Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:34 am
Hackers were able to upload files and perform a fishing attack to the Bank of Scotland from vgt.at. So the provider was phoned by a lawyer of the Bank of Scotland and they have been told to shut down the site or otherwise they will be charged.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:36 am
All info & news: http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/VGT
it's an open group

Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:55 am
Thank you for posting! noted, signed and sent out!!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:58 am
Have posted the petition around other websites. Thanx.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 3:59 am
J has asked me to spread this link on the latest news and information from Austria since the VGT site is down this is the site with allmost all the information, but just like we they also depended on the VGT site hope that it will be online soon!
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Whistleblowers/Austria

Saturday July 5, 2008, 4:45 am
Petition signed,thank you!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 5:01 am
If all the great C2NN stars would support this case i am sure we could set the free on monday...
It is presumed that Minister Fekter too now just wants to play for time until next Monday's 2nd hearing of the 10 cases, which have been combined in order to allow the state to sue for the formation of a criminal organization under its newly introduced paragraph 278a of the Austrian penal code.

Though the Chief Public Prosecutor Hofrat Dr. Werner Pleischl already has struck the most serious allegations from the public prosecutor Haendel's sheet, the prosecution stubbornly insists that they deal with a criminal organization without providing any evidence. Well informed circles believe that the mysterious V-file also would contain only hot air, but nothing of substance. One of the Green Party leaders, MP Mr. Peter Pilz, who is a member of the parliamentary committee investigating the scandal, stated that the Chief Public Prosecutor has invented a "criminal organization without criminals".

The blunt refusal by Minister Fekter to answer any of the questions related to these cases, is seen by the Austrian Green Party further as a new affront and the party declared through their legal affairs speaker MP Pilz that the lawyers of the Green Party will now examine, if the conditions of § 278a StGB could not be also used to accuse the public prosecutor, the chief public prosecutor, the special police investigation unit (SOKO FUR ANIMAL) and the Austrian internal intelligence service together for having formed a criminal organization. Peter Pilz is my star...people dont like him in Austria...he is fighting for justice even against the GESTAPO or how should we call them these days? PLEASE PLEASE SIGN AND SPREAD THE NEWS!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Saturday July 5, 2008, 5:21 am
Signed and crossposted

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:19 am
Signed and noted with thanks Joanna.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:51 am
Johann! How 'new' IS that paragraph?? If it was introduced AFTER they were arrested they cannot use it on them. This was proven in the case of Brian Haw who they tried to remove from parliament square by setting up a new law excluding protests from the area. He is excluded from the law because his protest started BEFORE the new law was drawn up.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:58 am
Full support with force.....keep it up.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:03 am
Shame on Austria.....shame..shame.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:48 am
I have signed and passed it along to other sites as well! Free the Activists! Thanks Joanna!!!!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 8:56 am
The blunt refusal by Minister Fekter to answer any of the questions related to these cases, is seen by the Austrian Green Party further as a new affront and the party declared through their legal affairs speaker MP Pilz that the lawyers of the Green Party will now examine, if the conditions of § 278a StGB could not be also used to accuse the public prosecutor, the chief public prosecutor, the special police investigation unit (SOKO FUR ANIMAL) and the Austrian internal intelligence service together for having formed a criminal organization....
Its wrong to use this law for innocent people who just speak up and Mr Platter will find out why..
We should try and spread this wide and far and see that we can get thousands of new signatures until monday..if everybody is spreading this like all of you are doing it should be possible to get the signatures and what is more important create the awareness about Austria!
Vienna is realy a new Guantanamo Bay! http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Whistleblowers/Austria
Thank you all for your help!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:51 am
Noted and signed, thanks Joanna.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 11:23 am
The petition is circulating!!I received it from outside Care2.
This could happen to anybody,in any country.It needs to be signed by people from all over the world.It's not only about the Austrian activists freedom,it's about the freedom of evey animalrights activist.
Today it's them,tomorrow it could be you.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 12:09 pm
From: Legal Support - Antirep2008
Solidarity Instead of Paranoia – We Are Still All §278a!
Press Release: 5th July 2008

Since May 21 2008 ten animal rights activists have been sitting in pre-trial detention spread out over three states (Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland). The reasons for the detention are now as before Danger of Destruction of Evidence and Danger of Committing (Further) Crimes. As Danger of Destruction of Evidence can only justify pre-trial detainment for up to the first two months of detainment, this reasoning will cease to apply on July 21 at the absolute latest. With the reasoning of Danger of Committing a Crime – which is based on the fact that the accused have been active in the animal rights scene for years and stand by their ideals – detention can be extended for up to a year.



