Published in The Peak | Line 9 Vol 52 Iss 4 April 2013
By Bryan Hill (Guelph Anarchist Black Cross)
January 3rd
Chile: José Miguel Sanchez (52 years) was transferred from the High Security Prison to Colina II Prison. José was beaten upon arrival and put into the punishment section. José is serving a 20 year sentence for armed revolutionary activity against the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.
January 11th
Toronto, ON: Eva Botten, from Vancouver, was found guilty of six counts of mischief over 5000 dollars and one count of disguised with intent. Charges stem from the black bloc action that occurred during the G20 Summit in Toronto in June 2010. Eva’s sentencing hearing is set for March 28th, 2013.
Brooklyn, NY: Hacker Aaron Swartz, who started RSS feeds, and Reddit, and worked on a number of internet social projects,committed suicide. Aaron was facing criminal charges for downloading millions of copyrighted academic articles and publishing them to the internet. The added stress of these charges contributed to his death.
January 12th
Penetanguishene, ON: Four units at the Central North Correctional Centre participated in a lock-down refusal to protest the loss of a half hour at the end of every day on the range. Fifty to sixty guards stormed the range, beat and handcuffed one prisoner. Alex Hundert, a prisoner in on G20 related charges, was placed in segregation for 6 days after the incident. After 6 days in the hole, Alex was sent back to the hole, this time for being a security threat to the prison. He spent a total of 5 weeks in the hole.
January 17th, 2013
Santiago, Chile: Camilo Valdes Mateluna was sentenced to 5 years plus a day in prison for throwing a molotov cocktail at a police van during the commemoration of the Day of the Youth Combatant on March 29th, 2012. For more info on the day of the youth combatant, check out this free film online called the Chicago Conspiracy.
January 21st
Santiago, Chile: Sebastián Fajardo was convicted of burning a bus during the fourth memorial march for Matías Catrileo, who was shot dead during an action to return private land to the indigenous Mapuche territory. Sebastián was sentenced to 3 years strict probation. Eduardo, Sebastián’s co-accused, was acquitted of all charges.
January 28th
Penetanguishene, ON: David Cedeño, a Prisoner in the Central North Correctional Centre ended his 20 day hunger strike to protest racist harassment by prison officers and being held in segregation for 6 months, as well as to obtain access to educational programming and adequate health treatment.
February 1st
Seattle, Washington: Grand Jury Resister, Maddy Pfeiffer, has remained in an isolation unit for a month now after being imprisoned for not testifying before the Grand Jury convened to investigate the May 1st demonstration in Seattle. They have been denied contact with their lawyer since being incarcerated as well.
Italy: Anarchist prisoners Alfredo Caspito and Sergio Maria Stefani began hunger strike after being denied visits from their partners. Alfredo is being held on charges of wounding a nuclear company manager in Genoa in May 2012. Sergio was arrested in a series of international raids so-called ‘Operation Boldness’ in connection with the underground anarchist group Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI).
February 4th
St. Petersburg, Russia: An anarchist squat in an abandoned railway station was raided by the police. When security guards tried to open a hole in the wall to extract squatters, a fight broke out. The police were called and barricades were erected, nineteen squatters were arrested with a few hospitalized for concussions. Most received fines but three face charges for assaulting police officers, who lost teeth and received a fractured skull during the confrontation.
February 5th
Santiago, Chile: Carla Verdugo and Iván Silva were released to house arrest in the lead up to their trial. Carla and Iván were arrested on April 17th, 2012 carrying parts of an unarmed homemade bomb. The prosecution is looking for 5 year sentences from each of them.
Breiva Prison, Chile: Noelia Cotelo Riveiro called for solidarity with life threatening conditions in prison. She has been handcuffed in her cell for days after being beaten by prison guards, and in danger of going into a hypoglycemic coma. Noelia has experienced beatings, torture, sexual assault and denial of privileges since a confrontation with the guards, which left her with a broken hand four months earlier.
February 9th
Montrèal, Qc: 36 people arrested during a demonstration against Plan Nord, northern Quebec’s energy development plan, threatening the environment and Indigenous peoples. Windows were smashed and a flare was shot into building. Thirty-two face charges of unlawful assembly, four face charges for assaulting police.
February 13th
Oakland Cali.: Anarchist punk house ‘the music box’ was raided by police in connection with a murder investigation related to a previous resident of the house who is currently incarcerated.
