THE FREE VAUGHN CAMPAIGN IS CALLING ON ALL SUPPORTERS TO HELP APPLY PRESSURE TO RELEVANT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF VAUGHN!
Please flood these individuals' EMAIL accounts and SNAIL MAIL inboxes with letters.
Marc Bellemare
Minister of Justice and Attorney General for the Province of Quebec
Édifice Louis-Philippe-Pigeon
1200, route de l'Église
9e étage
Sainte-Foy (Québec) G1V4M1
Phone : (418) 643-4210 / (514) 873-3317 / (418) 644-3099
Fax : (418) 646-0027 / (514) 873-7174 / (418) 644-3118
Email: ministre@justice.gouv.qc.ca
Wayne Easter (Canada's Solicitor General)
House of Commons
318 Justice Building
Ottawa K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-2406 / (902) 964-2428 / 1-800-442-4050
Fax: (613) 995-7408 / (902) 964-3242
Email: weaster@auracom.com, Easter.W@parl.gc.ca, eastew@parl.gc.ca
http://www.wayneeaster.com/
Andy Scott (Vaughn Barnett's MP and Former Solicitor General)
61 Carlton Street
Fredericton, NB
E3B 3T2
Telephone: (506)-452-4110 / (613) 992-1067
Fax: (506)-452-4076 / (613) 996-9955
Email: ScottA@parl.gc.ca / Scott.A@parl.gc.ca
You can:
DEMAND* the immediate unconditional release of Vaughn Barnett.
DEMAND* the government immediately drop the charge against Vaughn Barnett.
DEMAND* that all "Unlawful Assembly" charges be dropped from all arrestees.
* You could use other words like: request, suggest, recommend, cajole, or DEMAND the immediate unconditional release of Vaughn Barnett.
Unlawful Assembly is an arbitrary charge that is used to target people for being at or near a protest. The majority of people arrested on July 28th were not able to "disperse" when requested to by the Montréal Police because they were surrounded and unable to move past hundreds of Riot Cops. Protesting is not a crime. We are alleged to have freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. These freedoms were violated arbitrarily with no good reason.
PLEASE READ THE TWO ARTICALES BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WHY VAUGHN IS SITTING IN JAIL.
_______________________________________________________
What else can you do to help?
FIRST: Please write him a letter! He is lacking contact from the outside community and needs to know that the people are aware of his struggle. You could send him your thoughts on anything, the July 28th arrests, the World Trade Organization, the justice system or your local sports team. Every letter from a supporting community member will raise his spirits a mile high. (Trust us!)
Vaughn Barnett
800 Gouen St. West
Montreal,
H3L 1K7
SECOND: Vaughn could use some money in his canteen account. Prisoners are able to buy tooth paste, shampoo, a pencil and paper, candy, etc. in jail but only with the money that is put into their account. A donation to Vaughn's account can be given to the campaign and then forwarded to our Montréal contacts. If only takes a small amount to ease his time in jail.
THIRD: volunteer to have Vaughn call you collect. He could use more people to talk with. Again you could talk about anything; the sound of a friendly voice on the other end will make him feel amazing. You can have us limited the time/cost of the phone call. Please email the "Free Vaughn" campaign for more info. This is a big request, but what Vaughn is doing to defending all of us! He is standing up for our rights when we can't!
FOURTH: You can also spread the word, about Vaughn in particular, and criminalization of dissent in general. A few ideas are word of mouth, letters to the editor, radio phone-ins, contacting local media, posting information on independent media websites and chat forums, or whatever else you can think of...
Again, we can't stress enough the importance of what Vaughn is doing. The crown has not yet shown any evidence of his guilt. They mass arrested anyone around the "green zone" and are now trying to force non-constitutional conditions down our throats. Vaughn is not letting this happen and refuses to sign any conditions from this bogus charge. It is extremely important that we should extend a massive amount of solidarity to Vaughn while he is locked down. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE TO HIM AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. IT COST LESS THEN A DOLLAR!!!
Thank-you very much for your help and for supporting Vaughn.
