Below you find the Press Release and the Call for the Demonstration in Dessau :
French:
*EN MEMOIRE D´OURY JALLOH: Rapport de Regina Kiwanuka au sujet de la manifestation de Dessau. Part 1 &11
https://thevoiceforum.org/node/530
*REMEMBERANCE FOR OURY JALLOH:
Regina Kiwanuka Report On Dessau Demonstration First Report 23.06.2007*
NATIONWIDE VOICE FOR DEFENCE ON THE ATTACK TO HUMANITY 2nd report. 27 June 2007.
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Foto and Video: http://www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de/bildarchiv/ereignis/230607oury_jalloh.html
*REMEMBERANCE FOR OURY JALLOH: Regina Kiwanuka Report On Dessau Demonstration - Part 1
23.06.2007*
The Demonstration that moved Dessau Protesting the injustice that has consistently befallen the African people over the centuries
The tears of more than 150 people over the terrifying death of Oury Jalloh poured in the city of Dessau on Saturday 23 June 2007 when heavy rains and thunder joined in the struggle to demand justice for the black man.>>>>>
At exactly 14hrs people from different cities in Germany and of different nationalities gathered at the front of the main train station in Dessau to once again protest against the appalling events surrounding Oury Jalloh's untimely shocking death.
Oury Jalloh a 23year old young man from Sierra Leone died on 7 January 2005 in a police cell in the basement in Dessau, following his unnecessary brutal arrest by two police officers Mr. Schneider and Mr. Maerz. Reason for his arrest?? Identity verification. In spite of the fact that the police were aware of Mr. Jalloh's valid and legal status here in Germany. He was nevertheless forced into the police car by officer Schneider who illustrated the events of that fateful arrest in court during the week of 27 March 2007, and that was the last interaction for Oury Jalloh with the outside world . Undressed of all Human Rights and dignity, Jalloh was handcuffed and forcefully ushered into the deadly police station and mercilessly delivered to the police chief Mr. Schubert.
Mr. Schubert in turn racially mocked and rebuked Oury Jalloh's status on the telephone with Dr. Bloedau following Dr. Bloedau's complaints of difficulties in tracing veins from the black skin, having been requested to check Jalloh's medical status by the police. Mr. Schubert's mocking advice to Dr. Bloedau was to "carry along a tube" with jeering laughter at the black African as he was termed.
In his opening remarks and details that moved the crowd, Mr. Yufanyi Mbolo began with the agonies and challenges that surrounded the predicament of Jalloh's death. He reminded everyone that on the oders of Dr. Bloedau, Oury Jalloh was tightly fixed on a fireproof mattress on the floor heavily chained both at his hands and feet and then blazenly and heartlessly burned to death in the custody of the police officers.
He continued with how the death procedure was reiterated in court that week of 27 March 2007 by the two officers M and Schn. who were responsible for Oury Jalloh's arrest, conducted the grievous bodily harm of tightening his body in a constrained and despicable manner, then left him in the basement for dead.
Mr. Yufanyi continued that a person heavily chained to that extent and the police's intentions to fool the world into a suicidal death, because Oury Jalloh can no longer speak for himself is abominable, vehemently disputed by the African community, the Human Rights activists and all members of the community who hold the well being of humanity at heart. And the sole reason for today's demonstration.
He continued that many of us have witnessed the Oury Jalloh's process in the Honourable court in Dessau and we have seen how the case is being run off - course by the Honourable court criminalizing Oury Jalloh as unfit in society, in the eyes of the press, the various organisations that attended court, his friends and sympathisers and in particular his mother and brother who travelled all the way from Guinea to witness the horrible events that stole their loved one and a born and bred African national.
The fact that all police officers obstructed justice in court by denying events, dates and crucial details in respect with the case, conferring with one another in the course of the trial and trying to unsuccessfully cover it up, and that the Honourable court seems to follow suit by tolerating the lies, the contortion and destruction of the police is representation that the judicial is not independent. And that if we do not come out stronger each day and portray the whole controversial suspected murder of one of our own to the whole world, the whole incident might just be turned into a family feud right under our noses and we shall be faced with worse grievous challenges in future as a black people in the Diaspora and at home.
Yufanyi reiterated that we are all Oury Jalloh, let not any one of us make a mistake to identify him or herself as an individual in the eyes of these people. To them we are like flies one can never differentiate a female from a male. So whichever land that you may belong to in our dear African continent, here we are one and the same,
Oury Jalloh is us and we are Oury Jalloh.
