FBI confirms that they copied tens of thousands of documents seized from the homes of local anti-war activists; originals returned, indictments still

Nov. 2, 2011 StopFBI.net

For Immediate Release
November 1, 2011

• FBI finishes copying more than 50,000 pages of materials seized from homes of Minneapolis peace and international solidarity activists – now they give back the originals
• Serious FBI violation of civil rights

Photo opportunity: Anti war activists and the returned boxes of materials seized by FBI will be available November 2, 4:30 pm at DeLeon and Nestor Law Office, 3547 Cedar Avenue S, Minneapolis.

The FBI says they have finished copying the political material and personal papers seized in the September 24, 2010, raids on the homes of Twin Cities anti-war and international solidarity activists. This afternoon, November 1, FBI agents delivered the last batch of notebooks, family photos, membership lists for anti-war groups, and political documents to the office of attorney Bruce Nestor. The FBI has been returning the material seized in the raids over the last several weeks.

“This is a serious violation of our right to organize against war,” states Jess Sundin of the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee. “The FBI took the computers from the office of the Anti-War Committee and made copies of lists that include thousands of our supporters. They copied notes from meetings and plans for events. They took our personal papers, political materials and books from my home. They are stepping all over our rights to organize, associate and speak out.”

The material that the FBI copied and returned comes from the homes of Twin Cities activists Jess Sundin, Steff Yorek, Mick Kelly, Meredith Aby, Anh Pham and Tracy Molm, and the office of the Anti-War Committee. They are among the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists summoned to appear in front of a Chicago grand jury headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating ‘material support for terrorism.’

The U.S. Attorney’s office is threatening to indict the anti-war activists.

Mick Kelly, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression states, “We have done nothing wrong. The FBI should destroy the copies of everything they took.”

The FBI returned the copied material only after Attorney Bruce Nestor filed a motion in Federal Court to demanding that Jess Sundin’s property be returned. The hearing on that motion, scheduled for November 10, will be canceled once activists confirm that everything was indeed returned.

More than 20 Twin Cities activists will attend the national conference organized by the Committee to Stop FBI repression in Chicago this Saturday, Nov. 5, to build the fight against the ongoing attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists.

For more information contact:

• Jess Sundin: 612-272-2209
• Mick Kelly: 612-715-3280
• Bruce Nestor: 612- 659-9019