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<font size=3><br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>For Immediate Release
February 13, 2007<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5>Lawyers Guild Condemns Racist
Arrests of Black Panthers<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>Evidence Against Men Obtained
Through Torture<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2> <br>
<i>San Francisco</i> The National Lawyers Guild of the San
Francisco Bay Area (NLGSF) condemns the arrests and prosecution of eight
men believed to be former members of the Black Liberation Army as an
attempt to validate political repression, retaliation and state
torture. A court hearing is scheduled for February 14 at 9:00 a.m.
at the Superior Court, 850 Bryant Street in San Francisco.<br>
<br>
The alleged crime, the killing of San Francisco police officer John V.
Young, took place nearly three decades ago. In purposely removing
the trial from the context of its time, the prosecution seeks to
capitalize on the change in public consciousness surrounding the Civil
Rights and Black Power movements and cast the defendants as violent
militants. “There has never been any reliable evidence connecting
these men to the alleged crime, but times have changed and prosecutors
may believe this is the best shot they have,” said Carlos Villarreal,
Executive Director of the NLGSF. “At the time people were more
aware of the violence committed by law enforcement against African
Americans and radical political movements.”<br>
<br>
The state is also attempting to deny its involvement in torturing several
of the defendants. As Stuart Hanlon, the attorney for one of the
defendants, emphasizes, “people have to understand this is actual torture
with cattle prods by New Orleans policemen, where San Francisco policemen
were sitting outside the room, obviously knowing what was going on to get
information… torture doesn't lead to the truth. It leads to what the
torturers want to hear.”<br>
<br>
The Guild also sees the prosecution of these men as part of a renewed
crackdown on activists that comes as law enforcement goes after
environmental activists, animal rights activists, and real or perceived
anarchists who rarely pose a threat to anyone.<br>
<br>
“The government is attempting to prosecute these innocent men for
crimes they did not commit on the basis of their political beliefs.
We see this as part of a larger government campaign targeting social
justice activists on the false premise of combating ‘domestic
terrorism.’ Organizing against racism and police brutality should
not make one vulnerable to state retaliation.” Said Mel Campagna,
Chair of the National Lawyers Guild Anti-Racism Committee. <br>
<br>
The National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area has nearly 1,000
lawyer, law student, and legal worker members from Sacramento to San
Jose. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers,
and jailhouse lawyers of America in an organization which shall function
as an effective political and social force in the service of the people,
to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than
property interests. Find out more at
<a href="http://www.nlgsf.org/" eudora="autourl">www.nlgsf.org</a>.<br>
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