#Political prisoner

[useless-catalanfacts]

2nd February 2024. Photos from Vilaweb.

Demonstration in front of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (the highest court of the Spanish judiciary system in Catalonia) in Barcelona in support of Dani Gallardo, a young Spanish anarchist who is sentenced to prison because the took part in a peaceful demonstration held in Madrid (Spain's capital city) in favour of Catalan people's right to self-determination and against the Spanish police's violence against Catalan people.

We have explained Dani's case before, you can read it in this post:

Dani has been sentenced guilty to send a message. Until his case, more than 4,200 Catalan people had been sentenced guilty for their involvement in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum or the protests that followed it. The Spanish judiciary system has proven that they won't stop at punishing Catalan people, they also sent the police to beat up the protestors who demonstrated for Catalonia in Madrid (Spain) and they're also jailing a Spanish man for his solidarity.

Dani was sentenced guilty of public disorder and attempt against authority with made-up claims that had been fabricated hours before he even got arrested. The Spanish police already planned to arrest people and blame them for this even before the event happened. Dani spent 13 months in pre-trial jail, then he was released for some time, and now has received the order to go to prison for 2 years and 11 months more.

Cases like this is why there is a demand for an amnesty. After the last elections to the Spanish government, the PSOE party needed the support of other parties to get enough votes to form government. One of the must-have demands of the Catalan political parties was an amnesty law (amnesty laws are not uncommon in Spain) that would cancel the punishments of people who have been found guilty of political crimes related to the independence movement since 2017, because none of these thousands of people committed real harmful crimes. This law is currently being negotiated, but the Spanish parties are trying to write it in a way that will leave as many people out of the amnesty as possible. At the same time, the Spanish judiciary system continues accusing new people of terrorism for attending peaceful political demonstrations.

For example, two democratically-elected pro-independence politicians (Puigdemont and Wagensberg) are being accused of terrorism for supposedly calling for people to protest in the Barcelona airport, a protest that was completely peaceful and which was called by a civil society organization and not by these politicians. But they're influential, so Spain looks for any way to punish them. How are the Spanish judiciaries claiming that Puigdemont and Wagensberg should be sentenced guilty of terrorism for an action where there was no terrorism? The Spanish judges' imagination has no limits when it comes to sentencing Catalans and Basques. They are saying that it's terrorism because some of the protestors had weapons. What weapons? Fire extinguishers, bottles, and the metal carts that people use to carry their luggage:

Because there were fire extinguishers and luggage carts in the airport and people brought their own water, a completely peaceful protest that happened there is terrorism. The worst part is that it doesn't outrage or surprise us anymore, because we're so used to this nonsense.

[forever70s]

Leonard Peltier, 1972

[shattered-pieces]

A court in Moscow sentenced streamer Anna Bazhutova to 5.5 years in prison for her story about Bucha The Ostankino court in Moscow sentenced streamer YokoBovich in the case of “fake news” about the army, sentencing her to 5 years and 6 months in a general regime colony. “During my imprisonment in a pre-trial detention center, I realized that the main punishment for the accused and convicted is not the conditions in which we are immersed, and not the hardships that we endure, but time.” “Time that we could spend with family and friends, but are forced to be away from them. Time is an irreplaceable resource, and I understand that if I still have this resource, my parents may not have it,” Anna said in her last word. Bazhutova was accused of speaking about events in the Ukrainian city of Bucha in March 2022 on one of her Twitch streams.

https://t.me/rusnews/55376

It's only the people who fear the truth who shut people up in prison for words.

[economicsresearch]

page 564 panel a - oh dear, a deer. Two deer.

You know that feeling of starting awake in a dungeon, cold wet stone stabbing into your back, your neck so stiff you wonder if you'll ever lift your head again, the space so dark you wonder if you've lifted your head even now, and blasting through your brain like a spear thrust of fire -- I AM NOT TRYING TO EAT THE ASS OF ALL HUMAN HISTORY.

I must have been thinking about AI again, like all the entombed dungeon dwellers of old; the Duke of Rothesay, the Count of Monte Cristo, Anne Boleyn.

