FW: Austria: Public Prosecution Fabricates Arson Attack

[Guest guest]

News from Vienna today....

Jigs

 

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> EVANA <news

> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:48:24 +0200

> group animal_net <animal_net >

> Austria: Public Prosecution Fabricates Arson Attack

>

 

> Austrian Arrests, New Development: Public Prosecution Fabricates Arson

> Attack

>

> In an attempt to justify remand custody and draconian police measures, a

> hunting cabin, which burnt down as a result of an over heating stove, was

> used against the animal protections as an accusation of arson

>

> Vienna, 30th June 2008

>

> This scandal comes just weeks after it was revealed that the prosecution

> falsified a statement of a crown witness.

>

> On May 21 2008 masked and armed officers of the Austrian elite squad WEGA

> broke into homes and offices of NGO workers and organisations at the crack

> of dawn. Since that day, 10 people arrested in the raids have been detained

> in remand custody.

>

> One of the detainees, president of VGT (Association against Factory Farms)

> Dr .Martin Balluch has, also since that day, been on hunger strike. He is

> presently being artificially fed.

>

> A string of human rights violations against these animal protectionists has

> caused outrage and strong criticism towards Austrian authorities from the

> international community and concerned Austrians. The authorities claim, and

> therefore in turn the Austrian media as well, that the animal protectionists

> are responsible for an arson attack.

>

> This accusation of arson came as a surprise to animal protection circles as,

> especially in recent years, there has been no report of arson with an animal

> rights connection in Austria. In the prosecution file, withheld until now

> from the defense, the worst suspicions can be confirmed: The allegedly

> animal rights motivated arson attack was in fact a hunting cabin fire caused

> by hunters themselves as they let a stove overheat. The public prosecution

> have bent the facts in order to provide a reason for mistreating and

> imprisoning innocent animal protectionists!

>

> Following Facts can be found in the Police Files:

> The hunting cabin burnt down on 11.11.2007 at approximately 7 p.m. The

> prosecution states that it happened between 11 and 13.11.2007.

> The time of the fire was deliberately extended to 13.11 because, according

> to the surveillance reports, the VGT president Dr. Martin Balluch was in the

> same area on that day.

>

> The deliberate time extension thus provided an opportunity to construe a

> suspicion.

>

> However, the public prosecution failed to disclose that Dr Balluch was in

> the area in order to document illegal pheasant enclosures and that he was in

> constant telephone contact with the state appointed animal welfare ombudsman

> throughout the day. The pheasant enclosures were indeed reported to the

> authorities on the very next day.

>

> The public prosecution claims that the arson was animal rights motivated,

> despite the fact that the fire expert assessing the incident stated that the

> probable cause of the fire was the overheating of a non-insulated stove

> placed against a wooden wall. There was no indication of arson........

>

> full text:

> http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=35118 & lang=en

>

> Petition:

> http://www.vgt.at/actionalert/repression/petition/index_en.php#

>

> Austrian Embassies:

> http://www.embassyworld.com/dev/result.php?guest=14 & host=%25 & count=0 & menu=1'

>

>

>

 

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