Mobilize civil disobedience! The VOICE Refugee Forum Demands the Immediate Release of Felix Otto!
Abolish the “Residenzpflicht”, Freedom of movement now!
Refugees Rally for freedom of Felix Otto from Prison in Protest against the Racist Residence Obligation Laws! Join our Protest-Rally in Erfurt on Saturday, 30.05.2009, at 14.00 Uhr in Anger!
8 Months Imprisonment for Freedom of Movement in Germany Felix Otto, a Camerunian imprisoned in Suhl
The racist police control of Felix Otto on 30th March 2009 on the highway between Jena and Erfurt led to his immediate arrest and imprisonment for eights months for repeatedly violating the “Residenzpflicht”. He has since been languishing in prison (JVA) in Suhl-Goldlauter and has been ordered by the Judge to remain there until November.
Once again, a refugee has committed the “natural refugee crime” in Germany simply by exercising his natural right to freedom of movement. It is a right that is guaranteed by both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. This crime carries a requirement. You are required to be a refugee to be able to commit this crime. Therefore while Germans and other fellow Westerners can never commit this crime, refugees are automatically criminalised by the residence obligation law.
The Judge claims that there is nothing unusual in the sentence as he has been dishing out such long sentences for similar violations. In a way, he wants us to appreciate his leniency because he could have sent him in for as long as a year if he wanted to fully follow the law. Follow the law? Like Nazi henchmen argued in Nürnberg in 1946 that they were simply following the law? It is shame that this law exists in Germany and it’s a bigger shame that it is applied.
Let’s not forget, the “Residenzpflicht” is a replica of the 1938 restriction that the Nazi regime placed on foreigners in Germany. As it was then, if you violate the restriction, you are liable to be fined or sent to prison for as long as a year just like it is today. Check the language and the fine of the 1938 restriction and that of the “Residenzpflicht”-hardly any difference. It was a racist law then and it is a racist law now and it must be abolished now.
Felix Otto is not a criminal; he has been imprisoned on account of a racist law. We demand his immediate release from prison and the immediate abolition of the racist residence obligation law. We call on the solidarity and support of all well meaning individuals and groups to condemn the imprisonment of Felix Otto and demand his immediate release. We invite all of you to join us for a rally to express these demands on:
Date: Saturday 30th May, 2009, Time: 14.00hr, Place: Am Amger, Erfurt
Freedom for Felix Otto! Abolish the Residence Obligation Law!
The residential restriction law is against our fundamental right to free movement and criminalizes us. Therefore, activists of The VOICE Refugee Forum have been resisting this racist special law for many years – until now without success. With the case of Felix Otto the dimensions of this law against become clear: A human being is sentenced to eight month of prison because he has left his district. This is the scandalous form of persecution and criminalisation of refugees that we must continue to protest and resist against the colonial justice of the German state on us..
It is time that we come together to discuss and act again and again, to strengthen our platform of resistance and to find the right answers to this sentence against Felix Otto.
For the refugees, that we will fight for the basic right to stay in resistance
For you all, that your testimonies and witnesses make you become part of the resistance
Out to streets! Mobilize civil disobedience!
The VOICE Refugee Forum Germany - Demands the Immediate Release of Felix Otto
E-mail; thevoiceforum@emdash.org, Tel.: 0176 24568988, http://thevoiceforum.org
20.05.2009
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