{"id":34,"date":"2008-11-17T22:03:08","date_gmt":"2008-11-17T22:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomathon.com\/mphp\/?p=34"},"modified":"2008-11-18T02:43:21","modified_gmt":"2008-11-18T02:43:21","slug":"the-french-sncf-arrests-update-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2008\/11\/the-french-sncf-arrests-update-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The French SNCF Arrests (Update 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>French Anarchist Arrest Wave:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Monday Update (2008-11-17)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Friday the first legal actions were taken against those arrested.  The number detained has dropped to nine, with one person released Friday &#8212; alleged to have been the mother of one of the defendants who happened to be in an apartment being raided at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Per the French legal system (see <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Inquisitorial_system\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Inquisitorial_system<\/a> ) a Paris based special terrorism court investigating magistrate (juge d&#8217;instruction antiterroriste ), Thierry Fragnoli, examined the cases on five detainees on Friday, two more over the weekend, and will formally examine two more on Tuesday (18th).  The investigating magistrate works like a Grand Jury, determining if there is evidence and formally charging the defendants, then passing their cases to a court (usually with multiple judges, a prosecutor and defense).<\/p>\n<p>Julien Coupat, whom the press have dubbed the head of the &#8220;cellule invisible&#8221; (a play on the Invisible Committee which penned the book he is accused of writing) was formally charged with &#8220;Directing a terrorist organisation&#8221; (&#8221; dirig\u00e9 une structure \u00e0 vocation terroriste&#8221;).  Coupat and four others we charged with &#8220;concerted Destruction while taking part in a terrorist enterprise&#8221; (&#8220;destructions en r\u00e9union en relation avec une entreprise terroriste&#8221;) and &#8220;Refusing to submit to a DNA test&#8221; (&#8220;refus de se soumettre \u00e0 un pr\u00e9l\u00e8vement ADN&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>The remaining four are (or will be) charged with &#8220;Taking part in a criminal association as part of a terrorist enterprise&#8221;  (&#8220;association de malfaiteurs en relation avec une entreprise terroriste&#8221;).  On Friday it was reported that two of the nine would be released without charge, but it now appears that at least five will be imprisoned awaiting trial, with four possibly being placed under house arrest awaiting trial.  The  greatest charge, aimed at Coupat, could result in a 20 year sentence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>http:\/\/www.lexpress.fr\/actualite\/societe\/sabotages-sncf-des-delits-terroristes_704150.html<\/li>\n<li>http:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/societe\/article\/2008\/11\/15\/sncf-neuf-jeunes-autonomes-presentes-au-juge-antiterroriste_1119080_3224.html<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Minister of Interior Mich\u00e8le Alliot-Marie (or MAM) has been on a crusade for at least a year against what she&#8217;s dubbed the &#8220;l&#8217;ultra-gauche&#8221; Movement (or the &#8220;Anarcho-Autonomous Movement&#8221;) has continued to trumpet the arrests as a blow against terrorism, and claims that there are &#8220;Around 300&#8221; members of such groups in France.  She has studiously refused to link them to what the French call &#8220;l&#8217;extr\u00eame-gauche&#8221; (Communists, Trotskyists, Revolutionary Syndicalists, etc), who are helping Rail unions organise work stoppages against a possible plan to privatise the railways.  It seems a transparent attempt to criminalise elements of the left and create a bogeyman to split left groups.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>http:\/\/www.france-info.com\/spip.php?article213342&amp;theme=9&amp;sous_theme=44<\/li>\n<li> http:\/\/www.france-info.com\/spip.php?article212767&amp;theme=9&amp;sous_theme=11<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A after the initial hysterical press coverage (Le Figaro was a primo example of headless chicken red-baiting hyperbole), some press is starting to ask tougher questions.  DANIEL SCHNEIDERMANN at Liberation calls these arrest &#8220;a How to on building strawmen&#8221;  ( http:\/\/www.liberation.fr\/medias\/0101266655-fabrication-d-epouvantails-mode-d-emploi ), while la Nouvelle Republique asks the obvious question, if there were 27,000 incedents of little noted property destruction on SNCF rail lines last year, how is this suddenly &#8220;terrorism&#8221;? ( http:\/\/www.lanouvellerepublique.fr\/dossiers\/journal\/index.php?dep=IG&amp;num=1004447 )<\/p>\n<p>L&#8217;Express collects an number of such editorials under the title &#8220;The Invisible Cell: &#8216;Anti-Terrorist Paranoia'&#8221; ( http:\/\/www.lexpress.fr\/actualite\/societe\/cellule-invisible-paranoia-anti-terroriste_704299.html )<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nWhile a defense committee of those arrested is being organised, there are two good places to keep abreast of the case: A Caen based Anarcho-syndicalist message board is reprinting many of the press reports, and the blog at bellaciao.org has promised details of the defense committee as the appear.