October 15th Solidarity - Remember the state terror raids

Deposition Hearing September 2008

• Hearing in Courtroom 8

I arrived home today from the deposition hearing in Auckland: one month filled with long days at district courtroom 8 staring at 10 am, finishing at 5pm, day in and day out. Hearing in Courtroom 8Read more...

• Deposition hearing finishes Friday, Oct 3 (2nd October 2008)

The deposition hearing will conclude tomorrow afternoon, just exactly when the Crown said it would. There will be one final defence submission, followed by a Crown response, and possibly a brief bail argument. Read more...

• Dispatches from week 3 (28th September 2008)

The last five days of the depositions hearing has been endless, mysterious, boring, interspersed with nano-seconds of excitement. Unfortunately the suppression orders still stand so I can’t tell you about the nano-statements of excitement. Read more...

• Dominion Post editor summoned to Auckland. (10 September 2008)

The Dominion Post editor has been summoned to Auckland to answer contempt of court charge in the Operation 8 case. Read more...

• Dispatches from Day 7 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (09 September 2008)

Operation 8 defendant Watene McClutchie was arrested by police outside Auckland Distrcit Court and his partner was assaulted by police. Read more...

• Dispatches from Day 6 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (08 September 2008)

The depositions hearing has brought together some of the people who have been affected by the raids. To spend more time with people who went through the same things, last October and November, has made us stronger. Read more...

• Dispatches from Day 5 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (07 September 2008)

Outside of court the week ended with a bang. One of the kids turned six and so over lunch there was a birthday party outside courtroom 8. We had a cake, candles and party hats. The registrar (he who pronounces Tame to rhyme with 'same') muttered that there was no dignity in this court room. I'd say there was a lot of dignity in that court room - but not the sort the registrar would recognise. Read more...

• Dispatches from Day 4 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (05 September 2008)

The Crown Prosecutor is called Mr Burns. I think I would take more pleasure in this, if he was balder and had a long thin nose. He’s more smarmy, for some reason he reminds me of Grant Robertson (the labour candidate for Wellington central), even though there’s not much of a physical resemblance, and I’ve never met Grant Robertson.
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• Double 8 Means Double Opportunities (04 September 2008)

The Auckland District Courtroom 8 hearings vis-à-vis Operation 8 proceeded apace through the fourth day. After the protracted reading of the charges in both English and Maori—generously permitted by the judge—the Crown Prosecutor took the stage with his opening overview.
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• Dispatches from Day 3 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (04 September 2008)

The charges against the last four defendants were read on Wednesday morning, and only took a few hours. The first good news of a day was that the crown agreed to a variation of bail that the crown agreed to. For the duration of the hearing, the defendants don’t need to report to the police station and they will be able to associate during the trial.
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• Dispatches from Day 2 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (03 September 2008)

The only court business that happened on Tuesday was the reading of 7 more people’s charges. Four of those charges were also read in Te Reo Maori. By the end of the day the names, dates, and legalese had all slipped together into a strange drone, both in English and in Maori.
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• Dispatches from Day 1 - Operation 8 Depositions Hearing (03 September 2008)

The court room we were assigned to had four rows of seats with six seats on each side. Theoretically forty eight people could fit in the court. But the third row of seats had restricted tape across them, as if it had been the scene of the crime, and signs say ‘No Seating’.

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Legal Update: results from High Court

Monday, 25 August

On Friday in the Auckland High Court there was a great victory for the accused. The High Court search warrants which had not been disclosed to the accused will be disclosed this week. This will allow the defendants to see the original applications for interception warrants under the Terrorism Suppression Act. This is an important and substantial victory for the accused in the case. Although some details such as informant information will continue to be withheld, the disclosure will add significantly to the understanding of the police case.

In the other High Court hearing that day, the application for a variation of bail to allow for association between Valerie Morse and Emily Bailey was frustrated. The High Court judge said he did not have jurisdiction to rule in the case. He has sent the defendants back to the Auckland District Court with a strongly worded instruction that the bail should be varied.

This decision seems extraordinary given that the original bail condition was imposed by the Auckland High Court. When the two defendants attempted to get the condition changed in the Auckland District Court in March of this year, they were told that the judge did not have jurisdiction to overturn a High Court ruling. He sent them back to the High Court. The crown agreed to a high court hearing in Wellington, during which the judge said he did not have jurisdiction and sent the accused back to Auckland High Court. Now that Court has said it doesn’t have jurisdiction! The whole process is an absurd circus.

Some of the lawyers have indicated that further charges are likely to be laid against some of the accused this week. More details will be posted if this comes to pass.

Legal update: lead up to the deposition hearing in Auckland

There are a few things happening in the High Court in Auckland on 22 August. There have been applications filed by several defendants regarding the police affidavit that was used to gain search and interception warrants. This is likely to be held ‘in chambers’ and thus not open to the public. Second, the High Court will hear an application for bail variation for Valerie Morse and Emily Bailey that would allow them to associate. As it stands, Valerie and Emily have limited association as consented to by the Crown. They are seeking a removal of any restriction on association.

We understand that other defendants have had variations to bail. We would be keen to let folks know what conditions you are still facing, or changes that have happened (or failed). You can email us at info@October15thSolidarity.info if you are comfortable having those details published.

The deposition hearing has been set down to start 1 September and will sit until 11 September. There will be a recess for one week. Court will resume on Monday, 22 September and run until 3 October (unless it finishes early).

