On Tuesday August 9th 2011 in Provincial court in Toronto, The judge agreed to a bail variation for g20 activist Kelly Pflug Back which replaces her house arrest with a ten o’clock curfew and allows her to have unrestricted contact with her fiance Julian Ichim on the condition that he severe his ties with anti poverty group SOS.
These changes to her bail condition come after a year long effort by her lawyer, Stephen Gehl, and community groups lobbying against the injustice of giving her some of the harshest conditions recieved by people arrested at the g20.Protests such as the one last Monday August 5th, where about 16 people,many who worked with her, and others such as members of Hamilton Steelworkers local 1005, had a rally that ended up at the crown attorneys office in Guelph with letters for the attorney general demanding that conditions that keep her apart from loved ones and her community be removed , have been happening all year in cities such as Guelph, KW and Victoria BC.
Although in some ways this is a significant victory for the movement and Kellys sanity, the fight is not over. Kelly is still not allowed to associate with anyone who is know to have ties to SOS, whose facebook group has about 195 members, nor is she permitted to attend any public demonstration which could include something as simple as the sunday servings that SOS provides, and the fact that her association with her fiance julian ichim rests on him severing his ties to SOS shows that the state is not interested in Kellys gulit or innocence as much as they are dismantaling anti poverty groups such as SOS. When asked about severing ties with SOS Ichim stated”clearly this demonstrates that the issue is not about whether or not Kelly is guilty or innocent of mischief at g20, rather it is about wether or not Kelly is an effective voice for the anti poverty community, a crime that in there eyes is more henious then all the smashed windows. I may be forced to quit SOS, but I cant be forced to quit activism, Guelph hasnt heard the last from us yet.”
Send letters to Kelly though us here at Guelph ABC!
Guelph ABC, Box 183, Guelph Ont, N1H 6J6
325 Collective