This Is Our Job

Sources: Klinamen, Accions per Amadeu Casellas, Tokata, VilaWeb, e-notícies, El Periódico, Hommodolars Contrainformación, Crúz Negra Anarquista DF

March 9, 2010

Amadeu Casellas walked out of Girona prison this afternoon after 24 years behind bars.

Justice Department sources revealed that a 2008 Constitutional Court decision, in which it was ruled that time served in preventive detention should count toward a prisoner’s final sentence, has finally been applied to Casellas’ case. After a sentence recalculation based on statutory discrepancies between the old and new penal codes, authorities concluded that Casellas had already served eight years too many, and released him today—some six years ahead of his scheduled 2016 release date.

Sources close to Casellas explained that his defense had long been petitioning for a sentence reduction that would correspond to the years he spent in preventive detention, but the Justice Department “always denied” that Casellas was serving any excess time.

While behind bars, Casellas engaged in many lengthy hunger strikes (including one just last year) in order to protest the “unfulfilled promises of Prison Services” and “poor condition of Catalan prisons.” In addition, he actively participated in a number of prison riots.

Casellas discovered anarchism at age 14, and was originally imprisoned in 1979. He was in the midst of serving several sentences for a series of bank robberies, the last of which he carried out in 2006 while on leave from prison. The money from the various robberies was used to finance labor and social struggles, with Casellas dividing the money among people and organizations that, in his own words, “needed it.” He eventually came to be known as “the Spanish Robin Hood.”

From Klinamen:

February 12, 2010

In a letter from Amadeu dated February 5, 2010, he tells us that, together with the Girona prison warden and a legal expert, they have figured out the number of days of preventative detention that should be subtracted from the 37-year sentence Amadeu is serving for several bank robberies during the 1980s. Amadeu’s sentence was set for 2016 after an earlier reduction due to credit earned for work.

After calculating the amount of preventative detention that must still be deducted from his sentence, it was determined that, not counting the time he’s already been credited, he is still owed over 4000 days.

His lawyers have already petitioned to credit him some of these days, and Amadeu himself has written a report to the courts detailing the total number of days he feels he should be credited. If one were to compare the years already logged by Amadeu to the time he should be credited, it would reveal that the general administration of Catalan prisons has made him serve a sentence several years too long.

According to Amadeu, they owe him almost 12 years of credit for preventative detention served. That’s why they need to add six more years to the six years they’ve already subtracted from his total sentence.

Amadeu has been demanding his freedom for years, but the Councilor of Justice and the General Administration of Catalan Prison Services have not only denied him all possibility of release, but have also intensified the conditions of his imprisonment by depriving him of contact with his friends and comrades, both outside and inside prison.

Given the circumstances, Amadeu has been forced to go on several long hunger strikes in order to be heard. Just a little more than three months ago, Amadeu abandoned a hunger strike he had maintained for 99 days, and in the middle of January he planned to begin another, but dropped the idea in the hope that he would be credited with the days of preventative detention he is owed.

After sending several letters to the court, Amadeu has become aware that the prison has been notified about some of this credit, yet it has nevertheless still not been applied. For this reason, and after waiting more than a month for some response from the prison that would break the stalemate, Amadeu is considering beginning a new hunger strike on February 20, 2010 in the event that he is not set free.

Therefore, via this document, we want to bring the current situation to the attention of everyone who has expressed their solidarity. Keep an eye out for further information we will be disseminating in order to demand, once again, freedom for Amadeu Casellas.

From Klinamen via El Periódico:

By Rafa Julve & Antonio Baquero — Barcelona — October 7, 2009

At around 11:00 a.m. today, the Mossos d’Esquadra detonated an envelope containing a low-strength explosive at the corner of Calle Aragó and Calle Girona, according to police sources.

The Justice Ministry’s Juvenile Justice and Prison Services Headquarters are located at that corner.

Agents were deployed to the scene after receiving a telephone call announcing the presence of an explosive package.

Experts confirmed that the envelope contained a low-strength explosive substance, which they proceeded to detonate in a controlled manner.

Anarchist demonstration

Shortly after the controlled explosion, an anarchist demonstration demanding the release of anarchist prisoner Amadeu Casellas took place at the same location. Casellas has been on a hunger strike since July 15.

The 49-year-old Casellas has spent 23 years in prison for a number of 1970s bank robberies undertaken in order to fund labor struggles. He also held up another financial institution in 2006 and has committed several crimes over the past few years.

Article at El País

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From El País:

Low-strength explosive device deactivated in Barcelona

Package found at Prison Services Headquarters after an anarchist protest

By Pere Ríos & Jesús García — Barcelona — October 7, 2009

The Mossos d’Esquadra have deactivated an explosive device found at the Generalitat’s Prison Services Headquarters, right in the middle of downtown Barcelona. At 10:30 a.m., police received warning that a suspicious package had been discovered inside the building, located at the corner of Calle Aragó and Calle Girona.

Agents verified the warning and determined that the quantity of explosive in the envelope was very small. For that reason, they decided to set off a controlled explosion inside the building. The Mossos are investigating the composition and materials used to make the explosive.

The discovery of the envelope occurred shortly after this morning’s anarchist demonstration in front of Prison Services Headquarters, protesting the situation of prisoner Amadeu Casellas.