PRESS RELEASE
20/01/22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- CPS offered no evidence after serious failings by the police, meaning that defendants could not have a fair trial. All three charges – criminal damage, aggrevated trespass, and resisting arrest – dropped following ‘abuse of process’ by CPS.
- The trial related to their occupation of the offices of Vine Properties Ltd, trading under the name Fisher German, who manage the property of Elbit’s death factory in Shenstone
- This follows the ‘not guilty’ verdict handed to the ‘Elbit Three’ in December 2021, with three activists having been found not guilty of criminal damage for blockading Elbit’s UAV Engines factory in Shenstone – the very factory which Vine Properties manages.
Three Palestine Action activists have had the case against them dropped in a trial at Birmingham Magistrates Court. After taking on a company complicit in Elbit’s business of bloodshed, ‘abuse of process’ by the prosecution has led to these activists being cleared of charges. This was the second ever trial of Palestine Action activists, and they – like the first activists to go on trial – have walked free again in another humiliating showing in the Courts for Elbit.
The CPS offered failed to offer evidence on charges of criminal damage, aggrevated trespass, and resisting arrest, after overcharging activists following serious failings by the police. Notably, the CPS failed to produce the silver command police log. The trial was therefore concluded before activists, represented by Lydia Dagostino at Kelly’s Solicitors, were able to present their case on the necessity of taking action to end British complicity in Israeli war crimes.
This victory is hugely significant, coming just a month after another three activists were similarly cleared of ‘criminal damage’ for a blockade of an Elbit factory. In their only two trials to date, Palestine Action have won – with even the courts system appearing to understand the necessity, and proportionality, of taking action to undermine British complicity in Israeli war crimes.
None of the activists who have faced trial thus far have been successfuly prosecuted, with the action taken being shown in court to be necessary and proportionate in light of war crimes and human rights abuses committed with Elbit products. If even the courts system is able to recognise this, and the CPS are unable to present a viable case, Palestine Action have called for an end to police harassment, intimidation, and their causing of physical injury when arresting activists – with these arrests consistently failing to reach prosecution.
On the day of the action itself, 5th July 2021, three female Palestine Action activists shut down the Vine Property Management site in Birmingham as part of a wider campaign targeting the suppliers, partners and landlords of Elbit Systems Ltd. Prior to this, other activists chained the gates shut, occupied the roof and sprayed the site with red paint to signify its complicity in the murder of the Palestinian people. The action successfully brought operations to a halt, with activists demanding an end to the firm’s complicity in Elbit’s operations and by extension, in Israeli war crimes.
Vine Property Management trades under the Fisher German banner after a 2019 merger and is responsible for the operations, maintenance and oversight of Elbit subsidiary UAV Engines Factory in Shenstone, Staffordshire. This factory manufactures engines which are used in Elbit’s Hermes and Watchkeeper drones, with the Hermes drone being described as the ‘backbone’ of Israeli surveillance and targeting missions. It also possesses lethal capabilities which are deployed against civilian targets in Gaza.
On the day of the occupation, a Palestine Action spokesperson stated the following:
“The production of arms, drones, and military technology relies on an interconnected and massive network of complicit firms – Palestine Action are dismantling this network, demanding that firms cease their partnership with Elbit unless they want to be shut down along with them. The message to all other firms with Palestinian blood on their hands is simple: until you end your facilitation of Israel’s brutal repression of Palestinians and sever ties with Elbit, Palestine Action will shut you down and cease your contribution to genocide for you.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact media@palestineaction.org or our press line at 07404569733
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.
Activists found ‘not guilty in first ever Palestine Action trial: https://www.palestineaction.org/not-guilty/
Palestine Action shut down Elbit’s Oldham factory permanently:
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/01/victory-in-oldham-elbit-forced-to-sell-ferranti-after-sustained-direct-action-campaign/
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-uk-factory-sold-palestine-action-claims-victory
Elbit Systems
Role of Elbit drone in killing of four children paying on Gaza beach in 2014: https://theintercept.com/2018/08/11/israel-palestine-drone-strike-operation-protective-edge/
More on the death and destruction inflicted by Elbit’s drones upon Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/
Elbit surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall: https://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/elbit-systems-surveillance-system-torch-for-the-separation-barrier-in-israelpalestine/
UK Ministry of Defence signs £102 million contract with Elbit Systems UK for “sensor-to-shoot” system: https://www.army-technology.com/news/uk-mod-orders-elbit-detect-and-destroy-system/