CSFR Report: June 27 - July 10
In this report:
- Carlos Montes pleads “not guilty”, next court date set for August 12
- Committee to Stop FBI Repression: We Salute the Gaza Flotilla
- Solidarity from El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes
- Detroit event: Resisting Profiling, Preemptive Prosecution and Prisoner Abuse
- Press coverage
Carlos Montes pleads “not guilty”, next court date set for August 12
With a courtroom packed so there were no empty seats, Carlos Montes plead “Not Guilty” to six felony charges in court on July 6, 2011. Defense attorney Jorge Gonzales said the Los Angeles District Attorney is using “selective enforcement” to target Carlos. The U.S. government is using a 42-year-old charge from 1969 to prosecute Carlos Montes today for a weapon and an ammunition charge, and four charges of perjury on his weapons permits.
The FBI and LA Sheriff’s SWAT team broke down the door and raided Carlos Montes’ home in May. It is clear from the statements of local police and law enforcement officials on July 6 that the FBI is leading the charge in targeting Carlos. Carlos Montes said outside court, “This attack on me is a pretext. They are using it to attack me because of my political activity – denouncing U.S. intervention in Colombia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Palestine.”
The next court date is set for August 12 and is being moved to the Los Angeles court downtown where high profile cases appear.
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression held a successful national call in day to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to demand he drop the charges against Carlos Montes. People all across the country are taking action in support of Carlos Montes and other targets of FBI repression.
Please take the following steps to the support Carlos and others facing FBI repression for their activism:
- Sign the national petition supporting Carlos Montes
- Sign the Pledge to Resist FBI and Grand Jury Repression
- Join a local support committee of the CSFR or organize one in your town
- Donate to the legal defense fund
Committee to Stop FBI Repression: We Salute the Gaza Flotilla
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression stands in solidarity with the activists of the Gaza flotilla ships and the people of Palestine. As Americans, we denounce the U.S. government’s support for the Israeli blockade on Gaza and demand that Palestinians get access to the food, water, medical supplies and building materials they need for their daily lives. We denounce the U.S., Greek, and Israeli sabotage and blocking of the flotilla taking the much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Solidarity from El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes
El Frente Unido de Inmigrantes from Chicago, IL wrote a statement in solidarity with Carlos Montes. Their statement was sent to Attorney General Holder. The letter says in part:
Dissent and the free expression of ideas are a hallmark of our democracy. We urge you no to repeat the mistakes of the past such as the infamous Palmer Raids of 1919 which were conducted by the FBI as this only damages the constitutional framework of our nation.
We pray that you and President Obama, being African Americans, will understand how our law enforcement agencies in the past have been used to persecute those who express different opinions and points of view such as Martin Luther King Jr.
Detroit event: Resisting Profiling, Preemptive Prosecution and Prisoner Abuse
Please join the CSFR and other organizations on July 16 in Detroit for a citizens hearing to confront repression of human rights and civil liberties by the criminal justice system.
The panel presentation will focus on how the ‘War on Terror’ climate and its repressive legal practices in the criminal justice system have affected civil liberties and human rights of Arab, Muslim, African American, South Asian, and all immigrant communities and the broader social justice movement. Representatives from the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF), Project Salam, CAIR-MI, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI), and Committee to Stop FBI Repression-MI will be having a panel discussion about their political, social and legal campaigns around these very important issues to address how we can counter and change oppressive policies. Included in the panels are families who will share personal stories of struggles for justice. The goal of the program is to shed light on the conditions of families and communities suffering under the war on terror, establish alliances across all communities for support, and mobilize our communities to eradicate these oppressive political and legal injunctions.
Press coverage
We’ve received a great deal of press coverage in the last two weeks, most of it focused on Carlos Montes’ case. A list of all our media coverage is available on the Press Coverage page of the StopFBI.net website.
