citizens have the right to actively stand up for or demonstrate against something. It is particularly important to stand up for animal rights because animals cannot stand up for themselves. People must do it for them. Animals, like all the defenceless, rely on this protection." (Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Prize for literature 2004)
Should organisations acting for animals that have always operated peacefully and within the law have their functioning hampered by the seizure of their material?
The undersigned (4) express deep concern at what appears to be an attempt to criminalise the animal advocacy movement and to stifle the political freedom of those involved in it.
(1) Statement by Amnesty International
http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2008/news20080605_1_en.php (2) Appeal sent out by Martin Balluch
http://www.vgt.at/presse/news/2008/news20080613_2_en.php (3) Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek comments Austrian police raids
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34576〈=en (4) Signatories
Organisations:
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34906〈=en Individuals:
http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=34907〈=en ***CONTACTS***
Varda Mehrotra
Bunny Huggers. 54 Manor Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7EH e-mail
varda@bunnyhuggers.org.uk
e-mail:
Homepage:
Comments
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if they treat animal rights activists so bad - how can they treat their humans?
25.06.2008 18:54
Alas, The case failed at first instance and has now been either rejected or dismissed by the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice.
A human may share over 98% genetic code with a (Pan troglodytes (chimp) but it is unlikely that all humans are going to get their rights based compliants aired at the ECHR any day soon.
It would be a busy busy place if so.
= But this makes sense.
There are billions more humans than chimps.
= common sense make that.
If you're interested in the human angle to Austria, here's the link to thier local branch data of "no human is illegal" or "kein mensch ist illegal" :-
and here is a video of the pro-humans of Austria
as you can see they look pretty much like us, a wide range of usual suspects indeed. At the video you can see some carrying their young in pouches whilst others in the blossom of their maturity can't seem to decide between having no hair or a colourful lopsided spiked - but the (A) in a circle will always attract a mate.
The man in uniform being spoken to politely is an Austrian copper. It is highly unlikely he's a human. As you can see non-humans need to be wired into radios and cover their brains with caps at all times. Later on in the video you will an Austrian artist cunningly disguised as a middle class non-human speak on a podium through microphones which allowed his voice to be amplified by common place technology. This helped the message appear on the TV news later on. TV news is definitely non-human.
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