All but one of the 20 defendants are due to have a depositions hearing starting on 1 September in the Auckland District Court. This hearing is effectively a preliminary step in which the Crown must prove that it has a ‘prima facie’ case (literally a case ‘on the face of it’) against each of the accused. There will be the presentation of evidence to determine whether the defendant has a case to answer before a jury. There is a low threshold to prove a ‘prima facie’ case - A prima facie case is one that at first glance presents sufficient evidence for the plaintiff (the Crown) to win. Following this, defendants will be committed to trial by jury. This will likely happen in mid- to late 2009.

During the depositions, the defendants can call any of the Crown’s witnesses. This will be their opportunity to see the extent of the case against them and get clarification on various matters and statements. All of the arrestees have been excused from attending this hearing as long as they have legal representation. However, the October 15th Solidarity support crew is urging arrestees and whānau to attend at least the first week to get a clear idea of what is happening.

Legal update March 5th appearance

There were a number of minor victories during the 5 March appearance in Auckland District Court, and some further clarification about the Crown case against the now 19 accused.

First, a number of the accused applied for variations of their bail conditions. These variations included the elimination of oppressive curfews, reduction in the number of times a week they have to report to the police station, and dropping of the non-association orders that exist between most of the accused (except in particular circumstances relating to work). Most of these applications were successful; however, the Crown is very keen to continue to punish many of the defendants by refusing to consent to dropping all of the non-association orders, despite little in the way of evidence to support them. In the small town of Ruatoki, it requires a major logistical operation for some of the defendants to even go to the local grocery store as a result of these orders. Moreover, the reporting condition is a significant financial hardship for several defendants who have to travel to the police station in Whakatane, a round-trip costing about $40. Tame Iti will be applying to have his passport returned in order that he can do some work in Japan over the next month. Others may follow suit with other variations in the next few weeks. Overall, we will continue to ‘chip away’ at the conditions, with the aim of having them all removed by the time of depositions hearing.

Second, the deposition hearing has now been set for the entire month of September in Auckland. During this hearing, the Crown will need to prove that there is a ‘prima facia’ case, e.g. literally the expression means ‘on the face of it’: so in other words, the police usually have to prove that there is some evidence, and the threshold is quite low for this.

Third, several other orders were made in the court with important implications for the case. First, Annette Sykes requested that all intercepted conversations in Te Reo Maori be properly translated into English in order that all of the lawyers and defendants can have access to them. As part of this request, the Crown noted that no intercepted conversations would be used in evidence. As all of this material was obtained under Terrorism Suppression Act warrants, it is inadmissible in these proceedings. Secondly, the Court ordered that the Crown have all ‘briefs of evidence’ signed and ready by 5 July. Evidence in the Criminal Court is presented by way of Briefs of Evidence by the prosecution but when the witnesses actually come to give evidence they cannot read out their Brief of Evidence but must answer individual questions from the Crown Solicitor.

The defendants have been excused from the next ‘call-over’ on 18 April when several further applications will be lodged by counsel for the defence. The next scheduled appearance for defendants will be 1 September, pending any interim decision from the Auckland district court.

The fight for bail...

After the raids and the arrests on October 15th 2007, a four-week legal battle began for bail. In the first four weeks, all 16 arrestees were steadily moved from prisons around the country to two Auckland prisons, to make prosecutions more convenient for the Police. This meant moving them away from their whanau (family) and friends, from their support networks. Four prisoners were granted bail in the two weeks following the raids, and then on November 1st and 2nd, all 16 arrestees were to be heard in one court for the first time, in Auckland. Just prior to the hearings, the Police announced they would apply to the Solicitor-General to lay terrorism charges against 12 of the 16 arrestees. During the two days of hearings, two more prisoners were granted bail, leaving just 10 of the 16 in prison – two women and eight men.

On November 8th, the Solicitor-General, David Collins, announced he would not give permission for Terrorism Suppression Act charges to be laid due to insufficient evidence. The next day, 6 arrestees were granted bail due to the change in circumstances, and 3 days later, after 4 weeks in jail, the last of the arrestees were released.

...name and image suppression...

The lawyers of the arrestees argued in the court that image and name suppression are of immense importance in this trial. However, most people lost name suppression after a few weeks and image suppression in December (although most still have image suppression until an appeal is heard).

...and the dismissal of the charges!

The police leaked a lot of 'evidence' to the media and one media organisation decided to publish excerpts on their front page. The arrestees' lawyers prepared applications for a stay to the Solicitor-General to get the charges thrown out. However, the application for a stay of proceedings was declined by the Solicitor-General David Collins on 19th February 2008.

The current charges

19 people are charged under the Arms Act and one person was charged with possession of cannabis. At no point was anybody charged under the Terrorism Suppression Act (2002). However, the police applied to the Solicitor-General for permission to charge 12 people under that act.

What will happen on 5th March 2008?

On 5th March 2008, a one-day hearing will take place in the Auckland District Court (10am). Bail conditions and suppression orders (for image and name suppression) will be discussed for each defendant. A date for a further court appearance will be set. The case could either be heard again in a few months for another one-day pre-deposition hearing or a deposition hearing could be scheduled. The deposition hearing could take several weeks. It will be followed by the trial, which could take months given the large amount of 'evidence'.