British courts target eco-activists
By Robert Allen
imal rights campaigner Barry Horne has become the latest victim
of the British establishment's war on eco-activists.
Following a jury trial which has been described as ``laughable'' by
his supporters, Horne was last week sentenced to 18 years after
being found guilty of arson and recklessness which could endanger
life.
Using circumstantial evidence and spurious associations the
British police contrived a case against Horne, according to his
support group, simply ``to take him out''.
On Wednesday 12 November Horne, a 45 year old from Northampton,
was found guilty on 14 charges relating to the 1994 campaign by
the Animal Rights Militia against companies involved in animal
vivisection. Incendiary devices were planted in several shops,
including Boots, all over England causing considerable damage. In
the Isle of Wight the damage was estimated at £2.6 million.
The police case against Horne was based on a six week
survelliance which, claim the lawyers representing the British
state, saw him purchase bomb-making equipment and plant two
devices in shops in Bristol in 1995 - a year after the Isle of
Wight bombings.
After the trial, which included a two day course in making
firebombs, the jury returned unanimous verdicts. Yet the
prosecution was unable to provide a single witness or evidence
that directly linked him to the bombings. The judge, Simon
Darwall-Smith, had told the jury that Horne was the only person
suspected of these bombings.
On 5 December Darwall-Smith, who said Horne was an ``urban
terrorist'', went through the motions and the activist joined the
growing number of eco-prisoners. Last month three editors of the
English journal Green Anarchist were jailed for three years each
for reporting the Animal Rights Militia's anti-vivisectionist
1994 campaign.
Horne's lawyers are appealing the conviction, arguing that the
judge misdirected the jury by telling them that he was the sole
suspect. The Barry Horne Support Group believe that Horne is the
latest victim of a campaign by the British police to take out
people who can challenge the state's role in protecting animal
rights abusers. ``We think it's laughable that they've convicted
him for this,'' said a spokesperson for the Support Group, who
added pragmatically, ``they've changed the tactics against animal
rights activists''.
Horne's sentencing is the heaviest an animal rights activist has
ever received but the arduous task facing his Support Group and
animal rights groups is overcoming the censorship that has
accompanied this case and their attempts to highlight animal
vivisection. A notice has been slapped on the British media,
preventing them from reporting the Horne case and a journalist on
an English national newspaper was relieved of her duties after
daring to mention the campaigner's name.
Horne, who was arrested in July 1996 in Bristol's Broadmead
shopping centre, has attempted to draw attention to his plight by
embarking on hunger strike. In January when he was held in
Bullingdon jail he went on a 35 day hunger strike. And in August,
while held in Bristol, he went 46 days before an agreement was
reached to meet an animal rights delegation.
Now his Support Group must find ways of highlighting what they
see as a deliberate strategy by the British state to marginalise
animal rights activists. ``The Barry Horne Campaign is now being
run in parallel with the anti-vivisectionist campaign,'' said a
spokesperson for the Support Group, ``to get justice for Barry and
highlight the abuse of animals.''
Horne's Support Group are also establishing links with other
groups around the planet who have suffered oppression, injustice
and censorship.
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