[russianprotesters]

"These are political prisoners who are outside our visibility. There are a huge number of these people. They are without hope because no one knows about them. The main thing is not exchanges. We must strive for political amnesty—the release of people by article, and not by name. This is a demand that must be put forward to Vladimir Putin. At the same time, I understand that only the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine can move the situation forward. Therefore, our most important demand is an end to the criminal, aggressive war in Ukraine ,” summed up politician Ilya Yashin.

https://t.me/rusnews/57607

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1981 – Bobby Sands dies at Long Kesh prison on the 66th day of his hunger strike.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Bobby Sands dies in prison following a 66 day hunger strike. Sands would be the first of ten men to die in an effort to gain political status in a very public battle with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the House of Commons Thatcher commented on Sands death “Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice…

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

Never a dull moment

Bannon got out and went right back to work. He's on it!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A spontaneous wall mural in St Petersburg (2021). The legend reads: "A hero of the new times."

* * * *

Недостижимо цельная и героическая жизнь Алексея Навального. Чудовищно подлая и позорная жизнь убившего его кремлёвского диктатора, который отнял у России будущее, убил многие тысячи людей в Украине, убил главных носителей идеи свободы в России -- и продолжает существовать и убивать, убивать и убивать. Имя его будет проклято в поколениях.

+

Alexei Navalny's unattainable whole and heroic life.

The monstrously vile and shameful life of the murdered Kremlin dictator, who took away Russia's future, killed many thousands of people in Ukraine, killed the main carriers of the idea of freedom in Russia -- and continues to exist and kill, kill and kill.

His name will be cursed for generations.

[Mikhail Iossel]

+

[Feb. 26, 2024]

"Alexei Navalny’s allies have alleged that Vladimir Putin had the opposition leader killed in jail to sabotage a prisoner swap in which Navalny would have been exchanged for a convicted hitman jailed in Germany. Maria Pevchikh, a close ally of the opposition leader, said in a video that Navalny and two US nationals were in line to be exchanged for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian FSB security service hitman who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the assassination of a Chechen former separatist in Berlin.

“Navalny should have been free in the next few days because we had secured a decision to exchange him,” Pevchikh said. “I received confirmation that the negotiations were at their final stage on the evening of 15 February.” Pevchuk alleged that Navalny was killed a day later because the Russian president could not tolerate the thought of him being free."

[The Guardian]

[ukdamo]

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: this KZ uniform, preserved in the Amsterdam Resistance Museum. The red triangle indicates a prisoner incarcerated for political opinions.

[support4ukraine]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SAVE BOGDAN ZIZA | CRIMEA IS UKRAINE (@webogdanziza)

[richo1915]

Free!

[manwalksintobar]

October 27, 1948 // Yannis Ritsos

There are so many thorns here – brown thorns, yellow thorns all along the length of the day, even into sleep. When the nights jump the barbed wire they leave tattered strips of skirt behind. The words we once found beautiful faded like an old man’s vest in a trunk like a sunset darkened on the windowpanes. People here walk with their hands in their pockets or might gesture as if swatting a fly that returns again and again to the same place on the rim of an empty glass or just inside a spot as indefinite and persistent as their refusal to acknowledge it.

(translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich & Edmund Keeley)

[shattered-pieces]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ГУЛАГу-НЕТ (@gulagu_net)

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Accusé d'avoir incité des ouvriers à la grève," La Patrie. July 25, 1943. Page 43. --- Accusé d'avoir encouragé les ouvriers de la Canadian Vickers à faire la grève et de les avoir incités à la continuer. David Côté, un jeune homme d'environ 35 ans, a comparu, ce matin, devant le juge Edouard Tellier qui a fixé l'enquête de l'inculpé au 27 juillet prochain en le remettant en liberté moyennant un cautionnement de $950. ---- Côté fut appréhendé, hier soir par la gendarmerie royale lors d'une radio réunion des ouvriers de l'United Shipyards, à l'Assistance publique. L'arrestation fut pratiquée tellement discrètement que les amis de Côté ne s'aperçurent de sa disparition que lorsque vint le moment d'entendre le discours qu'il devait prononcer en public. Des agents de la R.C.M.P. se seraient approchés de lui, puis l'auraient invité à les suivre sans éveiller l'attention. Me Auguste Mathieu occupe pour la poursuite.