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.anartoka.com\/pas-dupes\/viewtopic.php?t=2128&amp;start=75&amp;postdays=0&amp;postorder=asc&amp;highlight=\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.anartoka.com\/pas-dupes\/viewtopic.php?t=2128&amp;start=75&amp;postdays=0&amp;postorder=asc&amp;highlight=<\/a><\/li>\n<li> <a href=\"http:\/\/bellaciao.org\/fr\/spip.php?article74419\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/bellaciao.org\/fr\/spip.php?article74419<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/escalbibli.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/escalbibli.blogspot.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>French Anarchist Arrest Wave: Monday Update (2008-11-17) Friday the first legal actions were taken against those arrested. The number detained has dropped to nine, with one person released Friday &#8212; alleged to have been the mother of one of the&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2008\/11\/the-french-sncf-arrests-update-3\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[14,15,566],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2008\/11\/sncf-arrests-update-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":0},"title":"SNCF Arrests (update 4)","date":"November 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest news on the Tarnac arestees. Four of the nine are released under the equivilent of bail, but still face possible charges. They were held four four days of interogations, though the police still don't seem to have any direct evidence against any of them. Five (which the predictably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;French&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":164,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2009\/05\/last-of-the-tarnac-9-freed\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":1},"title":"Last of the Tarnac 9 freed","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Julien Coupet, French situationalist shopkeeper, accused ringleader of \"anarcho-autonomous\" train saboteurs, and really insufferable pontificator, was finally released yesterday from a Paris jail, on remand. He is still detained, in that he can't leave the Paris area, and will probably be further harassed by prosecutors. That he's done nothing illegal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":962,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/car-coup-or-election-foiled-by-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":2},"title":"CAR: Coup, or election, foiled by government?","date":"March 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The French press initially reported midday Sunday (14 March, local time) that the Central African Republic government had foiled plans for a coup attempt, set to take place between the 15th and the 20th. No one does coups quite like Bangui, usually with the French government pulling the strings: they've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Afrique&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1004,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/04\/francafrique-french-fbi-ran-the-malian-aqim-prisoner-release\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":3},"title":"Francafrique: French &#8220;FBI&#8221; ran the Malian AQIM prisoner release","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Intelligence Online\" reports that the French internal security agency, the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Int\u00e9rieur (DCRI) carried out the negotiation with the AQIM for the release of French hostage Pierre Camatte, and sent Bernard...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":891,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/03\/niger-mining-protestors-squat-french-hq-in-niamey\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":4},"title":"Niger: Mining protestors squat French hq in Niamey","date":"March 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dakar based corespondent for Kenya's Nation paper reports says that Nigerien activists have set up camp at French government uranium miners AREVA's Niamey offices. There is as of yet no independent confirmation of this, or if they are occupying the offices. The name given in the report is \"Areva\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1158,"url":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/2010\/12\/another-president-wont-leave\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":5},"title":"Leaking a President out of Power","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cote d'Ivoire presidential elections drama, after decades of civil war and chicanery, has proven in its final act to be, well, dramatic. Even wire reports are saying that the vote totals are confirmed, with Alassane Ouattara (representing both the conservative parties heir to F\u00e9lix Houphou\u00ebt-Boigny and the marginalized Muslim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Afrique&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mYFK-y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tomathon.com\/mphp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}