Last night Matt Duran and Katherine “Kteeo”
Olejnik were released from the Sea-Tac Federal Detention Center where
they spent the last five months for refusing to testify before a
Seattle grand jury investigating the anarchist movement . A third
resister, Maddy Pfeiffer, remains in prison, but has been moved from
solitary confinement to the general population.
Duran and Olejnik were greeted by friends
and family as they left the detention center. Their lawyers, Kim
Gordon and Jenn Kaplan, had filed motions arguing that their
confinement was punitive. Under the law, imprisonment for civil
contempt is not supposed to punish witness but coerce them into
testifying.
Duran and Olejnik had been sent to prison
in September after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury
investigating the anarchist movement. While ostensibly investigating
vandalism that occurred during a May Day protest last year, the grand
jury has been widely criticized for conducting a witch-hunt targeting
people for their political ideas and affiliation. For the past
five months, supporters across the country have been continually
pressuring Judge Jones and District Attorney Jenny Durkan to release
the grand jury resisters. Yesterday’s release was a victory for the
resisters and all their supporters.
According to Judge Richard Jones’ decision:
“Both Ms. Olejnik and Mr. Duran have
provided extensive declarations explaining that although they wish to
end their confinement, they will never end their confinement by
testifying. The court finds their declaration persuasive. They have
submitted to five months of confinement. For a substantial portion of
that confinement, they have been held in the special hosing unit of the
Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, during which they have had no
contact with other detainees, very little contact even with prison
staff, and exceedingly limited ability to communicate with the outside
world. . . . [C]onfinement in the special housing unit entails 23
hours of solitary each day and an hour of solitary time alone in a
larger room each day, a single fifteen minute phone call each month. .
., and exceedingly limited access to reading and writing material.
Their physical health has deteriorated sharply and their mental health
has also suffered from the effects of solitary confinement. Their
confinement has cost them; they have suffered the loss of jobs, income,
and important personal relationships. . . . For these witnesses,
however, their resolve appears to increase as their confinement
continues.”
“We’re glad the courts have finally seen
fit to stop torturing Matt and Kteeo in an effort to make them talk,”
said Chris of the Committee Against Political Repression. ”But of
course they should never have been there to begin with, and Maddy
Pfeiffer remains in prison for their refusal to cooperate with this
political witch-hunt.”
You can find the full court order here.
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SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
www.jerichony.org
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