G8 2003 Cops to Go Free?

The prosecutor (lawyer of state) is demanding that the two policemen be acquitted. He is clearly trying to turn the situation upside down and make the accused (aggressors) into the victims of the police intervention...

The verdict will be announces Friday, 17th of February at 11.45 am. We call for everyone to come to the court for the verdict.

A more detailed briefing & best quotes of today, Wesdnesday can be read below.

Before that you can have a look at this Report of the Swiss television where Martin is making a point (click at video streaming)

Day 3: Wednesday, 15th

Supporters of Gesine Wenzel and Martin Shaw were refused entry to the court building this morning despite the near freezing temperatures and were told to ‘fuck of’ in the process by police. The first witness in the case- a police officer thanked Poget for his work during the G8 summit – these two events set the tone for the day…

The second witness Mrs. Poget testified for her husband declaring that he was a ‘gendarme (policeman) to the bottom of his heart, a very committed man and a perfectionist who would never disobey an order and a man who has much heart’.
In his summing up the lawyer for Martin and Gesine, Mr. Garbade, stressed the many errors of the two police officers. He recalled the fact that despite some of the denials of the police during their testimonies the video had repeatedly shown the reality of the police actions. And whilst immediate psychological help was set up for Deiss (the officer that cut the rope) the Swiss state had offered nothing to Gesine and Martin or others who were on the bridge and witnessed the event.

He added that Deiss and his superior Poget had failed to assume their responsibilities for the security of the motorway and reacted in an aggressive and highly dangerous fashion on the bridge.

The lawyerGarbade also pointed out the refusal to take the case by the Swiss state and the examining magistrate, who refused to hear demonstrators as legitimate witnesses. Additionally Garbade pointed to the spontaneous reactions of the police on the scene which saw a situation that was under control descend in to chaos upon the arrival of Poget and Deiss, including the disobeying of orders (their only orders were to assess the situation). The testimony of officer K (who testified on the second day of the trial) showed that it was entirely possible to communicate with protestors on the bridge. The criminal charge of negligence seems completely relevant for an officer who required more than 12 minutes calling an ambulance (we are not even sure that it is him that telephoned!).

The prosecution in his summing up dropped the arguments against the police officer preferring to focus his efforts in discrediting the protestors. He began his speech by arguing that there was no such thing as impunity for officers stating that police officers were treated the same as the public. He added that the events of the G8 protests that morning meant that the police were incredibly stressed when they arrived on the bridge and this affected their actions. The ‘prosecution’ supported Deiss by saying that a large banner which Deiss ripped up such as “Stop, if you do not you will kill two people’ was incomprehensible due to the stress of the situation.

Best quotes of Wednesday, 15th

«Mr. Poget has a particular rapport with the highway, (…). How could they touch my highway ? … Poget is born on the highway that Obelix fell into the magic potion »
Podget’s lawyer

« (…) We were told that he (Poget) could have thought … Do you think than in such a situation you are able to think ? »
Poget’s lawyer

« I feel closer to the ideas of anti-globalisation than the ideas of the American President Bush »
Deiss’ lawyer

« When there’s no chief there is always a certain tendency to anarchy »
Poget’s lawyer

« Claude, we all would have done the same as you did »
Poget’s lawyer is quoting the policemen (high-ranking or not) who were in the court, witnesses or not.

« Justice does not support people who are building their chalet in the passage of an avalanche»
Poget’s lawyer, quoting one of his collegues

« Mr Poget will soon retire (…) he must be bleached by the court »
Poget’s lawyer

much more here:
more pics on German IMC...

...jfk