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Political persecution in Austria
On 21 May 2008, special units of the Austrian police arrested 10 leading campaigners from the country's successful animal protection movement. The activists, among them a former research assistant at the University of Cambridge, were put on remand. The Ministry of the Interior boasted that they had hunted down an organised criminal gang responsible for numerous cases of property damage to fur-selling shops and similar businesses.
However, the imprisoned people insisted that the prosecution files they were eventually given access to contained absolutely no evidence of any criminal offence but rather a description of their campaigning for changing laws and business policies. One of the prisoners went on hunger strike and stayed without food for 39 days. Fierce criticism came from many well-known personalities and organisations, including Amnesty International and the Green Party.
After more than three months, a senior state prosecutor ordered release of the activists, saying the time spent in custody must be in proportion to the expected sentence. This drove away most of the public attention, but the case wasn't over. In February 2010, the state prosecution announced that enough evidence had been found to put 13 animal protection activists, including the ten who had spent three months in custody, on trial.
Four of the activists have gone public with their charge sheets. These have confirmed the worst fears. It has become clear that the prosecution does not even claim that the activists have committed any property damage. Rather, the charge sheets consist of an extensive list of the activists' expressed opinions and political activities, such as organising demonstrations or filming fur farms. It is said that such activities prove that the activists form a criminal organisation with unknown perpetrators who, for example, sprayed stinking acid into fur-selling shops.
The trial started in March 2010 and is expected to last until early next year. Reports show that the main topics of the trial sessions have been the activists' thoughts and beliefs and how witnesses from fur-selling shops felt about demonstrations that were organised against them. The activists are facing up to 5 years imprisonment and many observers expect a guilty verdict based on the judge's behaviour. In any case, the activists have already gone bankrupt as the legal costs are expected to reach €200,000 per defence lawyer and these will never be reimbursed even if the trial results in acquittal.
This cannot be tolerated. Austria must not be allowed to terrorise political activists simply because unknown people have committed property damage probably out of the same political persuasion.