The latest instalment of the Shenstone 5 Palestine Action Trial as the State is Determined to Criminalise Protest Actions

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LFrPuAbF4X0

This is now the third week of the trial of the Shenstone 5. The Prosecution finished its case last Wednesday and the Defence case began on Tuesday April 11 when my Cross Examination began.

Judge Silas Reid – like Judge Chambers he is a second Prosecutor

Despite Judge Chambers doing his best to rule out all my attempts to explain the reason behind the action at Elbit as ‘political’ I managed to convey to the jury the reasons behind our actions – the war crimes carried out by Elbit.

During the first week I had fallen ill with gastro-enteritis but despite my barrister applying for me to go home and lie down, Judge Michael Chambers refused the application without giving any reason. I was not needed in the trial as it was then being taken up with legal arguments and my barrister, Danielle Mason from Garden Court Chambers argued that she did not need me to instruct her.

At that point I simply walked out and called Chambers bluff. In the end no warrant for my arrest was issued despite threats to do so.

This Tuesday Danielle began my Evidence in Chief and then Deborah Gould, the humourless Prosecution barrister began cross-examination.

It did not go well for Gould as she tied herself down in knots trying to prove that Palestine Action was one vast conspiracy aimed at targeting the benevolent Elbit Systems whose drones she alleged had purely civil and commercial purposes.

As Skawkbox details Gould was eventually reduced to pleading that I could have written to the local MP, in ignorance of parliamentary procedure that you can only write to your local MP, that I could have petitioned Elbit to be nicer, that I could have submitted a Subject Access Request under the GDPR, ignorant of the fact that this would only apply to information they held on me (highly unlikely) or submit a Freedom of Information request which you can only do to a public body not a private company.

Tony Greenstein

She even asked if I had asked Elbit what they were producing that week and who their customers were! Presumably Elbit, which goes to extraordinary lengths to hide the names of customers like the regime in Myanamar, would have willingly handed over the information! In fact kosher pigs are more likely to fly first.

I testified that one of the defendants, Helen Chaney, was discernibly distressed and anxious and that I had offered to take her back in the minibus to her home in Reading. When she declined the offer I agreed to take her to the nearest railway station. Gould then asked me if I had consulted the rail timetables, (!) had I informed the Police who had arrested her along with us about her condition and implied that I had not fulfilled my duty of care even though it is the Police who have that responsibility not me. Especially since I was under arrest.

Helen, along with one other protestor who had decided not to take part in the action, sat with me at the front of the van. The three protestors who were intent on occupying the roof of Elbit were dressed in red boiler suits. Those at the front were not.

That should have been enough but Gould is convinced that that was just a ploy and that all 6 of us were determined to take part in the action. Gould is determined to wrongfully convict all 5 of us despite the fact that I too had no intention of entering the factory because

a) the minibus was due back at the rental hire company at 5 pm the following day

b) because aged 67, having had a liver transplant I was incapable of scaling 8 foot metal fences.

At one point I was asked if I had mentioned Helen’s mental state and distress to my barrister, at which point my barrister rose to her feet to object as it was a clear and obvious breach of client-lawyer privilege. Quite amazingly Judge Chambers overruled the objection without giving any reason. Presumably this was on the basis that Chambers has a rule whereby he consistently overrules all defence lawyers’ objections whilst upholding all objections made by Prosecution counsel! His usual style is to cut them off in mid-sentence without even bothering to hear them out.

To most people the Blue Badge is clearly visible but to Prosecutor Deborah Gould it was too big!

Yesterday we had the Affair of the Blue Badge. Gould thought she had found the smoking gun when she asserted in cross-examination that my badge had been found in the back of the van. Clearly I had intended to go into the factory.

Clive Ponting’s Prosecution in 1985 is famous because the Judge directed he be convicted and the Jury refused

I pushed back on this and said it was impossible since I hadn’t been in the back, where bags containing sledge hammers and a crowbar were stored in sealed bags. But Gould was insistent that that was where they had been found citing a police witness statement. The only problem was that when the Chambers examined what the policewoman had actually said in cross-examination she said she couldn’t remember where she had found it! It was only when she was referred to the statement she made at the time that she had listed all the items found as being located in the back of the van.

However Helen Caney then gesticulated to the court from the dock that she had found a police photograph of the van and sure enough my blue badge was there, on the dashboard. However Gould was not to be thwarted. She asserted that it was too big, even though it was on the dashboard and was blue.

As I finished my cross-examination I walked out to a standing ovation from the public gallery which resulted in a warning from Judge Chambers that he would clear the gallery in future.

However overnight she had asked the police to look into the matter further and sure enough they came back with a wrapper that said it found in the front. No apology was forthcoming from Gould however.

Towards the end of today’s session Gould, who had been badgering away at the second defendant, Ibrahim Samadi, trying to prove that we had been engaged in an operation of military efficiency then questioned him on a phone call I had apparently made to my wife, with my mobile phone, whilst in police custody at 4.30 a.m on the 9^th March.

The only problem with this was that I didn’t have my mobile on me in police custody and furthermore the Police had prevented me making any calls in custody, in breach of the custody rules. At which point I shouted out that it was a lie and my barrister got to her feet to object. If Gould was going to question anyone on a phone call I had allegedly made then the person to question was me but she had declined to do so yesterday for reasons best known to her. It resulted in a blazing row between Gould and my counsel after Chambers had ended the day’s session!

The obvious thing for Gould to do tomorrow would for me to be called back to the witness box to give evidence to that effect but I suspect Gould will try to wriggle out of that as it would not serve her purposes of obtaining a wrongful conviction by any means necessary.

As I have previously documented British judges, who have always been the most loyal and subservient members of the Establishment, are determined to help the Tories in their attacks on defendant’s right to a free and fair trial.

Before the pivotal case of Bushell’s Case in 1670 juries had been little more than creatures of the judges. They were termed the Judges 13 voices. In 1670 a jury had refused to convict William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and a prominent Quaker and William Mead, of preaching to an ‘unlawful and tumultuous’ assembly.

The jury was then locked up for 2 days without food, water or a chamber pot. The jury was then fined but Edward Bushell refused to pay the fine and was imprisoned for contempt. He then petitioned for habeus corpus and the Court of Common Pleas under Chief Justice Vaughan established that juries could not be punished for their verdicts.

Thus began the independence of the jury and it is this that Judge Silas Reid and other judges like Michael Chambers are now challenging. As the Tories introduce measures to even prevent people attending a demonstration, the Judges are rushing to fall into line.

There are a number of Palestine Action trials coming up. I urge people to attend wherever possible and to go to the Palestine Action site for further details of the nearest trial to you.

Elbit 9

Date Apr 17 – May 5, 2023 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Venue Bristol Crown Court

Location 9 Small St, BS1 1DB Bristol

Tamworth 2

Date Apr 17 – 21, 2023, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Venue Stafford Crown Court

Location The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, ST16 2QQ Stafford

UTACS 7

Date Apr 18 – 26, 2023

Time 9:30 am – 5:00 pm

Venue: Nottingham Magistrates Court

Location: Carrington Street, NG2 1EE Nottingham

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