At this point we are waiting for the results of the complaint against the pre-trial incarceration, which was pressed by the attorneys several weeks ago. This means that a higher court responsible for the district court of Wiener Neustadt, namely the Appellate Court of Vienna, will decide on the legality of the pre-trial incarceration based on the records. A new hearing for the accused is not however intended; the complaint against the detention is namely a purely written procedure. Should the Appellate Court come to the decision that the pre-trial detention is unjustified, then all ten of the accused are to be released immediately. If, on the other hand, the complaint against the detention is rejected, then the next examination of the detention will take place in two months, which would be the beginning of September. In other words, the next chance they will be released will be in September after more than four months of pre-trial detention.



The decision of the Appellate Court will be interesting. According to the current state of knowledge as regards the record, the evidence continues to be more than lacking. Some of the purported arsons of the “criminal organization”, which were at first massively spread about in the media, are mentioned in the files only as yet another unsolved “attack” without any connection to the accused. The extent of the property damage, which was originally valued in the media at 800,000 €, has been reduced down to 300,000€, and we must expect that the rough estimation of the prosecution will shrink further as there are no clues to be found in the documents as to the exact composition of this sum. Other crimes allegedly perpetrated by the “criminal organization”, for example a dangerous threat involving the distribution of poisoned toothpaste, have completely disappeared. The previous example illustrates yet again the arbitrariness with which unsolved crimes are randomly tossed together in order to construct a criminal organization. The other crimes mentioned in the files are all in all small potatoes, such as the smashing of a window or spray-painting graffiti, which would fall under local district jurisdiction and would probably be settled out of court without jail time.



There is still no statement from the prosecution as to exactly how the alleged criminal organization is structured such that it falls under §278a of the Criminal Code and thereby also justifies the detentions. The suspicion that the investigations were a shot in the dark, that the evaluation of the evidence brought nothing to light and that the fact that the accused have executed their right to remain silent has led to the accusation that they are not willing to cooperate because they continue to refuse to reveal their passwords and codes for encrypted hard drives and e-mails is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental and constitutionally protected rights are being undermined and political activists are being presented as criminals. Legal activism done over years, such as campaign work, participation in protests, the writing of fliers or the public appearance at podium discussions, is being bent into evidence for supposed criminal actions. The fact that the accused had publicly accessible information about animal enterprises, company management, board members or spokespeople lying around at home is now being interpreted against them as highly suspicious. What is thereby overlooked is that every NGO in the course of a campaign does completely legal research about the relevant public figures and organizations in order to figure out where and in what form protest makes sense and can be effective.

Also the accusation that they tried to shield themselves from criminal investigations could be applied against anyone: of course we use PGP encryption, pre-paid cell phones and turn them off during meetings or leave them at home – who wants to carry a tracking device around with them?

By the way, the German Federal Agency for IT-Security encourages exactly that which would fall under the category of “Shielding against a criminal investigation” to prevent corporate espionage. Moreover, the German Interior Ministry has funded the open source alternative to PGP, GNUPG and its further development for years.


We must assume that law enforcement officials are spying on a large scale – independently from animal rights activism and the accused people along with their political groups and social circle as well as parts of the solidarity structures for the accused – by means of wiretapping and other methods that were recently made legal under a new police law (Telephone and Cell phone eavesdropping, Locating people, determining patterns of movement, evaluating public and private surveillance cameras, internet surveillance, e-mail scanning…).
Thus there are explanations and texts from the legal support team as well as print-outs from no-racism. net and at. indymedia. org in the files.



Furthermore we anticipate that people may soon receive summons to go to the police or the prosecution because the authorities (since they have not received any information from the people being detained) hope for further information to support their fantasies of a criminal organization.

Should this happen, get in touch with the legal support team!

Remaining silent is not only a right but also a political tool to protect our structures and work – get informed about it and apply it!

§278a is being used here just as §129a and b in Germany: to criminalize politically active people, to launch massive investigations against them, to spy and to intimidate. We refuse to let ourselves intimidated, but rather the opposite: the many actions all over the world are part of the wave of solidarity with the 10 people in prison and those also targeted by the house searches.



