Quellenangabe:
GBG 2001: Extradition of Maarten Blok to Sweden (vom 05.09.2004),
URL: http://no-racism.net/article/933/,
besucht am 21.11.2024
[05. Sep 2004]
For some people the events of the Gothenburg EU-summit in June 2001 still have consequences. On the morning of the 31st of August 2004 Maarten was taken in to custody in Amsterdam and handed over to Swedish authorities the next day. The Swedish authorities say, he will be tried-and probably convicted-on the 23rd of September.
Pressrelease, Amsterdam, 31st of August 2004
Today the Dutch activist Maarten Blok presented himself to the Dutch Justice Department. Tomorrow Maarten will be delivered to the Swedish authorities.
Even though Maarten showed up fairly on time, the court police officers did not have the decency to let Maarten have a proper farewell.
Family, friends and supporters showed up to give personal support and protest against his extradition. For three years Maarten was uncertain as to wether or not he would be extradited. He is being accused of beating a policeman with a stick during the 2001 EU-summit in Göteborg, Sweden. Even though Maartens innocence can be proven in Holland, Dutch Minister of Justice Donner decided to extradite him without taking the contents of the case into consideration.
According to his lawyer and Swedish case-experts, it is unlikely that Maarten will have a fair trial in Sweden. The courthouse in Göteborg was not objective in similar cases. Not only did they accept contradicting police testimonies, they also accepted manipulated evidence and handed out unusually high sentences (especially in cases considered as "political"). In short, the court is more interested in setting examples than in honest jurisdiction. Maarten will not get a fair trial in Sweden.
On 23rd of September Maarten"s case will be brought before the court of Göteborg. The Maarten Supportgroup will keep a strict watch on the coming procedures. We call upon everyone to show support and come to his trial in Sweden.
Steun Maarten!
e-mail: info (at) steunmaarten.org
website: www.steunmaarten.org
phone: +31 (0)6 - 423 567 35
Victor Koppe (Dutch lawyer of Maarten)
phone: +31 (0)20 - 344 62 00
Stig Centerwall (Swedish lawyer of Maarten)
phone: +46 3113 6120
[www.steunmaarten.org ]
For some people the events of the Gothenburg EU-summit still have consequences. Maarten has now finally been extradited to Sweden, after 3 years. Even though he has still not officially been charged, and there is no record of any investigation. The Swedish authorities say, he will be tried-and probably convicted-on the 23rd of September. Even though their is sufficient evidence to prove his innocence.
Call for solidarity
Manifestation on the 23rd of September 2004 in Gothenburg
On the 23rd of September the 23 year old bicycle-repairman from Amsterdam, Maarten Blok, will have his trial following the 2001 EU-summit in Gothenburg. Although he can easily prove his innocence in Holland he is being extradited to Sweden, where the infamous Gothenburg Court will decide on his faith. His Dutch support group is trying to organize a manifestation on the same day and is calling on different groups in Sweden and abroad to come and protest against the miscarriages of Justice after the summit, repression and the criminalisation of demonstrators and activism in general.
The idea is to hold the manifestation in front of the Gothenburg Courthouse. Therefore we are looking for support. We would like to give the manifestation some international depth; we hope to get some interesting speakers and are also looking for cultural content, such as music and film. Ideas about performance and actions are welcome. We are planning to give our presence some colour and are preparing to make ourselves heard.
We"re hoping to get your support in finding people for the program and especially in finding ways to reach people to let them know about this manifestation. The more people will come the stronger our statement will be. Also a group of Dutch (and other foreign) activists will be coming to the city
in support, and they are looking for places to sleep during there stay. This will be from the 22nd of August and stay until after the trial.
If you want to know more about the support group, Maarten"s case or actions that we did in the past you can check out the website www.supportmaarten.org or www.stodmaarten.se
Please e-mail to info (at) steunmaarten.org for more information, or suggestions and proposals.
e-Mail:: info (at) steunmaarten.org
Homepage:: http://www.supportmaarten.org
Telefon: : 0031 (0)6 4235 6735
[indymedia.de, von www.supportmaarten.org - 01.09.2004 22:10]