We are asking for your help in demanding freedom for the fifteen women and men taken prisoner for demonstrating in front of the Buenos Aires Legislature. This July 16th marks one year since their arbitrary arrest, and on that day friends and family members will publish the petition below, which we invite you to sign:
Today marks a year since the arbitrary arrest of 15 women and men for demonstrating in front of the Buenos Aires Legislature.
The undersigned demand their immediate freedom.
Send us your signature in solidarity at: libertadpresoslegislatura@???
Here is a brief summary of the events that led to the arrests:
On July 16th, 2004 there was a protest in front of the Legislature of the city of Buenos Aires against a series of proposed changes to the Contraventional Code. One week earlier the changes had been generally approved, and that day each article was going to be voted on individually. The new laws implied the criminalization of poverty; the use of fines and prison for those who had no option other than working in the street. The protest was called by the Coordination Against the Contraventional Code, which consisted of human rights organizations, popular land occupations, gay, lesbian, transvestite and transgender movements, street vendors, 'cardboard collectors', 'piqueteros', students, and leftist political parties.
When the demonstration began, the doors of the Legislature were closed and participants were prohibited from entering to witness the session. A little before noon a group of 40 people who did not belong to any of the organizing groups arrived, with their faces covered, and began to throw rocks against the door at 160 Peru Street. For five hours the area was a liberated zone, much to the delight of television cameras. When it was over, police dressed as civilians and without identification had arrested fifteen people in the area. Today marks a year that those twelve men and three women are in prison. They are: Carmen Ifr?n, Marcela Sanagua, Margarita Meira, Pablo Mart?n Armitrano, Carlos Santamar?a, Eduardo Suriano, Adolfo S?nchez, Fabi?n Scaramella, Horacio Ariel Ojeda, Jorge Nievas, Eduardo Ruiz, H?ctor G?mez, An?bal Fortuny Calder?n, Antonio Medina and C?sar Gerez.
The accusations-illegitimate deprivation of liberty, aggravated duress, and aggravated damage-applied by the judge Silvia Ramond, were confirmed by the 5th Chamber of the Criminal Court in a ruling based on the declarations of the policemen who participated in the arrests. The events were forced to fit into penal figures that eliminate the ability to be released on bail while awaiting trial, which represents an unacceptable violation of our constitutional rights.
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