32 County Sovereignty Movement (Ireland)

Press Release: 32 County Sovereignty Movement (Ireland)

For Immediate Release.

Date: 28/01/04

Contact: Sean Burns (inter_sol32@hotmail.com)

32CSM Calls For Immediate Release of Breton Political Prisoners.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement calls upon the French Government to immediately release the 6 Breton political prisoners. These people were arrested along with others in a police operation beginning in September of 1999 and detained under so-called anti-terrorist laws. As in many of these repressive state sponsored ‘anti-terrorist’ operations, the victims found themselves held under the most spurious of evidence.

It is now over 4 years later and 6 of these people are still in detention and awaiting trial. This poses the question that if the French government were so convinced of the guilt of these individuals then why were they not brought to trial sooner and evidence presented to convict them? The answer to this is simple, the French government is aware that there is no real evidence that exists to convict them. Instead it is using the advantage of ‘remand without trial’ in order to silence the Breton independence movement. It is worth noting that due to these arrests the police took the opportunity to seize files, computers and phones of the Breton language magazine <Breman> which would further the suggestion that this is nothing but an exercise in political and cultural censorship.

The further revelation that some of these detainees are also being denied urgent medical attention is an outrage. This is an infringement of the basic human rights of those prisoners and the matter, along with their release, must be resolved without hesitation.

Finally the 32 County Sovereignty Movement would like to extend its message of solidarity to the local committees, the close friends and families of the prisoners, and all those who are currently working so hard to secure their release.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Elie Wiesel (Holocaust survivor and author)

Sean Burns (32 County Sovereignty Movement International Dept).

Message Ends.