OCAP Jury Trial Appeal For Support

THE JURY TRIAL OF OCAP MEMBERS ACCUSED OF 'PLANNING A RIOT' IS UNDERWAY AND WE ARE APPEALING FOR YOUR HELP.

The trial of Stefan Pilipa, Gaetan Heroux and John Clarke is now underway. Pretrial motions are now being heard and jury selection will take place shortly.

Stefan and Gaetan are charged with 'participating in a riot' and face two years in jail. John has been accused of counseling to participate in a riot and counseling to assault police. He could go to jail for up to five years.

These charges are drawn from the most reactionary and antiquated sections of the Canadian Criminal Code that date back to 18th Century Britain. They are not normal criminal charges but tools of political repression designed to crush opposition at times when the elites felt the lower orders had to be put back in their place with a sharp lesson. That they are being used in Tory governed Ontario in 2003 speaks volumes about the political climate in which OCAP is operating.

On our website at http://www.ocap.ca we are posting letters that to the Ontario Attorney General, David Young, that have started to come in. We are asking all progressive organizations in Canada and internationally to send such messages. Young can be contacted at:-

Tel: (416) 326-2220

Attorney General of Ontario
720 Bay Street
TORONTO, Ontario M5G 2K1

Please send copies to OCAP at ocap@tao.ca or fax them to us at (416) 925-9681.

We will be sending out another update on the trial proceedings shortly.

We thank-you for your support and solidarity.

OCAP

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234
Toronto, Ontario M5G 4A2
416-925-6939 ocap@tao.ca www.ocap.ca