The Raytheon 9 Trial has begun

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Wednesday May 21, 2008 21:04 by Justin Morahan

a legal, moral and political duty to stop or delay war crimes

The Raytheon who admit that they occupied Raytheon in Derry in order to stop or delay war crimes are being tried in Belfast and would appreciate your support

The trial of the Raytheon Nine is already under way in the new Laganside Court house in Belfast. It started on Tuesday 20th May. Before it began, a large crowd of supporters, many carrying placards, congregated outside the Court House to show their solidarity. This included a carload of IAWM activists from Dublin.

The official website of the Raytheon Nine http://www.raytheon9.org/ reports that the first day was taken up with legal arguments about the nature of the defence, witnesses etc. The defendants don’t deny that they occupied Raytheon or that they destroyed their computer system but say that they had a legal, moral and political duty to do so in order to stop or at least delay war crimes, in which Raytheon were involved, being carried out by the Israeli army in Lebanon.

The website also reports that the presiding Judge accepted defence arguments that he should not rule out this defence but that he would allow it first to be argued and then, having heard the evidence, he would decide how to instruct the jury on what they could, and could not, take into account in reaching their verdict.

On Wednesday, I was able to spend a little time in the court room and assess at close quarters the slow progress of the trial. Court room 14 on the fourth floor is a lonely place in which to sit. The glass rectangle mostly surrounding the defendants makes some of the proceedings hard to hear - even for them. The Judge appears to be a jovial enough fellow and, so far, fair to both sides. The jury of ten women and four men sit to the left hand side listening carefully. Two plain clothes officials sit inside the glass rectangle also. At the back, in the public gallery, are other members of the police or court services, a few of the Raytheon 9 supporters and, from time to time, a few who appear to be either Raytheon personnel or Raytheon sympathisers

Again on this second day there was some legal argument in the absence of the jury, and the Prosecution also opened its case about what happened on the morning of 27 March 2003 at the Raytheon plant in Derry. There was little that was new or exciting - it reminded me of the long drawn out presentation of State's evidence in the trials of Mary Kelly in Ennis and the Pitstop Ploughshares in Dublin where court time was spent showing maps of boundaries to the jury when the defendants had no quarrel at all about the fact that they had entered Shannon and decommissioned a US plane.

What is important from the point of view of the defendants in the Raytheon 9 trials is that they need support and solidarity to take them through what is going to be a long and arduous trial. Some of them told me how much they appreciate the support they get, especially within the court room itself. They really would appreciate more such support in these difficult days for them.

Laganside Court in Belfast is easy to get to, only two hundred yards from Central Station where the Dublin train comes in. If you travel, it will be worth your while. You will get a warm welcome from these brave people who have confronted Raytheon in Derry.

Tomorrow the trial resumes at 10.30 a.m. It is a historic trial that you can be a part of.