As of yesterday, Wednesday 6 June 2007, 9 young men and women from Belgium (including Geert from CADTM in Antwerp, Laurent A. from CADTM Brussels, John Vander Borre from ACC Liège) as well as the following CADTM network members from France (Jeanne Semin from CADTM Lyon, Sylvain Dropsy from CADTM Grenoble, Jérôme Ollier from CADTM Liège, Martin Dommenge from CADTM Brussels, « Zoul » from Survie and from CADTM France) were detained by the police. 5 remain in German policy custody.

They were arrested while they exercised their right to peaceful, not violent protest against the policies of the G8 with respect to developing country debt, war, migration and climate change. They were near the small town of Jennewitz, some 10km from the sealed area with a fence of over 2.5m created by the German authorities to protect the G8 meeting. They were not responsible for damaging any public or private property and threw no stones. The police will definitely not have found any weapons on them. They were just there to express their disapproval and to exercise their rights as citizens.

They have been detained in cells in an old Siemens factory which has been transformed into a detention centre during the G8 meeting. A number of them have been heard by a German magistrate. 5 of them are still in custody including Jérôme Ollier from CADTM Liège, Martin Dommenge and Laurent Atsou from CADTM Brussels, John Vander Borre from ACC Liège.

Jeanne Semin was freed in the afternoon of 6 June. Sylvain Dropsy has been freed around at 11.30pm. Geert and Zoul were freed this Thursday at 7am. Among the five still in detention, it seems as though the authorities have said they will be freed on Friday or Saturday. They have also said to them that they will probably be tried (to be confirmed). Sylvain Dropsy, with whom we are in touch by telephone since his freeing from custody, has told us that he “had the feeling of leaving some sort of Guatanamo, a space where there are no rights”.

They are all detained in Siemens building, Industriestrasse in Rostock (tel. 00 49 381-25276410 ou 00 49 381-25276411).

CADTM has been in touch with lawyers in Paris, Brussels and Liège. CADTM calls for the immediate freeing of people unjustly detained and an immediate stop to the repression of citizens who are peacefully exercising their right to protest.

If you would like to contact Sylvain Dropsy (CADTM member from CADTM Grenoble who is currently a trainee with CADTM Belgium), who is still in Rostock, contact: 00 49 163 40 649 45
He is preparing a statement.

In addition, CADTM is taking part in the debates which are currently underway in Rostock. Among them are: Victor Nzuzi, Congolese farmer and head of NAD-CADTM Kinshasa. You can contact him on 00 49 151 517 34 002

Eric Toussaint, president of CADTM Belgium. Tel : 00 32 486 74 47 52
or 00 32 4 226 62 85 international cadtm.org

German lawyer : Karen Ullmann 00 49 40 99 99 39 06 (office in Hamburg)
Legal team in Rostock 00 49 38 20 47 68 111
William Bourdon lawyer in Paris : 00 33 1 42 60 32 60

Sample letter

This is the letter sent by the CADTM.

Comité pour l’Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde

Liège, 7 June 2007

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

We have just learned of the arrest of several Belgian and French citizens who are part of the delegation representing CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt www.cadtm.org ) in Rostock (Heiligendamm).

From information received from our other colleagues on the spot, we know that these people were arrested 10 km from the fence protecting the G8 meeting, in the orange zone, and that they were involved in no violent action, nor causing any kind of damage. The police found no weapons on their persons.

It appears that the German police are at present making completely arbitrary arrests with a view to preventing the G8 counter-summit, a fact that is totally inacceptable.

We respectfully request that you approach the German authorities without delay to obtain the release of the following people: 3 Belgian citizens – Laurent Atsou from CADTM Brussels, John Vander Borre from ACC Liège – , and 2 French citizens – Jérôme Ollier from CADTM Liège and Martin Dommenge Abeau from CADTM Brussels. They are detained in Siemens building, Industriestrasse in Rostock (tel. 00 49 381-25276410 ou 00 49 381-25276411).

We also ask you to keep us informed of the steps taken and the results obtained.

We thank you in advance for your prompt action, and remain,

Yours truly,

Denise Comanne and Eric Toussaint

Managing Director and President of CADTM Belgium

international cadtm.org

denise.comanne cadtm.org

345, Avenue de l’Observatoire 4000 LIEGE Belgium

www.cadtm.org

Latest news: June 8, 2007)

Since yesterday 2 CADTM members have been freed. 3 are still in jail : Jérôme Ollier (CADTM Liège), Martin Dommenge Abeau (CADTM Brussels) and John Vander Borre (ACC Liège).

We have received a hundreds messages of solidarity : thanks for them.

We are already preparing with our comrades in Japan the mobilization against the G8 in Hokhaido nex July 2008.