With that in mind Yufanyi maintained that we should not only look at it as a demonstration event in Dessau, rather wherever you live in Germany continue to declare and pronounce the facts surrounding Oury Jalloh's terrifying death and the course the court is embarked on to see to the freedom of its people when we are always left for dead, criminalised and grievously punished with severe penalties no matter how insignificant the impact of the offence. And that Dr. Bloedau should never be let off scot free. A person who has practised medicine for years and has vowed to save lives rather on this occasion gave a directive for Oury Jalloh's fixation and detention. Whether it was a conspiracy with the police, Dr. Bloedau must be brought to justice, if not, let us fight to bring justice to him.
With those words the procession began its journey once again marching steadily through the now infamous city of Dessau. People from Bochum, Jena, Frankfurt, Goettingen, Berlin, Billefeld, Nuremberg, Duesseldorf, Dortmund and many more continued pouring in and no sooner did the March begin than the massive rains that powered immediately accompanied by heavy rocking winds as if to blow off the ghastly uncleansed airs of injustice surrounding the city of Dessau.
Tears of sorrow and torture of the African people continued pouring when the people braved the heavy rains and continued with the slogan of "Oury Jalloh -- Das was Mord, Oury Jalloh -- Das war Mord" ( "Oury Jalloh -- that was murder") over and over again, oblivious to the deep paddles that formed all over the streets right straight into their shoes, oblivious to the body soaking cold and uninterrupted waters falling from above. As if a humongous tap was continuously opened in anger and in determination to portray and protest against the injustice that has befallen the black people since Africa was invaded many centuries back.
The procession continued once again to where Alberto Adriano met his fateful end, beaten to death by racist extremists in the centre of Dessau where people held a one minute silence and sung in remembrance of another innocent brother whose only crime like all the others was the colour of his skin.
The microphone never rested in spite of the heavy pouring waters people continued to proclaim the obstruction of justice, the conspiracy surrounding the deaths of Africans in Germany. They continued that no matter the viciousness and the continuation of the modernised slave trade and modernised colonialism of the determined aggressors, the African community vowed that it is equally to the task of defending and fighting for its existence and the freedom of the mother continent AFRICA.
We reject to continue living in deception of the organised international community disguised in terms of global funding as in development Aid handed down to the African dictators who in turn transform its peoples into refugees all over the world. Only to get burned alive in the basement in police cells in Dessau, shot at point blank by the same police officers of the aggressors in the middle of the streets as Dominique Koumadio in Dortmund, discriminated against to meet their fateful deaths in various ways under the hands of the people alleging development Aid which in reality is advanced or modernised colonialism.
The procession continued without much threatening incidents from the Dessau residents or the police though some people raised their windows shut, others waved the German flag through their windows in retaliation, portraying ignorance and lack of knowledge that it is indeed the aggressors who invaded Africa and triggered the dispersion of the African peopel from its peaceful mother continent.
The number of the police force was increased this time, their vehicles were countless and the dark green uniforms were spotted all over the city. Although some on motorbikes soaked wet like the rest of the other human beings, many of the police ducked straight into their vehicles to avoid getting soaked. As if these heavenly waters would ever come anywhere close in comparison to the fires of hell in the basement of the police station in this city Dessau on 7 January 2005. Or any other atrocities befalling the African person around the globe. The sun had long returned to dry up the soaked bodies and a whole good hour was once again spent on those last fateful steps that saw Oury Jalloh to his towering inferno in the police station.
Flowers were laid on the steps as a sign of agony, remembrance and peace for the rested soul. Another one minute silence was also observed for Mario Bichtermann who died in the same cell in the basement in November 2002.
Dominik Kuomadio 23yrs (Kongo) who was shot to death on 14 April 2006 in the streets of Dortmund by the police, Laye Konde who was killed again by police brutality in Bremen on the same day that Jalloh was also burned. John Achidi (Nigeria/Cameroon), killed in Hamburg, Osamuyi (Nigeria) our recent shock from Spain killed again by the Spanish police in a deportation attempt representing the conspiracy of the white people to finish off the Africans. All their souls were remembered and grieved for.
The residents in Dessau were more alert this time and many onlookers followed and gaped at the moving procession. The press and the reporters were not intimidated by the heavy thunder, cameras kept rolling all through the rain.
The procession returned peacefully to its original spot at the main train station Dessau at exactly 17hrs and concluded with more loud voices of solidarity and togetherness to save the African continent from perishing. SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON.
Compiled by Regina Kiwanuka from (Uganda) and proud to be an African.
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Part ll
NATIONWIDE VOICE FOR DEFENCE ON THE ATTACK TO HUMANITY 2nd report. 27 June 2007.