The Free Vaughn Campaign
freevaughn@ziplip.com
www.uberculture.org/mobglob/freevaughn.html
**MORE INFORMATION ON VAUGHN BELOW**
_______________________________________________________
WTO PROTESTER REMAINS IN JAIL
"The state definitely seems to be trying to deter us from what we have a right to do and what we should be doing as citizens of a democratic society." - Vaughn Barnett
Vaughn Barnett, a soft-spoken resident of Fredericton, N.B., is one of Canada's latest political prisoners. He was among 236 people arrested during the World Trade Organization mini-ministerial in Montreal last week. He remains in jail.
Charged with "unlawful assembly," Barnett refuses to sign a conditional release that would limit his rights of free expression and assembly, insisting that all charges and compromises to his constitutional freedoms be dropped.
"The state definitely seems to be trying to deter us from what we have a right to do and what we should be doing as citizens of a democratic society," he told rabble during an interview from Bordeaux medium security prison this week. "I've decided to refuse the bail so as not to legitimize or cooperate with this unjust, unlawful process."
What Barnett describes as an "illegitimate process and subversion of democracy" began on the morning of July 28, when an overwhelming force of Montreal riot police surrounded, detained then arrested over 150 people gathered in the "green zone," an area publicized by protest organizers as a safe space for theatre, art and music.
The mass arrest began well over an hour after the morning protest dispersed and took place many blocks from the police barricades that circled the WTO meetings. The crowd had been gathering, with prior consent, on private property. Police moved the crowd from the vacant lot into the street where the mass arrest took place.
"All of a sudden the police moved in wearing riot gear and holding up their shields," said Barnett, adding that he and others were pushed by police. "They herded us into a tight group that kept getting tighter as people were taken away."
People identified as medics, journalists and legal observers - as well as a doctor, a construction worker and several tourists - were among those handcuffed and packed into police vans. This mass sweep netted about 75 per cent of the total arrests during the WTO meetings.
"The police certainly did not find us engaging in any criminal activity at the time because we weren't even protesting let alone protesting in any unlawful way," Barnett said.
The Crown's disclosure of evidence obtained prior to Barnett's July 30 bail hearing makes no reference to Barnett himself and provides no suggestion that he participated in any illegal activity.
By justifying the mass arrest at the time with the charge of "participating in a riot," an indictable offense, and subsequently downgrading to a lesser charge of "unlawful assembly" once people had been detained, police betrayed their true strategy, Barnett said.
"What they're trying to do is link these lawful activities on the part of citizens with unlawful activities by a very few people who may or may not be on our side," he said, making reference to a handful of people who broke windows during the protest. "They are using that unlawful activity as a pretext to round up hundreds of people to make it so that they will think twice about exercising their basic rights next time around."
Barnett said he will soon be consulting Montreal lawyer, Denis Poitra, as he prepares to file a Habeas Corpus application.
"A Habeas Corpus application, essentially, is a review of the bail hearing where the lawyer will ask superior court to quash the decision of the bail court and grant my release on the basis that the decision was made without proper jurisdiction," Barnett said. "It is a civil libertarian remedy so that anyone who is imprisoned unlawfully can go before the court and ask to be released."
In a similar act of defiance, Barnett remained in a Quebec prison for 42 days following the Summit of the Americas protest in 2001.
Back home in Fredericton, Barnett works as a legal researcher and advocate for people who cannot afford a lawyer. His trial is set for October 21, 2003. He plans to represent himself in court.
_______________________________________________________
New Brunswick Activist Remains Wrongly Imprisoned in Montreal:
No Evidence of Participation in Illegal Activity (following WTO protest)
MONTREAL / FREDERICTON - Ten days after last week's WTO protests, a New Brunswick activist remains in a Montreal jail where he challenges the unlawful mass arrest and compromise to our constitutional rights. Vaughn Barnett, of Fredericton, refuses to sign a conditional release that would limit rights of free expression and assembly, arguing that all charges and conditions for his release should be dropped. The disclosure obtained prior to Mr. Barnett's July 30 bail hearing makes no reference to Mr. Barnett himself and makes no suggestion that he participated in any illegal activity, but he is nonetheless being held indefinitely.