Everyone out of jail immediately!

Not talking to authorities is a weapon!
We are all §278a!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 1:00 pm
Signed and noted. Thanks for posting this, Joanna.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:50 pm
http://humanrightsscandalinaustria-oipaindia.blogspot.com/

Saturday July 5, 2008, 6:52 pm
Joanna noted and signed. thanks for posting all the info you have worked so hard on.

Saturday July 5, 2008, 7:15 pm
Noted and signed, thank you

Saturday July 5, 2008, 11:54 pm
Very noted, and petition was signed, thank you.

Sunday July 6, 2008, 1:37 am
signed.

Sunday July 6, 2008, 3:29 am
Noted and signed, # 25. Thank you Joanna and Hans for all you do!

Sunday July 6, 2008, 3:38 am
Noted and Signed Thank you Joanna & Trudi

# 469: 2:50 am PDT, Jul 6, Kathy Chadwell, Indiana
These are Animal activists, not Jewish people but In all reality it's the same thing going on here. One would think Austria would remember that Holocaust. This is the same thing, it started the same way.

Sunday July 6, 2008, 4:41 am
I've signed.

Sunday July 6, 2008, 5:11 am
Noted & Signed. Thank you for all that you are doing!

Sunday July 6, 2008, 9:03 am
LEGAL SUMMARY

Date: 04. July 2008


Mag. Stefan Traxler

Rechtsanwalt

Spitalmühlgasse 16/3

2340 Mödling

Member of Treuhand – Revision

To whom it may concern


In the early hours of May 21st a police raid against over 20 animal protectionists took place throughout Austria. Ten people were arrested. Over twenty homes and offices, including the office of the VGT (Association against Animal Factories) were searched, mostly by special police squads, which in some cases entered premises by breaking down the door and threatening inhabitants at gun point. Computers, complete with donor data bases, papers, including the book keeping and other items of property were seized and apart from a few exceptions, nothing has yet been returned.


All arrested activists, among them one woman, are still incarcerated. Several prisoners started a hunger strike to protest against these measures. One prisoner remains on hunger strike and is being artificially fed on the prison hospital wing.


The accusation is that, the activists are members of a criminal organisation, a felony according to § 278a Code of Criminal Law, which was created to battle the Mafia or drug cartels. It is now being misused to criminalize legal NGO work.


There have been cases of damage to property in previous years, but the authorities have not even claimed that the detainees committed any of these offences. They instead allege, one single 'criminal organization' is responsible for all offences related to animal rights in Austria and that the arrested people are part of this organization. Neither the police nor the prosecution, nor the judge have given any explanation as to why they think this organization exists or why they believe these individuals are members of it.


The justice and human rights spokespersons of the Austrian Social Democratic Party, the Austrian Green Party and Amnesty international have criticised the actions of the authorities. Huge numbers of worldwide protests have taken place.


It has been inferred by the prosecution that because some of the detainees use PGP to protect their data from unauthorised misuse that they belong to a criminal organization. It is as if one should be regarded as suspicious for locking one's door.


Telephone and email surveillance have been carried out without sufficient justification for this infringement on privacy. However, despite all these investigative measures, the prosecution has nothing more than that.


In an effort to justify this massive operation, the prosecution have already used "incorrectly" translated quotes to make accusations, falsified a statement of a crown witness and fabricated a case of arson. As the defence lawyers are still waiting for full access to the prosecution papers, who knows what else will be revealed?


Due to the mass searches and confiscation of property, of which, some have already been declared unlawful by the Chief Prosecutor, there is no reason to assume that the prisoners could obstruct evidence if set free. Therefore, this ground for detention does not apply. There are no reasons given why the prisoners should carry out any crimes or have planned any.


So, it is not only that sufficient suspicion is lacking, there are also no grounds that would justify remand detention.


In conclusion: The accusations are ill-founded, the actions taken disproportionate and there was no reasonable suspicion for arrests and searches, not to mention the higher level of suspicion necessary for remand detention. As result the defence are taking all legal actions available against these measures.


RA Mag. Stefan Traxler, attorney at law

Sunday July 6, 2008, 9:07 am
We have already 562 signatures - it's not bad as for 24 hours
Thank you Firends for notes, signatures and your comments
Your help is fantastic. Please forward the petition.