Don't Talk to Cops!

On the Legal Level:

You have the right to remain silent! The use of this right allows at first (that is, before access to professional legal advice, access to legal records, etc.) the best possible protection against beginning of legal proceedings against you and - if legal proceedings are initiated - the best conditions for your defence. Making a statement to the police is an investigative step AGAINST the "suspect." Be aware: even as a witness or injured party one can easily be made into a suspect or an accused person! Therefore use the right to refuse to give evidence [that could incriminate another party, presumably someone close to you] even as a witness or an injured party and do not make any statements: "I refuse to make a statement in order to not risk criminal proceedings/prosecution."

Even if you have already made a statement during a police interrogation, simply refuse to make statements as the next interrogation/hearing/transcription (limit the damage!). In this legal system the refusal to make a statement does not guarantee an acquittal. The only thing that is certain is that making a statement always brings a disadvantage. Therefore the legal support advises against making statements to the police or judges presiding over bail/arraignment and to first present evidence (of innocence) when there is trial. This offers the best possible defence.

On the Political Level:

In an attack against you as a politically active person you as an individual are not the intended target but rather the opposition/resistance/movement as a whole and without differentiating as to what means you employ or rather the moment employs. The goal of every state is to have no noteworthy (out of parliament) opposition/resistance/movement within the country. No images of police brutality should appear on television, "social peace" should remain a competitive advantage for Austria as a business location... Even the justice system protects the state and the authorities. How many laws have you written, how many lie in your interests, how many judgements have you pronounced?

We see the collective refusal to make statements to the authorities as an act of standing together in solidarity as a movement. Whenever we sit in a police station or standing before a judge, we must keep in mind that we are not personally targeted but rather are here as representatives of the opposition/resistance/movement. In such situations, the police and the courts do not protect the right to freedom of assembly but rather try to intimidate protestors, passers-by, and citizens with the courage to stand up for their beliefs through repressive measures, to overload us with time-consuming trials and to convict us.

We call on everyone to not help the authorities in these attempts. Refusing to make statements is means to work against this. Why should we give them any information about us?