Voici maintenant les autres comparutions, de moindre importance. devant le juge Tellier, ce matin.

André Patrice, inculpé de faux prétexte, subira son enquête le 27.

M. Fitzpatrick, accusé d'avoir fait un faux chèque, s'est avoué coupable. Sentence le 29.

Albert Trudeau, inculpé de vente de liqueurs alcooliques, aura son procès le 6 août. Trudeau déclare qu'il n'a jamais vendu de boisson de sa vie mais que lors de son arrestation, il était avec des amis dans une taverne. Comme ils ne pouvaient plus obtenir de bière. Trudeau alla en chercher deux bouteilles chez-lui. L'un de ses compagnons, pour le dédommager, déposa alors sur la table une pièce de 30 sous, d'où l'arrestation pour vente de spiritueux.

André Pinel, sans domicile connu, s'est avoué coupable d'avoir volé un clavgraphe d'une valeur de $45. Sentence le 29. Pinel passera trois jours à la Sûreté.

M. Jones, inculpé d'avoir volé un et une somme d'argent de $12, a plaidé non culpabilité. Enquête le 27 et caution de $500.

[russianprotesters]

Today's speech by Ilya Yashin in the Smolensk court: Dear Court! For almost two years my name has appeared on the list of foreign agents compiled by officials of the Ministry of Justice. The list is large - there are hundreds of citizens, many of whom are well known and brought glory to our country. Outstanding writers, musicians, actors, scientists, journalists, politicians... The fault of these people is only in open disagreement with the actions of the authorities. The fact is that they openly call Putin a dictator. They speak from anti-war and humanistic positions. They criticize the isolation and militarization of Russia, wishing it a free and peaceful future. This is enough to get the state charged with treason. Considering the authority and social weight of the accused, many of our compatriots would consider it an honor to be on the same list with Boris Akunin, Dmitry Bykov, Ekaterina Shulman, Sergei Guriev, Andrei Makarevich, Semyon Slepakov, Yuri Dud, Katerina Gordeeva, Asya Kazantseva, Zemfira, Boris Grebenshchikov and other so-called "foreign agents". But personally, I don’t see any honor in the fact that the authorities brand their public opponents like cattle. For me, the status of a foreign agent is insulting, since I have dedicated my life to defending the interests of Russia as I understand them. Yes, my understanding is radically different from President Putin’s vision. I believe that the main value is people, that the task of the state is to preserve and develop human capital. And he sends hundreds of thousands to slaughter in a senseless war and provokes mass emigration. I believe that Russia should be open to the world and gain allies, not enemies. He locks Russia up and threatens the world with a nuclear bomb. I am for freedom, but Putin grabbed onto power and imposed tyranny on us with a primitive cult of personality. When the Ministry of Justice calls me a foreign agent, it makes me smile. After all, the truth is that my values ​​are not rooted abroad at all, but in our culture and history. My spiritual roots are in the classics of Russian literature. Following Pushkin, I dream that “our names will be written on the ruins of autocracy.” Like Lermontov, I call on the sons of the Slavs to courage and predict the death of tyranny. Like Akhmatova, I stayed with my people - “where my people, unfortunately, were.” I am devoted to my country and love it with all my heart. Don't you dare call me a foreign agent.

https://t.me/yashin_russia/961

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1981 – Day 7 | Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.

I received a most welcome note tonight from Bernie, my sister. old Bernie. I love her and think she’s the greatest. I am now convinced that the authorities intend to implement strict isolation soon, as I am having trouble in seeing my solicitor. I hope I’m wrong about the isolation, but we’ll see. It’s only that I’d like to remain with the boys for as long as possible for many reasons. If I’m…