Freedom for Austrian Animal activists at last

international | animal rights | news report Monday September 08, 2008 11:28 by Bernie Wright - Alliance for Animal Rights (AFAR) berniew at esatclear dot ie AFAR. po box 4734. dublin.1

Austrian Animal rights prisoners are free!

Detention on remand terminated for all animal activists. (3/9)
Today the senior public prosecutor surprised in Vienna with a press statement: All 9 remaining animal rights prisoners will be released immediately.
Meanwhile the prisoners are already set free. They were received at the prison gates by family members, acquaintances and friends.

The press statement by the senior public prosecution office declared that after a discussion with the public prosecutor's office of Wiener Neustadt, that office had been ordered to apply for the immediate release of the animal welfare activists. This instruction was justified with the fear that the duration of the custody would become disproportionate.
"A heavy stone has been lifted from my heart and I feel relieved that now finally some move was made" stated Harald Balluch, managing director of the non-governmental organization ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES. "Since now the detention in remand prison was terminated, one can say that the most severe part of our state of emergency is over"
"But despite this, the ongoing threat for any civil society engagement remains. The allegation of having formed a criminal organization, has not been dropped yet, and if this legal construct would become a precedent, such would have vast consequences for a whole range of organizations of the civil society. All who engage themselves for animal welfare, the protection of the environment, human rights or else, still would be endangered to be accused under such suspicions, spied on and finally dragged before a court of law or imprisoned."

VGT president Martin Balluch, commented about this from his prison cell a few days ago: "Since our biggest animal protection success in 2004, we have been feeling the increasing repression by the police. That was when the Animal Protection Federal Law was passed leading to major costs for industrial livestock owners. We have evidence that the police has been advising companies practicing cruelty to animals how to effectively combat our legitimate campaigns and has been taking increasingly brutal steps against us. In 2005, an article was printed in the Austrian daily newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten in which a high-ranking official of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Action Against Terrorism claimed that Animal Protection was the biggest threat to national security in Austria."
Only four days after Balluch's statement, he and his colleagues were set free by the Appellate court.
During his custody, Dr. Martin Balluch has been visited in prison by the leader of the Austrian Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen, who invited him to run as an independent candidate for the Greens in the upcoming national election on September 28. Balluch will be elected at the Green Party conference on September 7. Van der Bellen told the Austrian Standard newspaper: "I have invited Balluch to run as a candidate for the Green party. He will be given a place high up on the list of candidates." Van der Bellen described Balluch's candidacy to the ORF (Austrian TV) as "An expression of appreciation for the work of non-governmental organizations."