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Solidarität mit den Reykjavik 9!

Neun Demonstrierende, darunter die Vorsitzende von Attac Island, stehen in Reykjavik vor Gericht. Sie hatten im Dezember 2009 zusammen mit Tausenden weiterer isländischer Bürgerinnen und Bürger gegen die Krisenpolitik ihrer Regierung protestiert. Das europäische Attac-Netzwerk erklärt sich mit den Angeklagten solidarisch und fordert ihre sofortige Freilassung.

Die Anklage basiert auf einem Gesetz, das zuletzt 1949 zur Anwendung gekommen war: "Beleidigung des isländischen Parlaments". Die neun AktivistInnen hatten mit friedfertiger Absicht das Gebäude betreten, das Besuchern grundsätzlich offensteht. Nun soll an ihnen ein Exempel statuiert werden, es droht bis zu einem Jahr Haft.

Das europäische Netzwerk von Attac protestiert gegen die Verletzung von Bürgerrechten und Demonstrationsfreiheit und fordert die sofortige Einstellung des Verfahrens!

Wir dokumentieren die Erklärung in deutscher (unten) und englischer (PDF zum Download) Fassung. Weiter unten findet sich außerdem eine Auflistung der Ereignisse (in englisch). Der Artikel "We are Examples" im Magazin Grapewine 5/2010 beleuchtet den Vorgang ausführlicher (PDF, Seite 6); ein weiterer interessanter Blogeintrag findet sich hier.

Attac ruft dazu auf, auch eigene Protestnoten an die Verantwortlichen in Island zu schicken (Beispieltext und Adressen)!


Erklärung der europäischen Attacs

Wir protestieren aufs schärfste dagegen, dass neun Isländerinnen und Isländer stellvertretend für die Massenproteste Ende 2008 / Anfang 2009 verurteilt werden sollen, nur weil sie am Rande einer Demonstration friedlich das Parlament betreten hatten. Eine der neun Angeklagten ist Sólveig Jónsdóttir, die Vorsitzende von Attac Island.
 
Am 12. Mai 2010 begann der Prozess gegen die „Reykjavik 9“. Sie werden aufgrund des Paragrafen 100 des isländischen Gesetzbuches angeklagt. Dieser Paragraf  beginnt wie folgt: „Jeder, der Alþingi (das isländische Parlament) angreift, um die Unabhängigkeit des Alþingi zu bedrohen, (...) wird mit einer Gefängnisstrafe von mindestens einem Jahr bestraft. Bei einem groben Vergehen kann die Strafe lebenslänglich betragen.“ Den Angeklagten wird vorgeworfen, dass sie die Unabhängigkeit des Alþingi bedrohten, weil sie das Parlament am 8. Dezember 2008 am Rande einer Demonstration friedlich betraten. Dabei steht das isländische Parlament Besuchern offen.
 
Aufgrund dieses Paragrafen 100 wurde erst ein einziges Mal Anklage erhoben: gegen Demonstranten, die sich 1949 gegen den NATO-Beitritt Islands wehrten. Es hat den Anschein, dass die neun Angeklagten stellvertretend für alle Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen der Protestbewegung des Spätherbstes und Winters 2008/2009 abgeurteilt werden sollen.

Wir fordern eine sofortige Einstellung des Verfahrens gegen die Reykjavik 9! BürgerInnenprotest ist eines der wichtigsten Rechte in einer Demokratie! Wer Protestdemonstrationen kriminalisiert, zerstört die Demokratie!
 

 A short timeline of the case

1. On December 8th, 2008, a group of people, numbering about 30 individuals, including myself, entered the Parliament building, in order to get to public benches. The Parliament guards tried to forcibly stop us from entering, a scuffle ensued, and only two protesters were able to get to the public benches. The Police arrived quickly, and 7 people were arrested. I was held for about 4 hours, and interrogated, then released.

2. On the 14th and 15th of January 2009, I and several others, were brought to the Police Headquarters for a second interrogation. Two Police officers came to my place of work, and demanded I come with them. When I refused to come immediately, I was given a few hours notice. When I asked if I should have a lawyer present, they told me that it was not necessary, but that they could provide one for me. Later that day, after being interrogated in the presence of the lawyer provided to me by the State, I found out that said lawyer, Oddgeir Einarsson, had expressed on his personal blog the opinion that protesters should be dealt with harshly, and that the forming of a deputised right wing militia was in order.

3. On the 8th of January 2010 charges were brought on nine people, including myself.

4. On the 27th of January 2010, the charges were withdrawn. The State Prosecutor, Valtýr Sigurðsson, (often jokingly referred to as ‘Valtýr the incompetent’, on account of his frequent conflicts of interests in cases involving the upper echelons of the Icelandic financial elite) resigned from the case due to a conflict of interest. His wife’s half sister is one of the Parliamentary Guards mentioned in the Indictment.

5. On the 2nd of March 2010 a new Indictment was issued. It was in no way different from the first.

6. On the 14th of April an estimated 60-100 people packed into Courtroom no. 101 in The Circuit Court of Reykjavik, exercising their Constitutionally protected right to observe an open trial, as the opening formalities of the case were being heard. The courtroom seats 35 people, the rest stood quietly, without any incident.

7. On the 30th of April the Judge ruled on the motion to dismiss the case, filed by my lawyer, Ragnar Aðalsteinsson. The motion was dismissed. On that occasion approx. 30 people were in attendance. Before the trial was called into order, the Police forcibly removed two men from the courtroom, and arrested them. Reports in the media following this event were extremely one sided, family members of the accused and people in attendance were called ‘protestors’, and claims were made of a ‘Smoke bomb’ going of during the trial. The ‘Smoke bomb’ was a small firecracker, set of about 30 minutes after the trial had been adjourned, and tossed into the foyer of the Courthouse.

8. On the 12th of May the last of the formalities of the case were to be heard. The Judge, Pétur Guðgeirsson, had decided that only 25 people were to be allowed in the courtroom, including the media. A large number of Police officers were stationed in front of the courtroom, and 2 plain clothes officers were stationed inside the courtroom. In the hallway of the Courthouse approx. 300 people from all walks of life had congregated, in order to show their support. There was loud chanting and a few impromptu speeches, but no major incidents of altercations between the public and the police. The media reported extensively on this event.

 9. On the 15th of May, a solidarity concert was held on Austurvöllur, in downtown Reykjavík, in front of the house of Parliament. It was a great success, well over 1000 people attended, and many of the most popular musicians in Iceland performed.

 This is by no means a fully detailed account of what has happened, I merely highlighted the most significant occurrences so far. After several articles were published, either explaining the details of the case, or expressing support for the Reykjavik 9, the media has changed its tone somewhat.

On the 20th of May, I and Snorri Páll, one of the accused, were interviewed in Kastljós, a current events program, that follows the evening newscast. There we aired a security video from the 8th of December 2008, from inside the Parliament building. After viewing the video it is clearly evident that the most serious charges of violence are false. That is the most current development of this strange and outrageous case. I am deeply thankful for the interest that you have shown in our case. An expression of solidarity is indeed welcomed!

Sólveig Jónsdóttir (Vorsitzende von Attac Island)