CIA 3 CASE DISMISSED AFTER JUDGE ORDERS HANDOVER OF SECRET DOCUMENTS

Three anti-arms trade activists were on trial in Brighton Magistrates Court for refusing to disperse under a Section 14 order at a Weapons Inspection at Brighton bomb-makers EDO MBM last year on March 21st.

The theatrical protest took place on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 21st 2004. An expert witness was to be Mark Thomas, political activist/comedian/writer who was to testify on the great tradition of theatrical protest for the defence case.

The trial was delayed Monday over legal arguments about disclosure of 'sensitive police material' that the protesters said would assit their case. The CPS had not been carrying out their duty to disclose police information in the case since the arrests in March 2004, the defence team argued.

After lenghthy ex parte discussion between the CPS and District Judge Cooper, the Judge finally ordered that information about the police operation-codenamed 'Kirk'- of 21st March 2005 be made public as it might assist the defence argument of police collusion with the arms company EDO in trying to supress protests at the factory.

Tne Crown had argued that the documents should be protected from disclosure under Public Interest Immunity (PII) rules, which are used protect security of police informers and undercover officers as well as police operational tactics. But Judge Cooper ruled in favour of disclosing the documents. At which point the CPS prosecuter stood up and announced the case would be dismissed against all three protesters. This
stopped the public disclosure of the documents go ahead.

Smash Edo spokesperson Andrew Beckett said 'What information could be so controversial that a case that has dragged on for nearly a year should be dropped as soon as it might be made public. What are the police trying to hide about their relationship with the police?'

In paralel civil injunction proceedings brought by bomb makers EDO in the High Court, protesters have argued that the injunction action is the result of collusion between Sussex Police and EDO to stop protests at the factory.

A key witness in the Civil proceedings is Chief Inspector Kerry Cox, who worked closely with EDO last year to support the High Court application for an interim injunction against protesters. It emerged this week that CO Cox had been the commanding officer in Operation Kirk.

The latest criminal case dismissal means that now five cases that were being relied on by EDO's lawyers to justify allegations of harassment against their employees have now been won by protesters-seriously damaging even further the arms company's case for a permanent injunction against protesters.

In addition EDO's lawyer solicitor-advocate Tim-Lawson Cruttenden faces serious allegations of misconduct, and professional negligence that he has been ordered to employ a barrister to defend himself against next week in the High Court resumed hearing of the the Civil injunction case.

The defendants have applied to have the case struck out on grounds of abuse of process. EDO are desperately trying to settle the case with the defendants before the hearing next week.

UPCOMING EVENTS

EDO HIGH COURT INJUNCTION HEARING
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London. 10:am.
Monday 13th Feb-15th Feb 2006

DEMONSTRATION
EDO MBM, Home Farm Road, Brighton.
14th February
Naming the Dead
We will be up at EDO MBM naming some of the dead from
the illegal attack on Iraq - bring bells to toll for
each lost life as we remind EDO that such killings
would be impossible without all the people 'just doing
their jobs' that make it possible for the person
pulling the trigger to do theirs.

Notes for Journalists

Brighton & Hove is a UN Peace Messenger City

The injunction referred to was served under the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act (originally designed to protect women from stalkers) and is the first of its kind directed at activists outside of the animal rights movement. Crucially it is a civil injunction but carries criminal penalties. It affects anyone deemed to be a protestor. Initially EDO/MBM requested a large "exclusion zone" comprising the whole of Home Farm Industrial Estate.

They and Sussex police also wanted to limit demonstrations to two and a half hours, with less thanten people who had to be silent. Judge Gross refusedto impose these conditions at the initial hearing of an interim injunction, which was put in place in the period before the full trial to be heard at the High court in London from November 21st. In his summing up he said, "The right to freedom of _expression is jealously guarded in English law" and consequently refused to impose the requested limits on size, timing or noise made at demonstrations. He also said that he doubted that protesters were 'stalking' employees of EDO MBM.

EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp, which was recently named No. 10 in the Forbes list of 100 fastest growing companies. They supply bomb release mechanisms to the US and UK armed forces amongstothers. They supply crucial components for Raytheon's Paveway guided bomb system, widely used in the "Shock and Awe" campaign in Iraq.

EDO also withdrew a threatened libel action against Indymedia over being named as "warmongers".

Lawson-Cruttenden & Co
Solicitors firm working for EDO have been instrumental in developing the Protection of Harassment Act 1997 from a measure designed to safeguard individuals to a corporate charter to make inconvenient protest illegal. Theyhave pioneered to use of injunctions to create large "exclusion zones". They have secured numerous injunctions against anti-vivisection and anti-GM protestors.

Campaign against EDO MBM
People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade unionists, academics and students. The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp. It's avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton.

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