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Newsbrief:
Euro
Parliamentarians
Found
Guilty,
Scolded
by
Judge
in
Manchester
Marijuana
Civil
Disobedience
11/1/02
A Manchester judge found
two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Chris Davies (UK Liberal-Democrats)
and Marco Cappato (Italian Radical, co-president of Transnational Radical
Party) guilty of cannabis possession, sentenced them to a 100 pound fine
or seven days in jail, and chided them for wasting the justice system's
resources with their "irresponsible" actions.
Crown Court Judge Stewart
Fish directed the tirade at the two MEPs for their December 2001 protest
in support of jailed Manchester coffee house owner Colin Davies.
Cappato, Chris Davies and their supporters gathered in front of a Manchester
police station before the two MEPs symbolically presented themselves for
arrest.
The Radicals were cowed by
the magistrate's outburst. In a statement released after the hearing,
Cappato said: "Judge Fish has talked in the Court room of a highly
irresponsible action and of a waste of energies for the justice system.
With our nonviolent action we have taken upon ourselves the full responsibility
for the violation of a criminal law that generates more crime, that obstructs
every year the judicial system with dozens of thousands cases of people
arrested for drug possession for personal consumption. The UK Government
had withdrawn its promises for drugs decriminalization, while other European
countries such as Italy and France, have announced the toughening of their
prohibitionist regime. Our task at the Transnational Radical Party
is to continue to disobey neo-fascist prohibitionism and to organize, also
at the international level, the alternative of legalization against the
international mafias, terrorism and corruption."
So there.
-- END --
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Issue #261, 11/1/02
Editorial: The Space Between the Lines | Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Says Feds Can't Punish Doctors for Recommending Medical Marijuana | Learning the Hard Way in Ohio: The Trials and Tribulations of Issue One | DRCNet Book Review: "Addict in the Family," by Dr. Andrew Byrne | DRCNet Interview: Dr. Harry G. Levine | More Than 700,000 Marijuana Arrests Last Year -- Meanwhile, Violent Crime on Increase | November Coalition Roadshow Hits East Coast | DRCNet Survey/Book Giveaway Contest | Newsbrief: Rockefeller Kin Arrested in Rockefeller Law Protest | Newsbrief: Euro Parliamentarians Found Guilty, Scolded by Judge in Manchester Marijuana Civil Disobedience | Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cop Story | Newsbrief: UN Says Afghan Opium Crop Up Almost Twenty-Fold Over 2001, Trade Employs a Half-Million People | Newsbrief: Liberia Prepares to Join the Drug War | Newsbrief: Chattanooga Jail Full, Faith-Based Alternative Sentencing Offered to Drug Offenders | Newsbrief: Mississippi Supreme Court Bars Telephonic Warrants, but Says It Was Okay Just This Once | Newsbrief: Seattle Initiative to De-prioritize Marijuana Enforcement Makes 2003 Ballot | Media Scan: William F. Buckley in National Review, 2002 Voter Guides and Election Resources | Calling on Students to Raise Your Voices for Repeal of the HEA Drug Provision | Action Alerts: Rave Bill, Medical Marijuana, Higher Education Act Drug Provision | The Reformer's Calendar
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