Trial of Plowshares Activist for disarming nuclear capable F16's begins in the Netherlands.

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Saturday September 03, 2005 13:18 by Susan - Plowshares Netherlands

He's in Jail for Us, We're on the Streets for Him!

Turi Vaccoro has maintained a hunger strike in custody since August 10th

He appeared in court Sept 1st. charged with several €million disarmament of nuclear capable F16's. Nuclear bombs are kept on the base where he acted on the 60th. anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Turi from Italy has lived in the Netherlands for many years, he bought his hammer in Assissi.

The courtcase against Turi Vaccaro did not reach a verdict last
thursday. The judge was accused twice by the defence of being
prejudicest in favor of the prosecution.
The seciond accusation will be dealt with in court next week. Turi, who
did not speak, let the audiance of about 25 people know that he was
doing well.

Turi had to apear before the policejudge because off the disarming of
two F-16 airplaines at airforcebase Woensdrecht in the Netherlands on
August the tenth. His action has made it impossible to use these planes
to drop nuclear weapons (like the ones lying in Volkel in the
Netherlands). The estimated costs for restoring this ability are
5.000.000 euro's.

Turi's lawyers (Eric Hummels, quaker, and Meindert Stelling, former
airforce officer)Started the courtcase by stating that the charges of
the prosecution should be found unexceptable because they had not taken
the context of the action in consideration.

As an example he said if witnesses see someone cut another mans throat
that last person could be sued for murder if the context is not
considered. If however the defender gets the oppertunity to explain
that he was doing a live saving trachiometry ( making a hole in a
suffocating persons throat in order to make him breath) the charges
would have to be dropped.

By disarming F-16 airplanes serious crimes against international
justice were prevented. By doing so Turi preformed the duty each of us
have to prevent such crimes.
Because the prosecution did not consider the fact that the Dutch
government is involved in commiting crimes against international law
through having nuclear weapons in its country and training Dutch pilots
to use them the charges should be found unreasonable and be dropped.

The prosecution did not want to answer this statement and simply said
that international law did not have a place in this (lower) court.
Turi's lawyers demanded the judge would force the prosecution to give a
better answer than that and when the judge refused he was then called
a "wraking", a Dutch legal term for accusing the judge of being
partial.

After this 3 other judges were called together to see if the defence
had a valid point here. They did not think so and after some more delay
the case was restarted.

Now the defence asked the judge to put in writing his reason for not
accepting the complaints of the defence. The judge refused to do so and
said he did not want to talk about the complaint at all any more.

At this point the defence lawyer again called a "wraking". This will
again be tested by three other judges somewhere next week.

Turi was brought back to prison in Breda.


Write him!

Turi Vaccaro
HvB de Boschpoort
Nassausingel 26
4811 DG Breda
the Netherlands