Bulgaria: Anti-Fascist prisoner Jock Palfreeman ended a thirty day hunger strike to regain access to his study courses. Jock is the chairman for the Bulgariuan Prisoner’s Association and after losing 20 Kilograms and getting a formal denial of his studies from the prison administration, he will continue his struggle in the courts.
February 14th
New York City: Joel Bitar was arrested and charged with twenty-six charges related to the black bloc actions in Toronto during the G20 summit in June 2010. Most of his charges steam from allegedly using a pickaxe to break windows causing over 400,000 dollars. He is charges include mischief over 5000 dollars, assaulting an officer andmasking with intent. He has choosen to challenge his extradition to Canada and was released on a 500,000 dollars bond to house arrest. More Info: supportjoel.com
February 15th
Attawapiskat Territory: Injunction launched against Attawapiskat blockaders, threatening criminal charges if they continued to block the road access to De Beers goldmine on their territory. Blockades continue.
February 18th
New reports bring the number of documented aboriginal deaths to 3000 at the hands of the Canadian state who were held in Government residential schools. These schools were used to steal children and rob them of their culture and traditions. Residential Schools in Canada starting in 1910 and the last federal institution was closed in 1996.
February 21st
Tucson, AZ: Dane Ross was arrested by Federal Marshalls on four charges related to the G20 Summit in Toronto in 2010. Dane is currently incarcerated and facing an extradition hearing to be tried in Canada. For more info: supportdanerossman.blogspot.com
March 7th
Mexico: two weeks of solidarity with Felicity Ann Ryder, an anarchist on the run for the past seven months. Felicity is accused of setting a failed explosive with Mario “Tripa” López who was injured when the explosive detonated. Solidarity has been called for to break the isolation that living clandestinely has created in her life.
February 22nd
Spain: Anarchist prisoner Gabriel Pombo Da Silva has been transferred again to a new FIES module, which is a A super-high security designation in Spain. This most recent move will keep him further from his family and friends, as an effort to further punish this rebellious prisoner. Check out some of his writings translated to English: Until We Are All Free
February 25th
Memphis, Tenn,: Fugitive summons have been issued for U.S Black Anarchist, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin. The summons are related to unpaid court costs in relation to a 12-year old misdemeanor conviction. These summons come at a political climate of anti-police and anti-klan demonstrations Lorenzo has helped organize.
February 26th
Angola, La: Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3 had his conviction overturned for the third time by the district court. forty years ago Albert and two others were framed with murders after successfully organizing a series of hunger and work strikes within the Angola prison to expose the continued segregation within the prison, America’s largest prison, formerly an 18,000 acre slave plantation.
February 28th
Milton, ON: Kelly Pflug-Back was released from prison. Kelly was sentenced to fifteen months in prison, charged with six counts of mischief over 5000 dollars and one charge of masking with intent. Free up Kelly.
New York City: Rebel Diaz Arts Collective (RDACBX) in South Bronx was raided by federal marshals and the NYPD. RDACBX is a social centre and was trying to negotiate a new lease agreement with their landlord when the raid occurred.
USA: Breanna (Bradley) Manning plead guilty to ten of the twenty-two charges facing her. Breanna is responsible for the largest leak of classified documents in American History. The documents which were given to Wikileaks, exposed a number of actions the US Army took part in and includeding a video innocent civilians being killed.
Cleveland, Ohio: Day of action for Joshua “Skelly” Stafford of the Cleveland 4. Call in campaign to the prison he is held in to increase his food intake in prison to match his medical needs. Skelly was arrested last year as a part of an FBI entrapment operation. More info: cleveland4solidarity.org
March 1st
Seattle, Washington: Grand Jury resisters Matt Duran and Kateeo Olejnik were released from prison after five months, two of which were in segregation. They were held without charge or conviction for refusing to testify at a grand jury investigation into black bloc actions during the May 1st demonstrations last year in Seattle. Maddy Pfeiffer remains in custody but has been transferred out of isolation. More Info: saynothing.noblogs.org and nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com
March 15th
Montreal, QC: 297 people were arrested during the 17th Annual Day Against police Brutality demo. The majority received 640 dollars fines. Twenty-Two people were charged with a variety offenses, including, mischief, assaulting a police officer and possession of incendiary devices. ∆
Websites to check out for the full stories and current updates:
warriorpublications.wordpress.com
web.resist.ca/~vancouverg20support/
325 Collective