Judges deny anti-GMO activists a fair trial

1. Judges deny anti-GMO activists a fair trial
Debate on GMOs refused by court
Announcement by Field Liberation
15 Jan 2013

Dendermonde/Brussels, 15/01/2013 - In the presence of a huge crowd of supporters from a range of organisations, the court of Dendermonde (Belgium) has denied 11 anti-GMO activists the legal right to a defence in court. The court refused to allow defence witnesses to give their statements, and also refused to allow video footage to be shown. This is in violation of article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantees defendants the right to a fair trial. In response, the 11 field liberators and their lawyers decided unanimously to leave the court room.

In contrast to the vast majority of Belgian court cases, no independent investigating judge was appointed. This is despite the fact that the prosecution has politicised the trial by introducing the charge of forming a criminal gang. The summons to appear was issued directly by the public prosecutor. The investigation was therefore only conducted for the prosecution. In order to be a fair trial, the investigation should also be conducted for the defence. In order to ensure a fair trial, the defence lawyers wanted at least an investigation during the trial, including a number of defence witnesses and video clips. This was refused by the court. At this point the defendants and their lawyers left the courtroom, let the case continue in their absence, and took no further part in the trial.

The civil parties to the case - including ILVO (The Flemish Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries Research), VIB (Flemish Institute for Biotechnology), University of Gent, Hogeschool Gent - put forward their case, and demanded damages.

Read more here: http://www.gmwatch.eu