FRFI 178 April / May 2004
On 1 March 2004 the charges against six people accused of DHKP-C (Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Party-Front) membership were thrown out. They had been arrested in December 2002 by the Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, held and interrogated at Paddington Green police station for a week, then released on bail. They had been awaiting trial for 15 months.
Shortly before the trial the defence counsel noticed the Attorney General’s written consent for the prosecution had never been given, which is a requirement under the Terrorism Act as the charges concerned the affairs of a foreign jurisdiction – in this case Turkey. In an attempt to cover this up the prosecution claimed that membership of a foreign organisation and sending funds abroad to a proscribed organisation did not actually involve the affairs of any foreign jurisdiction! Although the defendants lost that particular legal argument they won the next one concerning abuse of process.
In March 2001 the Home Office proscribed 21 foreign organisations. The list included the DHKP-C. After the proscription order had been passed, the DHKC (Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Front) London Information Bureau wrote to the Home Office, asking whether the DHKC was now banned. The Home Office replied that the DHKC had not been banned and as long as it did not break any laws it was to continue its work even if it involved propagating views that the government disagreed with or even criticising ‘friendly governments’.
When the defendants were charged in December 2002 the basis of the prosecution was the assertion that being a DHKC activist constituted DHKP-C membership, a position that clearly contradicted the Home Office’s previously stated policy. The defence counsel successfully argued that arresting the defendants represented a breach of promise not to arrest, as outlined in the earlier Home Office correspondence, and was therefore an abuse of process.
All charges were dropped, leaving the defendants free to continue with the political work free from prosecution. This case has cost at least one million pounds – the war on (t)error doesn’t come cheap.
Harry Walsh