In the aftermath of the demonstration for Oury Jalloh in Dessau on Saturday 23 June 2007;
We shall not tire, we must continue to stand and raise our voices against the attack on humanity.
Let not the people interpret demonstrations as the means only to tackle these grievous violations against humanity. Let the demonstrations represent the beginning and creating of awareness among ourselves, our blindfolded brothers and sisters all over the world, in the African continent and in particular those in the Diaspora who are holding citizenship of the western world, holding travel documents, producing children and transforming all this into weapons to defend themselves against the worldwide attack to humanity.
This will not realise deliverance from the aggressors:
Do not wait to be affected only when your family is attacked. We are falling in the traps of the aggressors. They separated and divided us against our will and consent the day they called the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 to partition and share the African continent right here in Germany. This has operated for centuries, it is transparently corroborated through the African dictators of today. They have sold our conscience and are bent to the egoism of the aggressors and we have continued to abandon our continent to save ourselves. We are Oblivious of our brothers and sisters enduring the fires of hell in the heart of Africa, forgetting the whole meaning and existence of the African continent.
Let the demonstrations represent a wake up call to uproot the base and the ground for our relocation from Africa and the barbarism against the black person, rather than focusing on the symptoms of why the system hate us so much and why the police in the Diaspora is bent on killing a black person in the name of deportation and criminalisation.
Let the Oury Jalloh fires of hell in the basement of the police cell in Dessau command the interpretation of what it really stands for: THE DOGMA IMPRINTED ON THE CONSCIENCE FOR CENTURIES AND CENTURIES OF PEOPLES THAT THE AFRICAN PERSON IS FOREVER INFERIOR, LESS TO HUMANITY AND THEREFORE DOOMED TO PERISH IN WHICHEVER MEANS POSSIBLE.
This is represented in the manner and the effrontery of the police witnessed by many on the grounds outside the court in Dessau during the Oury Jalloh trial, when the police distracted the process and concentrated on attacking the peaceful witnesses of the trial outside court holding banners displaying the picture of a fire lighter that sparked off the horrible fires that burnt Oury Jalloh alive in police custody, the banners with inscriptions that " Oury Jalloh was murdered". These are only banners representing our freedom of speech, the word is already dispersed that Oury Jalloh died in police custody and with a fire lighter. The police and the authorities should concentrate on the realism of peace and justice, and focus on the extent the judicial is prepared to excel to see to justice in respect to humanity, to prove its independence from the executives and the almighty aggressors who have suffocated the world and deprived it of its human rights and the breath of freedom.
The police should not reduce themselves so as to display fear of the word murder or should it be termed pretence. The word murder has not only existed but has been practiced in reality for centuries. It is not new and neither is it old. So the police should place their concentration on being proven innocent, rather than being thrown into a panic rage and demonstrate it by attacking innocent supporters of the Human Rights.
Letting loose of the organised crimes against the Human Rights and freedom fighters and turn a blind eye with statements like "one doesn’t have to see everything" and "there are ways to write reports more slowly- "they are only for show anyway", coming from a Chief police officer? This chief police officer made a call for other colleges to break the law and went unpunished while the criminalisation and charges against members of the Oury Jalloh Initiative goes unabated. This exhibits itself through our apparent systematic destruction, permitting of the racist extremists to attend the process in court and the closing down of the internet shop owned by an African in Dessau on 7 February 2006 under the guise of controlling drug trafficking and law breakers when it was to prevent the collective African voice in defence. And all the atrocities befalling the African people during the Oury Jalloh process in the name of keeping peace, asserting law adherence and preventing obstruction when it is the police that is obstructing justice in the Honourable court of law.
Failure to focus on Doctor Bloedau's competence who authorised Oury Jalloh's detention exposing him to the ferocious barbarism that resulted in his death.
All these will not divert the attention and the facts surrounding the terrible death of Oury Jalloh in police custody in Dessau. Nor will it weaken the gravity of the police bitterness and hatred towards the African people, again displayed when they ruthlessly strangled Osamuyia Aikpitanhi in Spain on 9 June 2007.
It should only portray the fact that the time has come for the police and their masters to come up clean and start exercising civilisation and the protection of the Human Rights in place of the atrocities towards the African people and towards humanity. For, their suicide justification has indeed run out of steam. It has come down from colonisation to suicide and self defence on the part of the aggressors.
The demonstrations and the banners are the only voice we have, to scoop up the enormity from the white side of the pacific directed to the black community, persistently upholding for centuries when indeed it was the African continent invaded and wronged.
