Third anarchist jailed for refusing to testify before secret grand jury

third self-described anarchist from the Pacific Northwest has been jailed by federal officials for refusing to speak before a secretive grand jury that the accused have called a politically-motivated modern-day witch-hunt.

Leah-Lynn Plante, a mid-20s activist from Seattle, Washington, was ushered out of court by authorities on Wednesday after refusing for a third time to answer questions forced on her by a grand jury — a panel of prosecutors convened to determine if an indictment can be issued for a federal crime.

Plante was one of a handful of people targeted in a series of raids administered by the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force on July 25 of this year which the feds say were in conjunction with an investigation into acts of vandalism that occurred during May Day protests in Seattle nearly two months prior. As part of their probe, search warrants were issued at multiple residences of activists in the area, including Plante’s, demanding that dwellers provide agents with “anti-government or anarchist literature” in their homes and any flags, flag-making material, cell phones, hard drives, address books, and black clothing.

“As if they had taken pointers from Orwell’s 1984, they took books, artwork and other various literature as ‘evidence’ as well as many other personal belongings even though they seemed to know that nobody there was even in Seattle on May Day,” Plante recalls in a post published this week to her Tumblr page.

Only one week after the raid, Neil Fox of the National Lawyers Guild told Seattle Times that raids like this are create a “chilling effect” by going after lawful, constitutionally-allowed private possessions.

“It concerns us any time there are law-enforcement raids that target political literature, First Amendment-protected materials,” Fox said.

This week Plante still maintains her innocence, now she has reason to believe that the raid that has left her suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome may have been more than an investigation into an activity, but an ideology. Plante says a Freedom of Information Act request she filed in the months after her apartment door was broken down by armed officials reveals that the grand jury investigating her was first convened in March, two months before the vandalism she is being accused of even occurred.

“They are trying to investigate anarchists and persecute them for their beliefs. This is a fishing expedition. This is a witch hunt,” she says this week.

On the day of her third meeting with the grand jury on Wednesday, Plante wrote on her blog that she’d almost certainly be jailed on charges of contempt for refusing once again to testify about herself but said she was willing to face the consequences for exercising her right to remain silent.

“I do not look forward to what inevitably awaits me today, but I accept it,” she writes. “My convictions are unwavering and will not be shaken by their harassment. Today is October 10th, 2012 and I am ready to go to prison.”

Hours later, her Tumblr was updated with a note authored by one of her supporters confirming that Plante “was thrown into prison for civil contempt” after her court date. Plante is now the third anarchist to be imprisoned in the last month for refusing to answer questions about their belief and behavior before a grand jury.

Last month, Plante spoke openly about the grand jury before refusing their questioning for only her second time. “I believe that these hearings are politically motivated,” she wrote in a September 16 statement. “The government wants to use them to collect information that it can use in a campaign of repression. I refuse to have any part of it, I will never answer their questions, I will never speak.”

“While I hate the very idea of prison, I am ready to face it in order to stay true to my personal beliefs. I know that they want to kidnap me and isolate me from my friends and my loved ones in an effort to coerce me to speak. It will not work. I know that if I am taken away, I will not be alone.”

Katherine “KteeO” Olejnik, a fellow anarchist from the Seattle area, was taken into federal custody on September 28 for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury, a decision she said was based on humanity and her First Amendment protections.

“I cannot and will not say something that could greatly harm a person’s life, and providing information that could lead to long term incarceration would be doing that,” Olejnik wrote before being booked. “Icannot and will not be a party to a McCarthyist policy that is asking individuals to condemn each other based on political beliefs.”

On the No Political Repression blog, a support of Olejnik writes that she was prohibited from taking notes during her time on the stand, during which she says she resisted questioning.

Days before her imprisonment began, Matt Duran was also jailed for contempt. According to his attorneys, Duran was not only imprisoned by placed in solitary confinement, denied intimate contact with his lawyer, denied visitor requests forms, personal dietary requirements and sunlight an fresh air.

https://rt.com/usa/news/refusing-grand-jury-plante-196/


Yes, the usual suspects will put the blame on the citizen, and take the side of the state, am I right?

 

Ain't democracy great? Or is it really hypocrisy?

When I was on a federal grand jury, the jurors believed whatever the prosecutor said, and prohibited cross examination of the prosecutor's story. They voted guilty on all counts no matter how ridiculous the charges.

One of the prosecutor's favorite charges was, "Causing an act to be performed". They could never explain how that could be a crime. Yet the bozo grand jurors didn't care about anything except supporting the prosecutor's desires.

I told the jurors that they were the criminals.

 

Local media blackout on this.

