Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Victor Herrera Govea found Guilty

This message was sent by our comrades in Mexico - we ask for people to support
Victor. Protests in the Los Angeles will soon be announced.


"In this place where sadness reigns, crime is not punished, poverty is
punished."

....And condemned as well is truth, the denunciation of injustice, remembrance,
the cry of 'Enough!' in the face of the abuses/crimes of a government.

After a year of lengthy legal process had passed, on October 6, 2009, Judge
Celia Marín Sasaki sentenced Victor Herrera Govea to two years and nine months
of jail and a 90 day fine equivalent to $4,932.00, furthermore she determined
that he must pay $6,500.00 in punitive damages to the Oxxo store and $2,002.00
for the value of the "stolen" items. [The amount is in pesos, the total in
dollar will be like $1,200.]
He is accused of "harm to others' property" and "gang robbery" against an Oxxo
[store]. The only argument offered against him is the testimony of two judicial
figures (?), which from the beginning appears to be planned and, furthermore, is
at all times contradictory.
The first question that often springs to mind is, "Why?", "Can it be the judge
doesn't know how to read nor listen?"
Well it seems illogical; as if the judge had never taken into account the videos
and photos, the witnesses, the national and international letters of
protest...And that is how it happened, she didn't have to take them into
account, because she doesn't govern justice, she's in charge of sentencing a
youth who goes out to march on October 2nd, of condemning remembrance, social
protest; her duty was to follow the orders of a government that ever more
cynically has devoted itself to dispossessing, repressing, massacring and
imprisoning the people it supposedly governs.
Everything began on October 2, 2009, during the march commemorating the 1968
massacre when the anarchist contingent was surrounded by riot police under the
pretext that a group of idiots had robbed an Oxxo. Victor Herrera Govea who was
marching among this contingent was brutally beaten by riot police. Thanks to
pressure from the rest of the protesters and the presence of a camera that gave
testimony to the illicit act, he avoided being detained. Nevertheless, on the
way home he was beaten again, this time by plainclothes policemen who in the end
loaded him into a car with no license plates.
October 2, 2010, Victor finished a year in prison.
Now he has a conviction, the sentence can be substituted for community service.
Alternatively he can be granted a conditional suspended sentence through a
secured bond for the amount of $15,000.00. On the other hand, the fight can
continue to obtain his acquittal, but taking this road implies waiting some
months longer.
Given this situation, as family members, we are weighing a decision, awaiting
the opinion of Victor and other comrades.

Freedom to all!!!

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