What Barnett describes as an "illegitimate process and subversion of democracy" began on the morning of July 28, 2003, when an overwhelming force of Montreal riot police surrounded, detained then arrested over 150 people peaceably assembled on private property (with permission) in a "green zone" publicized as a safe space for theatre, art and music. This arbitrary mass arrest unfolded well over an hour after the morning protest had dispersed and in an area located many blocks from where the WTO meetings were being held. People identified as medics, journalists and legal observers - as well as a doctor, a construction worker and several tourists - were among those loaded into police vans. With very few exceptions, police held these people in jail for "unlawful assembly" until they signed release conditions that surrendered a long list of constitutional rights and paid $200 in bail (for those residing outside the city).
"The police certainly did not find us engaging in any criminal activity at the time because we weren't even protesting let alone protesting in any unlawful way," Barnett said. "What they're trying to do is link these lawful activities on the part of citizens with unlawful activities by a very few people who may or may not be on our side," he said, making reference to a handful of people who broke windows during the protest.
"They are using that unlawful activity as a pretext to round up hundreds of people to make it so that they will think twice about exercising their basic rights next time around."
Mr. Barnett's trial is set for October 21, 2003. Back in Fredericton, Mr. Barnett works as a legal researcher and advocate for people who cannot afford a lawyer. He is representing himself in court.
Barnett said he will soon be consulting Montreal lawyer, Denis Poitras as he prepares to file a Habeas Corpus application. "A Habeas Corpus application, essentially, is a review of the bail hearing where the lawyer will ask superior court to quash the decision of the bail court and grant my release on the basis that the decision was made without proper jurisdiction," Barnett said. "It is a civil libertarian remedy so that
anyone who is imprisoned unlawfully can go before the court and ask to be released."
Ben Shannon of Halifax says "We can't stress enough the importance of what Vaughn is doing. The crown has not yet shown any evidence of his guilt. They mass arrested anyone around the 'green zone' and tried to force unconstitutional conditions down our throats." He added "Vaughn is standing up for us all by not letting this happen and refusing to sign any conditions from this bogus charge."
"Any movement that fails to support its political internees is a sham movement!"
Prisoner of war (POW) Ojore Lutalo
Please flood these individuals' EMAIL accounts and SNAIL MAIL inboxes with letters.
Marc Bellemare
Minister of Justice and Attorney General for the Province of Quebec
Édifice Louis-Philippe-Pigeon
1200, route de l'Église
9e étage
Sainte-Foy (Québec) G1V4M1
Phone : (418) 643-4210 / (514) 873-3317 / (418) 644-3099
Fax : (418) 646-0027 / (514) 873-7174 / (418) 644-3118
Email: ministre@justice.gouv.qc.ca
Wayne Easter (Canada's Solicitor General)
House of Commons
318 Justice Building
Ottawa K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-2406 / (902) 964-2428 / 1-800-442-4050
Fax: (613) 995-7408 / (902) 964-3242
Email: weaster@auracom.com, Easter.W@parl.gc.ca, eastew@parl.gc.ca
http://www.wayneeaster.com/
Andy Scott (Vaughn Barnett's MP and Former Solicitor General)
61 Carlton Street
Fredericton, NB
E3B 3T2
Telephone: (506)-452-4110 / (613) 992-1067
Fax: (506)-452-4076 / (613) 996-9955
Email: ScottA@parl.gc.ca / Scott.A@parl.gc.ca
You can:
DEMAND* the immediate unconditional release of Vaughn Barnett.
DEMAND* the government immediately drop the charge against Vaughn Barnett.
DEMAND* that all "Unlawful Assembly" charges be dropped from all arrestees.
* You could use other words like: request, suggest, recommend, cajole, or DEMAND the immediate unconditional release of Vaughn Barnett.
Unlawful Assembly is an arbitrary charge that is used to target people for being at or near a protest. The majority of people arrested on July 28th were not able to "disperse" when requested to by the Montréal Police because they were surrounded and unable to move past hundreds of Riot Cops. Protesting is not a crime. We are alleged to have freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. These freedoms were violated arbitrarily with no good reason.