This guy has a constitutional right to a speedy trial which no one gets anymore, so they just hold you for 5 years while you await trial.

This guy has a constitutional right to the 5th amendment.

And yet I bet most people will continue to vote for the Republican and Democrat traitors to the constitution, that enable this!

 

The US is well on the road to a corporate totalitarian state.

 

Black clothing? HAHA
A true anarchist can only feel contempt towards authority and will never speak to any judge .

 

Where?

 

And you'll put the blame on the state and take the side of the citizen. You're a "usual suspect" too, you just don't recognise your own reflection.

I'm not personally inclined to come to any conclusion on the basis of such limited and one sided information. My suspicion is that nobody involved is entirely innocent though.

 

I believe in the right to free expression, and a people not fearing their state, yes I do.

 

But you beleive that jews should be expelled from England and should have no role in finance or politics. Yep a real humanist.

 

Does that have anything to do with the subject?

No.

Please stick to that.


Thanks

 

While others believe in the right to free expression, and a people not fearing other people's acts of vandalism and violence.

Everything you say from one blinkered side off the issue can be reflected from the other blinkered side of the issue. You're all right and wrong to some extent. The worst possible situation is to only recognise your side's right and the other side's wrong. A better situation is to not be on a side in the first place.

 

Keep your head down, your mouth closed, and your eyes shut, no matter what?

 

I have absolutely no fear of my State. Because I believe in the State and am not engaged in anti-state activities.

Anarchists don't belong in America.

 

You sound like a Communist.

 

No, I sound like a nationalist. In the past we have had a President and several other politicians assassinated by anarchists.

They aren't welcome here.

 

No, the complete opposite. If the cases against these people was thrown out tomorrow, you'd put it down as a win and move on. That ignores the possibilty that they are guilty of something and their remaining free puts innocent people at risk. Of course the reverse applies to the other side (and I'm sure you'd be there to condemn them for it).

I want to see (alleged) domestic terrorists and (alleged) corrupt officials brought to book. I'm not going to stand of the side of either one to attack the other though.

 

It just goes to show there are honourable descent Americans willing to stand together for the common good!

You're AIPAC owned senators cannot win against these brave individuals.

There is hope ..... for Americans and the world when individuals unit for the common good.

Regards
Highlander

 

Well, sorry to break this to you, but if they are Americans, they have as much right to be there, as you do.

It's a shame that you only want those there, that, like you, are servants to the state.

Very 1984 of you.

 

There is a difference between a Free Citizen who loves his State, and a servant forced to endure a State.

The American Republic is the greatest vehicle of freedom and prosperity in the history of Mankind. To advocate its overthrow is a betrayal of everything American. Anarchists are traitors.

 

And here was me thinking that it was a big thing among you Americans, that if ever the state went rogue, those that stood against it would be deemed righteous.

 

They have just as much of a right as you. Do you think these activities stop at anarchists? No. Pretty soon disagreement will land you with the anarchist title and a cell sans a speedy trial.

 

Uhh. No. It won't. That is merely libertarian paranoia. On par with Chem trails, etc.

The reason people take forever to come to trial is because their defense attorneys waive the right to a speedy trial to have time to prepare a defense. This State does not hold it's citizens indefinitely without trial except in a few horror cases where someone slipped through the cracks. Which happens in any large State.

If you are summoned by a Grand Jury of your peers to testify, then you have a legal obligation to do so. You do not have a legal right to show contempt of court, or the State in a legal proceeding.

I mean, really that is what this thread is about right? Anarchists who feel they have the right to show contempt of court??

Contempt of Court is, and always has been, a crime.

 

HA Ha HA HA Ha HA Ha HA HA Freedom ........Ha HA Ha HA HA Ha HA Ha ......... prosperity HA HA Ha HA Ha HA HA Ha HA ........ Betrayal .......Ha HA HA Ha HA Ha HA HA Ha

You've got to be bloody joking, Free ...... you cannot even demonstrate against the immoral laws or the lies or the secret prisons or the torture chambers.

You wouldn't know freedom if it bit yer arse!

Freedom ....... keich!
Prosperity, where are the jobs? The policies persued are creating unemployment, which ever AIPAC party is in power.
Prosperity ...... you have to get charity from Hugo for heating oil for Americans cause all your tax dollars are freely give to the Nazi Zionist Talmud creed and there genocidal wars, well they do own your senators don't they!
Prosperity, where are the middle classes?

We have a saying in Scotland ...... yer heids up yer arse!

Regards
Highlander

 

haven't seen anything in the paper, or on local news here.

 

Really?

Doesn't surprise me.

You know as well as I do, that in reality, your media is no better than filtered propaganda.