Weeks 6 & 7 Updates from Austrian Activist Trial

Interesting developments have unfolded in weeks six and seven at the trial in Austria and the kick off of the global solidarity campaign, Shame on Austria.  There have been two different solidarity actions to raise awareness about the repression animal activists are receiving from the Austrian government.  One action included 15-minute blockade of a Czech-Austrian border crossing on Wednesday.

The protest was reported by all three major Czech TV stations, two of which included the report in the main evening news program, which means that the protest was seen by more than a million people! It was also shortly mentioned in the main evening news program of the Slovak public TV.

In week six, the prosecution brought in English police detective John Madigan involved in investigating animal rights extremism in the UK. He told the court that there had been no contact between activists he has investigated in the UK and the Austrian defendants. He also informed the court that none of the Austrian defendants were in the UK at the time of any of the relevant crimes. This prompted defense lawyers to question the relevance of this particular witness.  Then, it was stated that Dr Martin Balluch, a defendant, was living in England until 1997 and was investigated. However, all investigations were discontinued.

Madigan was also questioned about the SHAC campaign, and stated that there were no connections between SHAC organizers in England and the Austrian defendants.  The defense went on to ask Madigan whether anyone in the UK had ever been convicted of all animal rights related offences, like what is currently happening in Austria. Madigan explained that the question made no sense to him. At this the public roared with laughter because of his incidental ridiculing of this Austrian trial, and someone called out that “this only happens in Austria!”

Week six also had the prosecution’s expert witness on linguistics. School teacher Wolfgang Schweiger is currently the only linguist in Austria authorized to give evidence as expert witness in court. This supposed “expert” witness for the prosecution made unsubstantiated claims which reinforced the prosecution’s case.   This caused him to be criticized and deemed incompetent by peers.

Unfortunately, the judge didn’t allow the testimony of two university level forensic linguistics professors who criticized the prosecution’s “expert” witness. They both have serious complaints about Schweiger’s findings, citing his failures to adhere to recognized standards of methodology and to report that two of the three notes claiming responsibility for offences do not even qualify as such notes.

Week seven of the trial brought on some interesting and new “court regulations”. Outside the court building police in full uniform were present. In the court room between 40 and 50 trainee police officers took up seats in the public viewing gallery. Presumably this measure was in response to the last session’s disturbances from the public as they expressed their outrage at the disputed testimony given by the prosecution’s linguistic expert.

In addition, anyone wanting to observe the proceeding as of Monday must now show ID. This was not the case up until now. Thanks to this surprisingly rapid change in court regulations around 30 animal rights sympathizers didn’t get to watch the proceedings, including relatives of the defendants.

Also, a general ban on filming anywhere in the whole court building was also issued this week. Until now it had been possible to film when the court was not in session or outside the courtroom. A film team from the Czech Republic was thrown out of the court for interviewing the defendants as they went into the court room.

The rest of the week was taken up by talking about the anti-fur campaigns and what tactics had been used.  The session ended with the witness informing one of the defense lawyers that Kleider Bauer (a fashion store that sells fur) would be suing him, his client Dr Balluch and a website for slander on account of an interview given by the lawyer, claiming damages of 30.000 Euro from each.

FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement) has scheduled a demonstration at the Austrian Embassy in Washington DC as a part of the Shame on Austria solidarity campaign.  Solidarity is more than just a word.  Come out and express your outrage about this severe miscarriage of justice!

When: Wed May 26^th @ 12 noon- 1 pm.

Where: The Austrian Embassy (3524 International Ct NW)

RSVP: adam@farmusa.org or call 301-530-1737 or on the day of 202-577-5527

FARM will continue to send updates and alerts so stay tuned!

Can’t make the solidarity demos in DC? You can still help!  Visit the solidarity campaign website for sample letter and send a protest letter!