Press Release of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh from December 19, 2008 - For Truth! Justice! Reparations!
BREAK THE SILENCE!
JANUARY 7, 2009, 1 P.M.
CENTRAL TRAIN STATION DESSAU
Pressemitteilung der Initiative in Gedenken an Oury Jalloh vom 19. Dezember 2008; Presse: Tod von Laya Alama Condé in Bremen nach Brechmittel - Freispruch für den Polizeiarzt
source picture: www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de
CALL AND CHARGE
Aufruf und Anklageschrift in deutsch
Three years, 11 months and 1 day after the death of Oury Jalloh in Cell No. 5 of the police station in Dessau, the two policemen accused of his death have been acquitted of negligence. Numerous actions and nationwide informational events carried out by the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh and various other refugee and migrant self organisations were the principal reason that a trial was even opened in the first place. Because the entire police and the State Prosecutor of Dessau did everything in their power to bury it, the court proved incapable of uncovering the truth.
source picture: www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de
We fought for a long time until finally obliging the court to open proceedings against the two police officers. Everywhere we went we stated the obvious: "Oury Jalloh… It was murder!" We were witnesses as to how pieces of evidences were falsified and how supposed experts were used in support of the accused. We heard and read the racist statements of the police officers, of the doctor who took Oury Jalloh's blood, of the police bosses. And we had to defend ourselves against the attacks of the NPD and right-wing extremist groups, who told us in Dessau: “A bullet for every foreigner!” Yet never did anyone speak of racism during the entire 22 months of the trial.
We knew that the truth would not come out of the trial. Nevertheless, as the two police were only on trial for negligence—the most obvious yet most minor of all offences committed that day against the life of Oury Jalloh—some of us thought, "At least one of the policemen will be charged." And indeed, the court proceedings served to uncover even more contradictions in the case. Over the course of the trial, however, it became clear just how tightly the police, the judiciary system and the government circles all step to the beat of the same drum. Some of our people did everything they could possibly do to see that the crime is neither forgotten nor repeated. In doing so, they were not only crimminalised and threatened by the German state but also from within the fold of the right-wing extremists. In spite of it all, we nevertheless remain steadfast. And we continue to name the murderers.
For us, the police officers who took Oury Jalloh in custody are accomplices
... because until now, not even during the 22 months of court proceedings, not one reason was ever presented as to why Oury Jalloh was taken into custody. We know this reality all to well from our own experiences; how the police control us everyday; how they abuse and criminalise us due to the colour of our skin, the colour of our hair or due to our country of origin. We also hold the German state and its laws responsible. Measures such as the Residence Obligation Law (Residenzpflicht) and the Foreigners' Acts (Ausländergesetze) provide the police with a carte blanche to execute arbitrary brutality by the very same state who then provides the impunity necessary so that the offenders must never fear any consequences. As a result, many are the names which we bear in our hearts: our brothers and sisters N'deye Mareame Sarr, Halim Dener, John Achidi, Laye Konde, Zdravko Nikolov Dimitrov, Aamir Ageeb, Arumugasamy Subramaniam, Dominique Koumadio and many more have lost their lives to the unpunished violence of the state and its organs. Indeed, many of us still bear the scars which we had forced on us during racist police controls, at refugee camps or while held prisoner in deportation prisons.
For us, all the police officers are offenders who were present at the police station of Dessau on January 7, 2005
... because they have either kept silent as to the incidents of 7 January, 2005, or—by enchaining, humiliating, and insulting him, by breaking his nose and most probably having setting him on fire—they in one way or the other had a hand in the death of Oury Jalloh. Because they have willingly accepted a version of the truth that was presented to them via an in-house memorandum by the police's commanding judicial officer and one of the accused police officers. This is the version they also presented to the court. Never have they questioned their own conscience or included any values in their actions which are important to us as human beings. We accuse them all of murder.
For us, all officers from the police, the criminal police, and the state prosecutor that were involved in the investigations about the death of Oury Jalloh are accomplices of the murderers
... because they have consciously neglected their investigations, they have destroyed evidences and have constructed lies. Because they have betrayed and lied to the public. In order to ensure the cover up of the truth, they have put pressure on those very people who have always stood for truth and who will continue to do so. In any other profession or area, these people would have been suspended due to their ineptitude.
Finally, for us, the German government is responsible for the death of Oury Jalloh and all other victims of racist state violence
... because the government foments racism every day. It sets a legal foundation for racism in laws such as the Residence Obligation Law (Residenzpflicht), the Foreigners' Law, and the Benefits Act for Asylum-Seekers. Be it through deportations or the participation in the murderous outer borders of Europe, the German state and its institutions consciously accept the death of refugees everyday. The government is guilty as charged because it threatens our lives and violates our dignity every day through the enforcement of racist police controls, the raiding of refugee camps, and through the numerous acts of deportation. The government is guilty as charged, because it collaborates with our governments and disregards respect for human life in its competition for natural resources, markets and for the profits of the big companies that it represents. The German government is guilty as charged, because it sends weapons and fully-armed soldiers to our countries—in the name of human rights and peace.
To charge the guilty ones and in commemoration of our many victims, we are mobilising for a demonstration in Dessau to mark the fourth anniversary of the deaths of Oury Jalloh and Laye Konde. There, we intend to defend all that which makes us human beings. Furthermore, our intention is to break the silence which accepts and tolerate murder both here and everywhere else.
For more information about our position or the cases of Oury Jalloh and Laye Konde please see:
http://thecaravan.org
https://thevoiceforum.org
http://initiativeouryjalloh.wordpress.com