Hmmm… that’s what the Raytheon 9 Facebook group is claiming… not the most authoritative source [it’s unconfirmed elsewhere], but the outcome looks sound … It further claims that the judge threw it out for lack of evidence. H/T Damian!
The trial of the raytheon Nine has collapsed.
The defendents from Derry Anti War Coalition walked free after the judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence.
Throughout the trial the Nine have maintained that their actions were legitimate as an attempt to prevent war crimes.
The judge was forced to concede this when he stated that the defendents had acted to prevent destruction in Lebanon.
This is a major victory and vindication of the action of the Derry Anti War Coalition and the Raytheon Nine.The development began to emerge yesterday when, bizarrely, the barrister for the Crown conceded that the 9 were genuine in their belief that Raytheon were active in supplying the US and Isreali war machines in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon and that sabotaging Raytheon’s equipment would disrupt that supply.
What the Crown was then asking the jury to do was convict on the strength of the evidence, whether, at the moment of entering Raytheon, the 9 had smashed computers out of anger and wanton destructiveness. barristers for the 9 petitioned the judge to dismiss the case as this was something the jury could not find, given that the Crown had already conceded that they had gone in there with the intention to sabotage in order to disrupt the supply chain.
The Judge evidently agreed.
The crown have until tomorrow to decide whether to appeal or not.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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