To the Germans and other “western white constructs”, those Organisations, groups and political parties calling themselves progressive and humanists, mobilising in their thousands to speak for Africa in the G8 of the capitalists and imperialists ( known for Africa’s doom) in Heiligendamm: You cannot speak for Africa when black people are burnt to death in your police cell and you do nothing, when black people are exonerating and you cheer, when black people are fighting and you divide them. First take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the eyes of Africa. You are part of the problem when you pretend and dominate.
We therefore call upon all African People in their respective lands of exile and at home to focus on a strong strategy in defence against this attack on humanity and to the black people in particular to create an African conference to fight the dictators of today and to peacefully return the African continent into our hands.
Let us not let the Nkwame Nkurumas, the Lumumbas, the Sankaras and the Nelson Mandelas' mission and vision of an independent and a free African continent die in vain. Oury Jalloh's inferno is just the beginning and his spirit should stay within us to fight for his justice and ours.
We either unite and fight on or we stay divided and continue perishing. We have been enslaved, colonised and then made to feel morally and systematically guilty of our actions when we resist and fight oppression and persecution.
Compiled by Regina Kiwanuka on behalf of all the demonstrators on Saturday 23 June 2007 for the suffering children of Africa.
***
- Press Release: Demonstration in Dessau In Memory of Oury Jalloh and Dominique Koumadio
20.03.2007:>>>>https://thevoiceforum.org/node/522
-The Call for Demonstration against the Persecution of a Word
http://initiativeouryjalloh.wordpress.com
Deutsch: Presseerklärung: Demonstration in Gedenken an Oury Jalloh und Dominique Koumadio in Dessau
https://thevoiceforum.org/node/521
http://initiativeouryjalloh.wordpress.com
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English & Deutsh:
Regina Kiwanuka* - Ugandan Human Rights Activists, Member of the International Delegation
http://www.thevoiceforum.org/node/469
Regina Kiwanuka Threatened with Deportation to Uganda
http://thecaravan.org/node/1243
Regina Kiwanuka droht Abschiebung nach Uganda
http://thecaravan.org/node/1235
Regina Kiwanuka - Beobachtungen und Kommentare: Oury-Jalloh-Prozess
http://www.thevoiceforum.org/node/474
Proteste vor den Wahlen in Uganda
10.02.2006
http://stoffwechsel.radio-z.net/component/option,com_jimtawl/task,show_feature/cat,85/id,2686
Regina Kiwanuka droht Abschiebung
http://www.umbruch-bildarchiv.de/video/deportation/010607kiwanuka.html
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RE: Torture of Samson Mande's SUSPECTED associates in Uganda prisons by Mr. Zimura Murani
04.April,2007
Human Rights Watch
Amnesity international
East African Amnesity International Team
- The interrogations in all detention centres comprised the same questions
- Inhuman conditions in the Ugandan prisons
- Innocent people in Ugandan prisons denied bail with no justice
- Other Prisoners
- Women prisoners in the CPS
- Healthcare
https://thevoiceforum.org/node/499***
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http://www.racewire.org/archives/2007/05/the_racism_in_germany_they_did…
The News
The Racism in Germany They Didn't Cover
A grizzly murder of an African man by German police barely makes the news, but some are calling it a ghost of Nazism, the Black Star News reports. This story is worth reading.
Germany made some recent international headlines when it was exposed that military trainers had instructed recruits to imagine that they were being attacked by Blacks in the Bronx, USA, and how the would fight back.
Yet, there is case which hits to the core of racism that has received much less publicity -- it involves the cruel death of an African immigrant in the hands of German law enforcement...
Oury Jallow, a 21-year-old Sierra Leonean, left his war-torn country to find sanctuary in Germany, where he could bring to fruition his dream of a peaceful and thriving life. It hadn’t crossed his mind that some German law enforcement agents would treat him with such cruelty. That’s exactly what happened in the night of January 7th, 2005, when he was arrested and taken into police custody, allegedly for being “inebriate and harassing women.”
Jallow was then taken to one police station in Dessau, “searched” and hogtied on a fire-proof mattress in a cell. In the middle of the night, a blaze flared up in his cell and burned him down. Although the young man cried for help, the two policemen in attendance didn’t budge an inch to snatch him off the throes of the heat.
The police said Jallow had committed suicide. But thanks to an activist friend who wasn't believing it, the two officers are standing trial.
