RNC Protesters Tried on Terrorism Charges Despite Acknowledgment They Didn’t Commit Alleged Acts

[Joanne98]

Democracy Now!
2.18.09

Last September in St. Paul, Ramsey County prosecutors formally charged eight members of the group RNC Welcoming Committee with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. The criminal complaints reportedly do not allege that any of the defendants personally engaged in any act of violence or damage to property. Instead, authorities are seeking to hold them responsible for acts committed by other individuals during the RNC’s opening days. We speak to one of the defendants, Luce Guillen-Givins, and RNC 8 Attorney Jordan Kushner.

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via Democracy Now! | RNC Protesters Tried on Terrorism Charges Despite Acknowledgment They Didn’t Commit Alleged Acts

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/rnc-protesters-tried-on-terrorism-charges-despite-acknowledgment-they-didnt-commit-alleged-acts/

[Tesha]

1. Fifth rec...

[ThomCat]

2. That prosecutor should be shamed out of office, and

this should be some kind of an ethics violation.

If she can get away with charging one convenient group of scapegoats with crimes that didn't happens, and worse, with crimes committed by other unrelated people, then they can use this as a precedent to lock up anybody on a pretext.

They could lock up you or me on the pretext that we supposedly plan to riot because of some supposed leftist affiliation. They could lock you or me up for something someone else did just because we are someone responsible for organizing the conditions or atmosphere for it.

I hope this gets laughed out of court.

[Bjorn Against]

3. Sadly enough that prosecutor is considered a serious contendor to be our next Governor.

And to make matters worse she is a Democrat. You expect this kind of stuff from Republicans, but when people pull crap like this and then claim to be working for progressives it is doubly insulting.

[readmoreoften]

4. I know some of these people. It has been completely absurd.

10% of the people involved were agent provocateurs. It's a total case of thought crime. They were actually trying to set up a friend of mine to look like the provocateur so that their real agent could continue infiltrating. We're talking about 'busting' people on making plexiglass shields ('weapons') so that they can survive tear gas. It's insane.

[Downtown Hound]

5. It gets better

The other day one of the FBI's infiltrators and informants who was scheduled to be used as a witness against the RNC 8, was brought up on charges of his own. Boy, the government sure can pick 'em huh?

"An undercover FBI informant in a high-profile criminal case in Ramsey County against eight members of an anarchist group faces charges himself for assault and burglary.

Andrew C. Darst, 30, who spied on anarchists planning disruptions at the Republican National Convention in September, attended a Hennepin County District Court hearing on Tuesday for a Jan. 11 incident in Minnetrista in which he allegedly broke into a house and struck two men. He is charged with two felony counts of first- and second-degree burglary as well as fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor."

http://www.startribune.com/39759637.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUzyaUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs