Support anarchist prisoner Thomas Meyer Falk

Thomas Meyer-Falk, c/o JVA- Z.3117, Schonbornstr. 32, D-76646 Bruchsal, Germany

Thomas has finally got out of solitary confinement. Letters are still much appreciated

See here for some of Thomas' writings

INTRODUCTION BY ANARCHIST EX-PRISONER MARK BARNSLEY

During my own incarceration Thomas Meyer-Falk was one of the first foreign prisoners to write to me. We soon developed a close friendship and corresponded regularly for many years. Despite himself suffering years in solitary, in the most appalling conditions, Thomas rarely complained to me, while selflessly showing concern for my own situation. He is a strong and courageous fighter, someone who despite the most vile attempts to crush his spirit, has never once bowed his head. From within his prison cell Thomas has continued to engage politically with the movement, to write, and to play a part in the international prison struggle, for example in the Anarchist Prisoners Legal Aid Network. Thomas is someone from our movement, held within the hands of The Enemy, and we owe him our fullest possible support.

The following, in Thomas' own words, is taken from the new English homepage www.freedom-for-thomas.de

THOMAS' STORY IN HIS OWN WORDS

Born in 1971, I have been imprisoned since 1996. At first I was kept in isolation in Stammheim [built to hold political prisoners from the German Red Army Faction], then I was kept in Straubing for a short time under slightly better conditions. Since september 1998 i have been in isolation in Bruchsal. I am a so-called "Red Skin"/RASH = Red & Anarchist skinheads.
I was sentenced for a bank robbery by means of which it was planned to organize money for political projects. In two additional court cases I was sentenced for insult, intimidation, and the threatening of judges and public prosecutors. The _expression "perfect example of a fascist-like judge" by itself was worth 7 months of imprisonment (§ 185 stgb - insult; sentence: monetary fine or fine up to one year of imprisonment).

Because of all this I have to spend 15 years, 9 months and three weeks in prison. Due to my alleged dangerousness (during the trial I had offensively pleaded my cause instead of giving in and "regretting") I shall be kept under arrest ("sicherungsverwahrung") afterwards.

ISOLATION

In the Federal Republic of Germany law 89 StrVollzGes regulates that a prisoner can be put into isolation, which means he can constantly be seperated from other prisoners if this is essntial to maintain safety and order.

since 1996, with a short break in 1998, I have been in continuous isolation. I spend 23 hours a day in my cell, with only a small radio, some books and binders. my postal communication is just as supervised as the visits I receive.

I have already discussed at other times whether isolation is an attack to human dignity; this text is available in the archive ( see www.freedom-for-thomas.de) under "4 jahre isolationshaft."

Spending over 7 years in isolation is definitely not easy, but my mind is stable and the solidarity from outside jail is helpful and does me well.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

The current situation presents itself such that I sit in solitary confinement without pocket money or television. I am allowed to read the paper and have a small radio. Though i reject this (political) system in Germany as such, I take seriously the modest legal possibilities that there are and appeal to various German courts. For instance proceedings are pending whether I have the right to provision with writing paper and envelopes through the social welfare agency, whether the department of corrections may forbid me a correspondence course, or if corrections department staff may search my legal and defense mail in my absence, such as when i’m walking in the prison yard.

Apart from that, criminal proceedings are pending against me [these are now completed, see below]. Proscutors from Karlsruhe, Herr Staatsanwalt Leber and Herr Staatsanwalt Zimmerman, accuse me of slandering and threatening polititians and justice ministers. I am supposed to have described federal chancellor Schroeder as ‘Bush’s bootlicker’. the former provincial justice minister Professor Doctor Goll claimed he felt threatened by me and therefore always has a pistol handy. As I am sitting in isolation in prison this claim is scarcely believable. Trial date is not yet known, but in early 2004 i may expect to be dealt with.

THOMAS GETS AN ADDITIONAL 3 YEARS 3 MONTHS

On the 13th July 2004 the Karlsruhe district court presided over by Judge Mueller sentenced me to a further 3 years and 3 months detention , to which a sentence from the year 2000 to 2 years and 2months was cumulative (the end of punishment is thus postponed to 2013, after which I should be under a security caution) .

I was charged with having abused or threatened by mail various jail lawyers as well as politicians. The interior minister of Bavaria, Beckstein, the culture minister of Baden-Wuertemberg, Schavan, the Hessian prime minister, Koch, among others, had begun proceedings.They felt placed in the vicinity of fascism by the utterances in the letters.

Notable at the trial was, among other things, that the session prosecutor, one Oberstaatsanwalt Zimmermann, represented the complaint although he was among the aggrieved parties in the charges. A few days before the trial date a forensic doctor from the University of Tuebingen visited me to form a picture of my fitness for trial. He testified that I was in good physical and mental health, but because of the reduced ability to concentrate through long isolation custody, spoke in favour of 15 minutes break per 90 minutes of court business.

Mention should also be made of the, as I see it, inhumane manner of the methods of conduct : without annoucing it to me in advance it was forbidden that I come to the trial date in civilian clothing. I was demanded by paramilitary-looking security officials under threat of the immediate use of force to strip naked, to bend over, to separate my buttocks, to lift my scrotum, so that I felt involuntarily reminded of the reports from Iraq about the treatment there in the notorious prison Abu Ghraib.

As I sit in isolation and am, with my cell, searched daily, it was far from likely that I would have brought any dangerous weapons with me.

Upon which point I had to put on prison clothing and was handcuffed! Finally I discovered the meaning of the _expression 'handbag'; when the hands had been shackled in a painful position (twisted , back to back) they were packed in a sort of plastic or nylon bag. Thereupon this bag was laced tightly closed and tape applied several times around the wrists to keep it still. Finally the bag was tied to my stomach with a belt. Leg irons as well - and thus tied up I was advised by a security official that were I to attempt to escape a firearm would be used (whether they feared I could hop away is beyond me) .

This trial has certainly not contributed to 'influencing' me or impressing upon me the sense of the justice and penal system. Much rather it reinforces me in my (political) persuasion that the necessity exists to stand up irreconcilably and without false compromises for a free and human social system. In an imperialist -capitalist society freedom and humanity are , however , not to be realised!

NO COMPROMISE WITH FASCISM!
FREEDOM FOR THOMAS MEYER-FALK!

See website:www.freedom-for-thomas.de for more info.