See full story here. It's one you'll want to follow. below
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=201b8…
German Cops Murder African
The Black Star News, Commentary, Mathias Victorien Ntep, Posted: May 11, 2007
Editor's note: A young African immigrant in Germany dies a horrible death while in police custody. The perseverance of his friends has ensured that at least a trial of the accused will move forward.
german police brutalityGermany made some recent international headlines when it was exposed that military trainers had instructed recruits to imagine that they were being attacked by Blacks in the Bronx, USA, and how the would fight back.
Yet, there is case which hits to the core of racism that has received much less publicity -- it involves the cruel death of an African immigrant in the hands of German law enforcement.
Two police officers are currently standing trial in Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, for being involved in the dreadful death of a young asylum-seeker from Sierra Leone.
The indicted officers, who were in attendance that night of January 7th, 2005, failed to rescue Oury Jallow from the arson that was cruelly dispatching him to the Great Beyond. The police initially alleged “suicide” in order to cover-up the crime and murder committed by their colleagues.
But for the determination of the friends of the late Jallow, especially his friend from Guinea, this case would have been covered up, dismissed and the plaintiffs once for all even non-suited.
Oury Jallow, a 21-year-old Sierra Leonean, left his war-torn country to find sanctuary in Germany, where he could bring to fruition his dream of a peaceful and thriving life. It hadn’t crossed his mind that some German law enforcement agents would treat him with such cruelty. That’s exactly what happened in the night of January 7th, 2005, when he was arrested and taken into police custody, allegedly for being “inebriate and harassing women.”
Jallow was then taken to one police station in Dessau, “searched” and hogtied on a fire-proof mattress in a cell. In the middle of the night, a blaze flared up in his cell and burned him down. Although the young man cried for help, the two policemen in attendance didn’t budge an inch to snatch him off the throes of the heat.
Instead, they cynically and gleefully let him go up in flames. Whereafter, they cooked up and bandied about a story that the young African “committed suicide.” The police of Dessau did their utmost to gull the public community in an attempt to cover up the murder.
However, Jallow’s friend, another African from Guinea, wouldn’t let that manipulated side of the story prevail. He organized a whip-round among their kith and well-wishers so as to hire attorneys-at-law to profess the rights of the departed.
The Guinean friend personally traveled to Sierra Leone to deliver the grim tidings to the parents of Jallow. Many months ago, this community staged a soccer game to remember the death of Oury.
The police claimed Oury deliberately put an end to his life—this was flatly disgusting, flimsy and ridiculous inasmuch as constables are supposed to remove from any arrested person every article that he or she might use to harm themselves.
Yet, the policemen have maintained hitherto that they thoroughly searched Jallow. How could someone whose hands and legs were immobilized kill himself?
Another less cogent explanation whipped out by some people is that the two police officers didn’t notice a cigarette lighter in Jallow’s pocket that he might have used to set fire to the cell.
Moreover, sensible humans will agree that somebody whose four limbs have been bound up can’t use them. What is more, the mattress on which Jallow was lying in the cell was fireproof.
One is compelled to believe that Jallow might have been voluntarily killed by the two constables. If not, why did they lie in the first place? The police almost had their side of the story through. Unfortunately for them, the prosecutor, the friends of Jallow, their attorneys, and many citizens in Germany wouldn’t let them of the hook.
One hundred fifty friends of Jallow and denizens of Dessau as well as 500 individuals from Berlin took to the streets to commemorate the unjust death, and to cry out against the streak of some German law enforcement agents to distort the facts and the truth. They demanded the disclosure of the results of the investigation and the post-mortem examination, compensation to the Jallow’s family and apology from the police and from Dessau’s officials. “Don’t conceal anything – we won’t forget anything,” some posters declared.
People are aware of the delaying tactics and the bias of some police and justice officers against people of immigrant origin. Although Jallow died two years ago, until recently the justice department of Dessau had been deploying gimmicks in order to non-suit the plaintiffs and the public prosecution.
This spine-chilling attitude is consistent with the Nazi ideology that still pervades some portions of German society.
This ideology, rooted in pathological envy was propounded by the Austrian Adolph Hitler -- who later on became German -- and enthusiastically spread by Goebbels, his propaganda minister. The Nazi ideology stands for bestial and structural violence against Jews and immigrants who are often smart, resourceful and successful.
Wolfgang Koeppen, a German writer discusses in his novels how the restoration of Nazism unfolded after World War II. This is the reason why xenophobia still lingers on in some quarters in Germany. The death of Oury Jallow is ascribable to this large-scale deception.
