Amsterdam office of internal affairs ministry appeals the extension of Juanra's freedom on bail

Amsterdam, October 4, 2002

On Thursday, October 3 it was acknowledged that after the conclusion of the final hearing in the trial against Juanra, the Amsterdam office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (OM) had announced that it would go into appeal to overturn the extension of Juanra's freedom on bail. Although the extradition was declared permissible by the district court of Amsterdam, the panel of judges decided that Juanra shall remain free on bail until the end of all legal proceedings (he has been free on bail since the end of June, after having spent nearly six months under especially grueling conditions in the maximum-security penitentiary in Vught). This remarkable decision by the court-- ordinarily, persons suspected of collaboration with terrorist organisations are detained until their extradition-- was apparently unacceptable for the Amsterdam OM. At this moment it is as yet unknown when this appeal will take place in a special courtroom in the Courthouse on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. It is expected that it will take place in two to three weeks. It is apparently not enough for the OM that Juanra was already unjustly imprisoned for almost six months, or that the OM succeeded in getting the extradition granted. No, now they also want him to spend the last six months (the likely length of time until his appeal trial) of his stay in the Netherlands behind bars. We will continue with the mobilisation of support for Juanra and we know that he has nothing to do with the charges that the Spanish authorities are trying to frame him up on. The Spanish authorities want to criminalise and silence any radical opposition.

Some people in Amsterdam did not let themselves be silenced. In the night before Thursday, October 3, sympathisers of Juanra "bloodied" the facade of the Courthouse on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.

Juanra must be definitively free!
No extradition of Juanra!