PLEASE READ THE TWO ARTICALES BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WHY VAUGHN IS SITTING IN JAIL.
_______________________________________________________
What else can you do to help?
FIRST: Please write him a letter! He is lacking contact from the outside community and needs to know that the people are aware of his struggle. You could send him your thoughts on anything, the July 28th arrests, the World Trade Organization, the justice system or your local sports team. Every letter from a supporting community member will raise his spirits a mile high. (Trust us!)
Vaughn Barnett
800 Gouen St. West
Montreal,
H3L 1K7
SECOND: Vaughn could use some money in his canteen account. Prisoners are able to buy tooth paste, shampoo, a pencil and paper, candy, etc. in jail but only with the money that is put into their account. A donation to Vaughn's account can be given to the campaign and then forwarded to our Montréal contacts. If only takes a small amount to ease his time in jail.
THIRD: volunteer to have Vaughn call you collect. He could use more people to talk with. Again you could talk about anything; the sound of a friendly voice on the other end will make him feel amazing. You can have us limited the time/cost of the phone call. Please email the "Free Vaughn" campaign for more info. This is a big request, but what Vaughn is doing to defending all of us! He is standing up for our rights when we can't!
FOURTH: You can also spread the word, about Vaughn in particular, and criminalization of dissent in general. A few ideas are word of mouth, letters to the editor, radio phone-ins, contacting local media, posting information on independent media websites and chat forums, or whatever else you can think of...
Again, we can't stress enough the importance of what Vaughn is doing. The crown has not yet shown any evidence of his guilt. They mass arrested anyone around the "green zone" and are now trying to force non-constitutional conditions down our throats. Vaughn is not letting this happen and refuses to sign any conditions from this bogus charge. It is extremely important that we should extend a massive amount of solidarity to Vaughn while he is locked down. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE TO HIM AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. IT COST LESS THEN A DOLLAR!!!
Thank-you very much for your help and for supporting Vaughn.
The Free Vaughn Campaign
freevaughn@ziplip.com
www.uberculture.org/mobglob/freevaughn.html
**MORE INFORMATION ON VAUGHN BELOW**
_______________________________________________________
WTO PROTESTER REMAINS IN JAIL
"The state definitely seems to be trying to deter us from what we have a right to do and what we should be doing as citizens of a democratic society." - Vaughn Barnett
Vaughn Barnett, a soft-spoken resident of Fredericton, N.B., is one of Canada's latest political prisoners. He was among 236 people arrested during the World Trade Organization mini-ministerial in Montreal last week. He remains in jail.
Charged with "unlawful assembly," Barnett refuses to sign a conditional release that would limit his rights of free expression and assembly, insisting that all charges and compromises to his constitutional freedoms be dropped.
"The state definitely seems to be trying to deter us from what we have a right to do and what we should be doing as citizens of a democratic society," he told rabble during an interview from Bordeaux medium security prison this week. "I've decided to refuse the bail so as not to legitimize or cooperate with this unjust, unlawful process."
What Barnett describes as an "illegitimate process and subversion of democracy" began on the morning of July 28, when an overwhelming force of Montreal riot police surrounded, detained then arrested over 150 people gathered in the "green zone," an area publicized by protest organizers as a safe space for theatre, art and music.
The mass arrest began well over an hour after the morning protest dispersed and took place many blocks from the police barricades that circled the WTO meetings. The crowd had been gathering, with prior consent, on private property. Police moved the crowd from the vacant lot into the street where the mass arrest took place.
"All of a sudden the police moved in wearing riot gear and holding up their shields," said Barnett, adding that he and others were pushed by police. "They herded us into a tight group that kept getting tighter as people were taken away."
People identified as medics, journalists and legal observers - as well as a doctor, a construction worker and several tourists - were among those handcuffed and packed into police vans. This mass sweep netted about 75 per cent of the total arrests during the WTO meetings.
"The police certainly did not find us engaging in any criminal activity at the time because we weren't even protesting let alone protesting in any unlawful way," Barnett said.
The Crown's disclosure of evidence obtained prior to Barnett's July 30 bail hearing makes no reference to Barnett himself and provides no suggestion that he participated in any illegal activity.
By justifying the mass arrest at the time with the charge of "participating in a riot," an indictable offense, and subsequently downgrading to a lesser charge of "unlawful assembly" once people had been detained, police betrayed their true strategy, Barnett said.
"What they're trying to do is link these lawful activities on the part of citizens with unlawful activities by a very few people who may or may not be on our side," he said, making reference to a handful of people who broke windows during the protest. "They are using that unlawful activity as a pretext to round up hundreds of people to make it so that they will think twice about exercising their basic rights next time around."
Barnett said he will soon be consulting Montreal lawyer, Denis Poitra, as he prepares to file a Habeas Corpus application.
"A Habeas Corpus application, essentially, is a review of the bail hearing where the lawyer will ask superior court to quash the decision of the bail court and grant my release on the basis that the decision was made without proper jurisdiction," Barnett said. "It is a civil libertarian remedy so that anyone who is imprisoned unlawfully can go before the court and ask to be released."
In a similar act of defiance, Barnett remained in a Quebec prison for 42 days following the Summit of the Americas protest in 2001.
Back home in Fredericton, Barnett works as a legal researcher and advocate for people who cannot afford a lawyer. His trial is set for October 21, 2003. He plans to represent himself in court.
_______________________________________________________
New Brunswick Activist Remains Wrongly Imprisoned in Montreal:
No Evidence of Participation in Illegal Activity (following WTO protest)
MONTREAL / FREDERICTON - Ten days after last week's WTO protests, a New Brunswick activist remains in a Montreal jail where he challenges the unlawful mass arrest and compromise to our constitutional rights. Vaughn Barnett, of Fredericton, refuses to sign a conditional release that would limit rights of free expression and assembly, arguing that all charges and conditions for his release should be dropped. The disclosure obtained prior to Mr. Barnett's July 30 bail hearing makes no reference to Mr. Barnett himself and makes no suggestion that he participated in any illegal activity, but he is nonetheless being held indefinitely.
What Barnett describes as an "illegitimate process and subversion of democracy" began on the morning of July 28, 2003, when an overwhelming force of Montreal riot police surrounded, detained then arrested over 150 people peaceably assembled on private property (with permission) in a "green zone" publicized as a safe space for theatre, art and music. This arbitrary mass arrest unfolded well over an hour after the morning protest had dispersed and in an area located many blocks from where the WTO meetings were being held. People identified as medics, journalists and legal observers - as well as a doctor, a construction worker and several tourists - were among those loaded into police vans. With very few exceptions, police held these people in jail for "unlawful assembly" until they signed release conditions that surrendered a long list of constitutional rights and paid $200 in bail (for those residing outside the city).
"The police certainly did not find us engaging in any criminal activity at the time because we weren't even protesting let alone protesting in any unlawful way," Barnett said. "What they're trying to do is link these lawful activities on the part of citizens with unlawful activities by a very few people who may or may not be on our side," he said, making reference to a handful of people who broke windows during the protest.
"They are using that unlawful activity as a pretext to round up hundreds of people to make it so that they will think twice about exercising their basic rights next time around."
Mr. Barnett's trial is set for October 21, 2003. Back in Fredericton, Mr. Barnett works as a legal researcher and advocate for people who cannot afford a lawyer. He is representing himself in court.
Barnett said he will soon be consulting Montreal lawyer, Denis Poitras as he prepares to file a Habeas Corpus application. "A Habeas Corpus application, essentially, is a review of the bail hearing where the lawyer will ask superior court to quash the decision of the bail court and grant my release on the basis that the decision was made without proper jurisdiction," Barnett said. "It is a civil libertarian remedy so that
anyone who is imprisoned unlawfully can go before the court and ask to be released."
Ben Shannon of Halifax says "We can't stress enough the importance of what Vaughn is doing. The crown has not yet shown any evidence of his guilt. They mass arrested anyone around the 'green zone' and tried to force unconstitutional conditions down our throats." He added "Vaughn is standing up for us all by not letting this happen and refusing to sign any conditions from this bogus charge."
"Any movement that fails to support its political internees is a sham movement!"
Prisoner of war (POW) Ojore Lutalo