Mathias writes for The Black Star News from Frankfurt, Germany
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Press Release: Demonstration in Dessau In Memory of Oury Jalloh and
Dominique Koumadio
20.03.2007:>>>>https://thevoiceforum.org/node/522
Press Release
20.06.2007
The Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh is calling for a nationwide demonstration in memory of Oury Jalloh. Said demonstration will be take place on June 23, 2007, in Dessau. Meeting point is 1pm at the central train station. The demonstration will begin one hour later and pass through the center of the city as well as the monument in memory of
Alberto Adriano and the police station in the Wolfgangstrasse. Several hundred protestors are expected.
Additionally, the Initative in Memory of Oury Jalloh will be holding a press conference at 1pm outside the central train station. The demonstration is being organised in response to the alarming developments of the court proceedings surrounding the death of the 21 year-old refugee from Sierra Leone/Guinea as well as diverse attacks against the Initiative itself.
In light of these developments, the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh declares the following:
Those familiar with the brutality of the South African Apartheid regime can only imagine this situation all too well: a human being is chained at his hands and feet to fireproof mattress. Hours later, the man is dead, his body fully charcoaled, the upper parts of his fingers completely burned off. The official hypothesis: suicide.
On January 7, 2005, Oury Jalloh—a human being converted in life and death into an eternal refugee—died under exactly these circumstances in a police holding cell in Dessau, Germany. This happened on the very same day that the police in Germany took away the life of another African:
Layé Konde, whom ten days before went into a coma after the police had forced vomit-inducing chemicals down his throat, also perished on January 7, 2005. Until today, not one single police officer has been charged for these crimes.
From our point of view, the sequence of events only permits one possible hypothesis: Oury Jalloh was murdered. Since organising ourselves in the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh we have consistently insisted on the fact that the death of Oury Jalloh will remain a murder so long as the responsible authorities do not thoroughly clear up the events surrounding Oury's death. From the very beginning, the state prosecutor in Dessau only allowed one line of investigation, i.e. suicide. Yet in spite of all facts
widely made available to the public, for instance that he was chained to a fireproof mattress, that a lighter only appears in a second inventory of the items found in the cell, that the broken nose was only discovered in the second, independently financed autopsy, etc., etc., the police, the court and even the media only allow one line of thought: Oury Jalloh killed himself.
The current court proceedings in the case of Oury Jalloh only serve to confirm our concerns regarding the cover-up of the case which lasted over two years. From the very first day, the trial has been characterised by a penetrating non-remembrance and selective knowledge of details on the part of the accused and witnesses alike—all of whom are from the police.
Moreover, although there is more than enough evidence available to include a critical observation regarding the racism surrounding Oury's death and the entire process in and of itself, until now the issue of racism has been completely excluded from all investigations and subsequent proceedings. Instead, all efforts are being made to "prove" that Oury Jalloh set himself on fire.
Rather than pursue the truth, the authorities are instead bent on persecuting activists of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh, against whom a series of investigations and preliminary proceedings are being launched, among other excuses because of libel. This is because we openly voice our opinion: it was murder. Activists are even persecuted
and threatened by the police within the courtroom itself. Further, at one of the vigils organized outside of the court, an attack was once again made against our freedom of speech in which a banner was forcefully removed by the police. The reason? It contained an illustration of a lighter and underneath it the words: OURY JALLOH WAS MURDERED!
In addition, Mouctar Bah, the former owner of a Telecafé in Dessau and international representative of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh, is once again receiving serious and diverse threats. Already on February 7, 2006, the city authorities closed down his store and expropriated his commercial license. The justification? Mouctar allegedly had not done enough to keep the so-called drug dealers off the street where his
Telecafé was located. Subsequently, he was forced to sell his shop to a German, for whom he now works as an employee. Currently, the new owner is being threatened with the closure of the Telecafé. The official justification? Mouctar Bah is still working there.
As if the persecution Mouctar Bah has suffered from the authorities is not enough, some take up where others leave off. In the night of May 14, 2007, unknown persons painted swastikas and nazi symbols on the monument in memory of the deported Jews and the destruction of the synagogue as well as Mouctar's former Telecafé, among other sites. Mouctar has also been physically attacked on more than one occassion. These attacks against Mouctar and the Initiative must be seen within the context of the recent
racist attacks in Halberstadt, Cottbus and Bemberg and the reaction of the local police to them.
In spite of all these very alarming developments, certain, organized nazis are still allowed to attend the trial against the police in Dessau as so-called "normal" observers and to write viciously racist reports. In addition to all that mentioned above comes another shocking detail concerning the Vice-Director of the police in Dessau, Hans-Christoph Glombitza: three secret agents normally employed in investigating crimes
of right-wing extremism have sworn under oath that Mr. Glombitza, in his function as acting director of the police, has actually tried to impede the persecution of fascist crimes. They quote him as saying that, "one doesn't have to see everything," and that, "there are ways to write reports more slowly." Regarding programmes of the federal government to combat right-wing extremism, Glombitza is reported to have said that,"they
are only for show anyway." Nevertheless, according to Wolfgang Böhmer, Interior Minister of Sachsen-Anhalt, "The accusation has been disproved. We now know that there were rather personal conflicts behind all of this."
