press release January 8 2019: Cassation in criminal case against Joke Kaviaar rejected, imprisonment very near
Taken from: https://13-september.nl/cassatie-strafzaak-tegen-joke-kaviaar-verworpen-gevangenschap-zeer-nabij/ (bilingual)
Version in Dutch: https://autonomenbrabant.nl/2019/01/08/cassatie-in-strafzaak-tegen-joke-kaviaar-verworpen-gevangenschap-zeer-nabij/
On 8 January 2019, the Supreme Court rejected the cassation in the criminal case against Joke Kaviaar. With that, a final obstacle that stood in the way of Joke’s imprisonment has been set aside. It is to be feared that her arrest and confinement will now take place in the very short term, after which her imprisonment of a total of two and a half months commences.
This is the culmination of a criminal case that has been going on since 2011. In that year she was arrested and held in isolation for days on account of publishing four articles on her website. In it she criticized the repression of refugees in sharp terms and called for resistance. ‘Sedition’, the Public Prosecution Service found, and in January 2013 a court in Haarlem sentenced her to a prison sentence. In May 2014, an appeal followed: the conviction was maintained for two of the four articles, the prison sentence was halved to two months and unconditionally converted into conditional. The cassation lodged against it was rejected in 2015.
In 2015, Joke was sentenced to two weeks in prison for taking part in a disruption action during a meeting of the city council in Zeist. It was directed against the construction of a prison for (families with) children on the grounds of Kamp Zeist, the existing detention center where refugees are locked up prior to their deportation. It had taken place during her probationary period of the incitement case, so that the conditional sentence came into effect. So the two months of prison for the incitement case were now added to the two weeks in the disruption case. The appeal upheld the conviction, after which also cassation followed. It is this cassation that has been rejected today. Both the two-week prison sentence and the two-month prison sentence are now irrevocable. Joke Kaviaar will most likely be in the cell soon. Locked up because she resisted injustice, imprisoned because she spoke out against that injustice.
That struggle continues anyway. Joke Kaviaar says in his own statement: “Does the Dutch state really think that by locking me up I would change my mind? Hilarious! “She adds: “I am not finished yet. The state with its borders is worth nothing but its overthrow. It is time to mobilize resistance. And fast as well. For the freedom to live, not just to survive.” Also prison will not silence her: “I will use the time you want to take from me against you. Time to think about follow-up steps, new plans. In the attack. In word and deed.” For the statement by Joke Kaviaar see: https://jokekaviaar.nl/Grenzen-gevangenissen-rijp-voor-de-sloop.html#eng
The Support Group on 13 September, set up to organize solidarity with Joke in this case, continues to protest. This attack on a freedom fighter is an attack on anyone who sticks out her or his neck against injustice. The support group therefore calls for her immediate release and asks people to support that call in word and deed. Direct statements of support to Joke are also very welcome. More will soon be made known about the way that both this support and the fight for its cause can take into account. As far as the Support Group is concerned, the motto is:
Freedom for Joke Kaviaar!
Support group 13 September