Pressrelelease 20-09-2004

Protest Meetings in five European cities during Maarten Blok’s trial

During the first day of Maarten Blok’s trial in Sweden, on September 23d, protest meetings will take place in five main European cities, namely in Gothenborg, Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and Amsterdam. A group of 40 people from the Netherlands will travel to Sweden to demonstrate there and to attend the trial. These protest meetings are not just aimed at the extradition of the 23 year old Amsterdam bicycle mechanic and his being tried in the controversial Gothenborg court, but also at the many irregularities that occurred at that court during dozens of earlier cases pertaining to the 2001 Euro Summit.

Another reason for the protest meetings is the appeal in the penal case against the ex-chief of police, Håkan Jaldung, which will take place two weeks later. This chief of police, responsible for the situation surrounding Maarten’s arrest, has been accused of unlawful deprivation of liberty as well as grave errors while on duty. His earlier acquittal has caused a big uproar in Sweden.

More information about the protest meetings:
http://www.steunmaarten.org/manifestations.htm

During the session about his remand Maarten’s having (legally) resisting his extradition was heavily held against him. He was also held personally responsible for the political attention surrounding his extradition caused among other things by the activities of his Support Group, letters to the Justice Minister and questions asked by members of Parliament, a very bad
state of affairs according to the prosecutor. Because of this the political character of this trial is to be feared. Also in earlier cases people who 'stood accused' of being politically active received substantially higher sentences.

The trial
Maarten Blok is accused of striking a police officer on top of a shipping container that was part of the surrounding wall of the Hvitfedtska school which had been made available to demonstrators. Although the prosecutor admits that video images show Maarten was behaving calmly on top of the shipping container and didn’t hit any police he states that in that case this striking must have taken place at some other moment.

The time stated in the preliminary inquiry has been dropped and now the accusation contains no mention whatsoever anymore about when Maarten is supposed to have struck the officer. That half of the file is actually about a different Dutchman and all witnesses contradict each other regarding the suspect’s ppearance while none of their descriptions are consistent with Maarten’s looks, is being dismissed by the prosecutor as irrelevant.

The photo line-up in which Maarten’s photo is of an essentially different quality than the other photos as well as having the letters NL appear in the corner has disappeared from the file and it’s now being claimed that this line-up has never been used. Four witnesses from four different countries will attend the trial and confirm Maarten’s story. In the Swedish court however so far police witnesses have turned out to be onsidered infallible even if their statements are contradictory. So it is to be feared that despite everything Maarten will be convicted although he is innocent.

Supportgroup Maarten: 06-42356735
Stig Centerwall (Zweedse advocaat): 0046 3113 6120
E-Mail: info@steunmaarten.org Website: http://www.steunmaarten.org