And thus the vicious circle continues its barbaric cycle: cover-up, fraud, deception, deceit, delay and then forgetting. In this sense, we are by no means surprised by the fact that the demand of the family of Oury Jalloh's legal counsel to begin preliminary proceedings against Dr. Blödau have been openly rejected by the state prosecutor. Dr, Blödau, who became famous thanks to his extremely racist and vile comments about Blacks, was the person who took blood from Oury and ordered him to be chained at his hands and feet. He was also involved in declaring Mario Bichtermann, the homeless man who died or was possibly murdered in the same cell in November, 2002, fit for detention. The investigations against those responsible for the death of Mario Bichtermann? Closed.The case? Unresolved.
Several weeks ago, Rosa Amelia Plumelle-Uribe, one of the international delegates invited by the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh to assist the trial, made the following comment: "The court faces the decision of having to condemn and distance itself from the racist conduct of the police or to excuse it and support it." In our opinion, the same is true for the media as well as the political parties and the society as a whole.
At the demonstration, the Initiative will also be honouring Layé Konde (Sierra Leone), who—as mentioned above—was murdered on the same day as Oury. Additionally, we will also be remembering Dominique Koumadio (Congo), who was shot to death by the police on April 14, 2006 in the city of Dortmund, John Achidi (Nigeria/Camerun), who also lost his life
after the police in Hamburg forced vomit-inducing chemicals down his throat in 2001 as well as Osamuyia Aikpitanhi (Nigeria). Osamuyia died on June 9, 2007 died during a deportation attempt in Spain while tied at his hands and feet and a rag stuffed down his throat and covered over with tape. According to the police, Osamuyia Aikpitanhi committed suicide.
We call on all people of solidarity to join us in Dessau and to participate in our demonstration in memory of Oury Jalloh. Furthermore, in light of the increasing attacks and attempts at criminalisation, we call on the media to be aware and to cover the demonstration and especially the further developments of the case.
For enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh
Spokesperson: Yufanyi Mbolo
Tel: +49-1708788124
E-mail: the_voice_goettingen@gmx.de
Mehr Informationen:
http://initiativeouryjalloh.wordpress.com
https://thevoiceforum.org
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The Call for Demonstration against The Persecution of a Word
23RD JUNE; 2007; 2PM CENTRAL TRAIN STATION
NATIONWIDE DEMONSTRATION IN DESSAUhttp://initiativeouryjalloh.wordpress.com
I hadn’t realized that they even took away our right to call the most gigantic deportation in the history of humanity by its name. And that only because the slave traders, their descendants and their historians neither at that time nor at the present day used the word deportation or authorised its use to describe their practices…….Rosa Amelia
Plumelle-Uribe
The Persecution of a Word
Those familiar with the brutality and horror of the apartheid regime can picture all too well the scenario: a Black man is tied at his hands and feet to a fireproof mattress in a holding cell at a police station. Hours later the man is dead, his body burnt like charcoal, the upper regions of his fingers burnt completely away. The official thesis: suicide.
On the 7th of January, 2005, Oury Jalloh, a human being converted into an eternal refugee, died under exactly these conditions in the city of Dessau, Germany. On that very same day the life of another African was extinguished: Layé Konde, who ten days before had chemicals forced down his throat by the police who were looking for possible drugs, had his life taken from him after not coming out of the coma induced by the police
action. The number of police sentenced for the two deaths until today: 0.
Since that time, diverse refugee, migrant and anti-racist organizations have joined together to fight for truth, justice and restitutions. Under the slogan OURY JALLOH DAS WAR MORD, we organized ourselves in the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh.
Our words, however, provoke fear and subsequent persecution on the part of the authorities. According to their logic, without knowing the exact incidents surrounding the events of the 7th of January, it is not a crime to describe the death of Oury Jalloh as self-murder (i.e. suicide), but it is a crime to describe it as a murder.
The power of language, the power of definition is decisive and a fundamental pillar of totalitarian—and colonial—power. It is used to silence opposition and to maintain hegemony over words and thoughts.
We must, however, never forget what past experiences have taught us; how often and ruthlessly genocide was committed so that all traces of the truth would be eliminated together with its victims, such as happened in Europe during the time of Nazi terror and with the separation of mothers from their children during the time of slavery, for example.
