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We have some WONDERFUL NEWS to share for a change. ALL 12 ATENCO
PRISONERS WERE RELEASED FROM PRISON late Thursday night. There were last
minute attempts to arrest the three main activists on other charges after
the Supreme Court ordered their release early Wednesday afternoon, so we
were all slogging around in the cold rain and mud out there at the
maximum security prison before they finally came out one at a time
beginning at 9:30 Thursday night, exonerated of all charges. (The 9
prisoners at the other prison, Molino de Flores, had gotten out the night
before.) <br>
<br>
It's really a major triumph because, if you remember, Ignacio del Valle
was sentenced to 112 and a half years, Felipe Álvarez and Héctor Galindo
to 67 and a half years, and the other nine to almost 32 years. They came
out with a fighting spirit, denying corporate media claims that justice
has been done, and vowing to first get America del Valle's charges
dropped so she can come home to her family, and then to get the state
criminals punished for their crimes. To get the flavor of their release,
you can watch a cool video at <br>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/T0sBMfgUIuM%26hl=es%26fs=1" eudora="autourl">
http://www.youtube.com/v/T0sBMfgUIuM&hl=es&fs=1</a> <br>
<br>
Lots of people came up and said things like "This shows we can get
Mumia and all the other political prisoners out, too. The State is NOT
invincible!" <br>
<br>
We'll be spreading the word about these new developments against Mumia at
the big celebration in Atenco tomorrow. <br>
<br>
OnaMOVE, Carolina <br><br>
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<h1><b>Court Orders the Immediate Release of the Twelve Atenco
Prisoners</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue65/article4147.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.narconews.com/Issue65/article4147.html<br>
</a></font><h2><b>Ignacio del Valle, Among the Freed<br><br>
<br><br>
</b></h2><h3><b>By Anne Vigna<br>
Special to the Narco News Bulletin</b></h3><font size=3>June 30,
2010<br><br>
The judges of the First Court of Mexico’s High Tribunal today ordered,
via telegram, the immediate release of twelve political prisoners from
the town of Atenco. Their freedom is effective immediately, today, June
30. The Court concluded that the evidence did not exist to sustain the
charge of “organized kidnapping,” in particular the use of photographs as
evidence. The judges also concluded that the presumption of innocence was
not respected by prosecutors. They also concluded that the crime of
“organized kidnapping” does not even appear in Mexican law.<br><br>
In the cases of Ignacio del Valle and Felipe Alvarez, the judges stressed
that the meetings at which officials of the State of Mexico were detained
by citizens (February 8 and April 6 of 2006) had the goal of holding a
dialogue to improve educational conditions in the state and that their
detention was not premeditated, and that the officials were released
within 48 hours unharmed. The decision to detain them was made after
citizens objected to the repeated absence of the state Secretary of
Education in the talks. All the defendents received a protective order
prohibiting their arrest from the Court.<br><br>
Outside the courthouse, members of the Popular Front in Defense of the
Land and of the Justice and Peace Committee for Atenco witnessed the end
of a four year struggle that “was not in vain” as Trini, wife of Ignacio
del Valle, told the crowd. “I see tears of happiness in the eyes of my
compañeros and I would like to say thank you to everyone, thank you to
the Mexican people and international solidarity. The federal and state
governments are not invincible!” The mothers of the prisoners held at the
Molino de las Flores prison were barely able to speak with reporters due
to the emotion in their voices. The mother of Hector Galindo, the last
prisoner freed by the judges, said, “for justice to begin we want those
who are guilty of this barbarity to be in prison now. Today, only the
injustice was stopped.”<br><br>
Various of former Atenco prisoners were present and highly emotional.
1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams also attended the court
session. Leaving the courthouse, she took the microphone:<br><br>
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<dd>“At last, to the people of Atenco who have suffered so much, there
comes a hope of justice. I am going to inform my fellow Nobel Peace Prize
laureates, above all Desmond Tutu, who is right now praying for the
people of Atenco.”<br><br>
</i>
</dl>An hour later, the members of the movement headed out to find their
prisoners at two penitentiaries in the State of Mexico.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
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