Lawyers shun summit

>>>>> "dru" == Dru Oja Jay <[email protected]> writes:

  dru> Prosecutors say provincial Justice Minister Paul Begin has
  dru> directed them to delay all bail hearings of arrested protesters
  dru> for the maximum three full days allowed by law, as a way of
  dru> keeping them off the street for the duration of the summit,
  dru> April 20-22.

  dru> "This is political interference, and we should not stand for
  dru> it," said one prosecutor who did not wish to be named. "It's a
  dru> plan of battle to hold them in jail. We will not accept these
  dru> directives."

This is fairly valuable information since we suspected the same kind
of thing was going on in DA Abraham's office in Philly. I'm sure the
Republican pressure on Mayor Street would have been sufficient, but
add to it Abraham's utter antipathy to leftists, blacks, Mumia
supporters, etc., and you get the kind of shit we saw in Philly.

  dru> Normally, defendants are processed within 24 hours of their
  dru> arrest. Often they are released the same day from a police
  dru> station with a promise to appear in court.

Especially, I would guess, for the kinds of charges that ordinary --
that is, non-cell-phone-using, non-'leader' types -- protesters get
arrested on; low-level stuff like failure to move, trespassing, etc.

  dru> The prosecutors also say they do not want to prosecute people
  dru> who are protesting against repressive governments represented
  dru> at the summit.

Yeah!!

  dru> The Quebec government has built a concrete and chain-link fence
  dru> around a large section of the Old City where the summit is to
  dru> take place. About 25,000 protesters are expected to show up.

Hmm, hightest estimate I've heard is 5,000. I hope it's 25.

  dru> Prosecutors noted that the Criminal Code allows them to seek
  dru> publication bans on bail hearings. One prosecutor said he
  dru> believes that after the five days of incarceration, charges
  dru> will simply be dropped in most cases.

Of course, since the entire point is to stifle expression of
dissenting political views, not to submit people to the judicial
system. This is precisely what happened in all but 15 or 20 of the
more than 500 people arrested in Philly.

  dru> Montreal prosecutors plan to make public within the next few
  dru> days a letter of solidarity with the protesters, one prosecutor
  dru> said.

How cool is that?

  dru> Prosecutors are negotiating with the province for better salary
  dru> and working conditions.

We'd hoped to get some of that same mojo going in Philly since the
police union was also starting (or in the midst of?) contract
negotiations. But I guess the history of Philly PD repression was too
strong to overcome in the name of a bit of working class solidarity.

  dru> Since The Gazette reported on the poor conditions last month,
  dru> Begin has promised to get the prosecutors computers. But he
  dru> refuses to connect them to the Internet because, he claims,
  dru> it's too expensive. That means they won't have access to online
  dru> jurisprudence.

That's bizarre.

Kendall
-- 
If rich White people are oppressed, no one is.