But, as the executioners, their descendants and their historians have been forced to repeatedly recognize: no matter how many are killed, no matter how far those in power are willing to go in order to fulfill their objectives, you can never eliminate a collective memory—and no oppression can last forever.
Selective Memory and the Non-Persecution of the Truth
That Justice is a blind goddess
is a thing to which we Blacks are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
that once perhaps were eyes
Aimé Césaire
On the 27th of March, 2007, court proceedings finally began against two of the police officers implicated in the death of Oury Jalloh. Andreas Schubert and Hans-Ulrich März have been accused of negligence in the death of Oury Jalloh. Within the formal accusation presented by the state prosecutor—the only entity allowed to formulate such an accusation in Germany—neither racism nor any other possible cause of death play a role other than the official version: suicide. Likewise, the broken nose and broken middle-ear discovered in the second, independently financed autopsy, are not considered within the trial-based evidence permitted by the court (in other words, these facts are not even considered when the judge is to make his decision).
Until now, the trial has been nothing more than a confirmation of our deepest mistrust. For over two years we have consistently denounced the cover-up and the intentional attempt to win time. As expected, every single police officer or related state employee who has been called as a witness has shown remarkable coincidences between each other: all of them have a perfect memory—except that which involves the death of Oury Jalloh.
There is, however, one exception: all seem to remember clearly that Andreas Schubert, accused of negligence for not having reacted in time, was swift in his response of running down into the basement, where Oury Jalloh had been chained down—and burnt to death—to a fireproof mattress.
The issue of racism, however, has remained just as absent from the trial as has any word of truth spoken on the part of the police. On only two occasions was racism made an issue: Once, as an African man was forced out of the courtroom for shouting „What have we ever done to you to deserve this,“ as the racist protocol between Andreas Schubert and the doctor who ordered Oury Jalloh to be chained, Dr. Blödau, was read aloud, and,
secondly, as an African man was ordered by the judge to sit as the accused and apologize for his behavior or be accused of allegedly having offended a Nazi-party member.
Additionally, at the middle of May a scandal appeared (and disappeared just as quickly) in the national media: Hans-Christoph Glombitza, acting vice-director of the police in Dessau, was recorded in a conversation with members of the German state security office in which he said, referring to crimes committed by right-wing extremists, that, “one doesn’t have to see everything.”
Adding that the federal government programs to combat Nazi crimes and thought were, “really just for the art galleries anyway,” he pointed out that there are ways “to write reports slowly.” Citing a lack of evidence of a crime having been committed, the leading state prosecutor in Dessau, Volker Bittermann, has already refused to open investigations.
For their part, the police have seen the trial as an opportunity to intimidate and persecute members of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh. At least one hundred police—including dogs—have been set to surround and occupy the court inside and out.
Activists have not only been subject to massive security controls and the photocopying of their identity papers, but also direct persecution, as described above. Additionally, civil-clothed police have tried to control and intimidate members of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh.
Why we must fight—not just protest or question
My tongue shall serve those miseries which
have no tongue, my voice the liberty of those
who found themselves in the dungeons of despair.
Aimé Césaire
We have neither deceased in our struggle for truth and justice nor in the conviction that only we will decide which words we will use. The fight for truth and justice in the case of Oury Jalloh—like that of Dominique Koumadio, shot to death by the police in Dortmund on April 14, 2006—is a question of survival. The arrogance and lack of human understanding—especially toward non-whites—within the police is exactly that which permits Oury Jalloh to die in such a vile manner. Moreover, the fact that it is so systematic and historic is one of the many reasons why we have and will continue to speak of murder.
This goes far beyond a question of simple protest or questioning official
versions of Oury’s, Laye’s or Dominique’s deaths. On the contrary, it is
as much a question of self-determination as it is the rage against so much
perpetual brutality.
We cannot and will not let ourselves to continue functioning within this murderous normality, accomplices of our own death and persecution. By refusing to speak out and by silencing our own beliefs, we are only contributing further to the duration of our common suffering.
We refuse. We refuse to obey. We refuse to continue being a part of our own oppression. We refuse to remain silent, much less be silenced. That time is over.
MOBILIZE AND COME TO DESSAU ON THE 23RD OF JUNE
ORGANIZE GROUPS IN YOUR CITIES TO ACCOMPANY THE COURT PROCEEDINGS ON
SPECIFIC DAYS!
RISE UP AND BREAK THE SILENCE!
For more information contact:
Tel: +(49)170-8788124 or the_voice_goettingen@gmx.de