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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Crime & Police : Government Secrecy : Protest Activity : Regime |
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Independent Journalist Jailed for Resisting Grand Jury Subpoena |
Current rating: 0 |
by Grand Jury Resistance Project
(No verified email address) |
02 Aug 2006
|
Wolf's experience with the federal government and this grand jury is
not isolated, and comes as dozens of journalists and activists across
the country are being threatened with indictments and jail time. |
For Immediate Release: August 1, 2006
Grand Jury Resistance Project
Contact: Kris Hermes 510-836-0395
http://www.FBIWitchHunt.com/ http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury
Independent Journalist Jailed for Resisting Grand Jury Subpoena
Federal judge denies constitutional arguments -- incarceration based
on non-existent damage to SFPD vehicle
San Francisco -- Independent journalist Josh Wolf was jailed today for
refusing to provide video footage to a federal grand jury convened in
January. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup denied Wolf's First,
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment arguments, found him in civil
contempt, and ordered him immediately jailed. Wolf, 24, was taken to
the Dublin federal detention center, and could remain there until July
2007, for the duration of the grand jury.
Wolf was present at, and reporting on, a protest on July 8, 2005, in
the Mission district against the Group of 8 (G8), meeting in Scotland
at the time. Numerous witnesses at the demonstration reported that a
police vehicle was driven into the crowd of protesters. This action
was followed by two police officers exiting the vehicle and violently
assaulting multiple people on the street. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jeffrey Finigan is supposedly seeking video footage for what the
government claims is attempted arson on a San Francisco Police
Department (SFPD) vehicle. However, no damage has ever been reported
by SFPD.
"It's outrageous that the court is compelled to jail someone, let
alone a journalist, over an incident that involved no property damage
or harm to anyone," said Kris Hermes of the Grand Jury Resistance
Project (GJRP), a coalition in support of Wolf and activists being
harassed by the government. "Wolf's incarceration has an undeniable
chilling effect on his work, the work of other journalists, and people
wanting to speak out against U.S. policies."
Activists and Lawyers supporting Wolf have contended that this grand
jury is an attempt to avoid California's strict Reporter Shield Law,
which protects journalists' files and notes. "Local police could be
investigating this incident, but they're not," continued Hermes. "The
federal government absurdly asserts that this incident rises to the
level of a federal crime because SFPD receives federal funds."
Although similar shield laws exist in a majority of the state, no
federal shield law exists to protect reporters.
At the close of today's hearing, Judge Alsup abruptly denied Wolf's
request for bail. Alsup also denied a motion by Wolf's attorney, Jose
Luis Fuentes, to stay the incarceration until an attempt to overturn
the contempt ruling could be heard by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals. Later in the day, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors were
due to vote on a resolution introduced by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi
and Tom Ammiano aimed at "resisting the federal government's
intervention in the City and County of San Francisco's investigation
of the July 8th, 2005 G-8 protest and expressing support for the
California Shield Law." The Supervisors charge that the grand jury is
an "attempt to circumvent the local judicial system," and they opposed
federal government intervention in this matter. The resolution was
sent to committee and will be heard within the next two weeks.
Wolf's experience with the federal government and this grand jury is
not isolated, and comes as dozens of journalists and activists across
the country are being threatened with indictments and jail time. "The
U.S. government's harassment of Josh Wolf is part of a broader,
renewed use of the federal grand jury to suppress dissent," said
Samantha Levens of the GJRP. In May, Jeff Hogg, a full-time nursing
student who works with developmentally disabled adults in Eugene,
Oregon, was jailed for refusing to comply with a federal grand jury
investigating environmental and animal rights activists. In San
Francisco, a federal grand jury has recently been reconvened to
investigate the animal liberation movement. Many activists refused to
testify for the previous grand jury that expired in May. However, new
subpoenas to appear in August have been served on multiple animal
rights activists.
Information compiled by the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a
coalition that provides education on politically motivated attacks by
government and support to people targeted by these attacks, shows that
grand juries are currently being used against environmental and animal
rights activists, as well as groups that have historically struggled
for self-determination. The GJRP reports that in the past year, at
least 66 individuals have been subpoenaed and/or indicted in Atlanta,
Denver, Eugene, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa, FL, and
Trenton, NJ. At least fourteen people have refused to testify, and
some were jailed for contempt. In an affidavit filed in connection
with the indictment of three environmental activists in Auburn, CA,
the FBI irrelevantly referenced "anarchists" and "anarchism" 26 times.
GJRP believes that the grand jury to which Josh Wolf has been
subpoenaed is part of the same broad and unconstitutional federal
investigation into anarchist and antiwar activity and other political
movements that oppose U.S. policies.
For further information on Josh Wolf and his case:
http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury |
This work is in the public domain |
