France: Am. tourist Human Rights victim
HRWWW
RE: BARRY B R A I M A H
"Forgotten" African American Tourist
* Wrongfully arrested shortly after arriving in France
for "association avec malfaiteur" (guilt by
association), held 20 months without trial,
bail or opportunity to defend himself; no timely
notification of arrest was ever given to the Am.
Embassy as required by Vienna Convention
* Condemned to 18 yrs in a medieval French prison,
given a virtual "death sentence"
* A victim of prosecutorial excess and xenophobia
* Fostered by deplorable conditions, suicides and depression
go essentially unchecked in French prisons
* Barry will be nearly 50 years old if he
survives to be released in the year 2012
................
"...But for the grace of God, there go we..."
Barry's is a startling, disturbing story of one man's
saga for freedom.
Barry's ordeal should serve as a wake up call.
Help from persons concerned about Human
Rights -- and the erosion thereof --is welcome.
Barry cannot help himself.
But we who care about Human Rights can.
Best regards,
Family Liaison
Amnesty & Justice / Letters with Wings
BarryS...@starmail.com
Huma...@iname.com
Please write to Barry directly; send a message of goodwill
and encouragement to:
Barry B R A I M A H
8674 B-Sud 227
Centre Pen. de Clairvaux
10310 Ville sous La Ferte
FRANCE
By writing to Barry, you will put authorities on
notice that they are being "observed" -- generally,
the more contact prisoners have with the outside,
the better they are treated.
Messages E-mailed to us for Barry will be printed
out and forwarded to him at the above prison address.
E-mail your message for him to:
Tra...@WorldOnLine.nl
BarryS...@starmail.com
FreeB...@aol.com
............
Updates, prison letters, and translations of articles from French
press on Human Rights, are posted at:
http://www.egroups.com/group/barry
WEB SITES with details and background info:
http://members.aol.com/FreeBarry1/index.html (Main Page)
http://x43.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=495493199 (General Review)
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/lepan/lene/index.htm (Lamp of Hope)
http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/justice1/justice.html (find the Open
Letter to French President Chirac itemizing how and where French
police erred; send an appeal to Chirac)
http://www.duth.gr/maillist-archives/thrace/tl47/msg00071.html
En francais: http://www.artinternet.fr/gryga/barry.htm
__________________________________
JOIN THE NEW JUSTICE LIST FOR BARRY; keep updated
Occasional translations of articles on Human Rights
from the French press will be shared with the list.
Send your request to all:
Jus...@comports.com
Tra...@WorldOnLine.nl
10171...@compuserve.com
with "Add me to the Justice List for Barry" in the Subject.
Be sure to reply to the CONFIRM REQUEST when it arrives a few
moments later.
__________________________________
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION
Barry's crime: he did not know that the person to
whom he was referred for help with lodging in France
was under surveillance for suspicion of trafficking.
It did not matter that Barry had no drugs or anything illegal
on him or in his possession, had not been under surveillance
nor even a suspect prior to his arrest, and had no police
record in the USA or anywhere else. There would be no
presumption of innocence. No benefit of the doubt.
Only "guilt by association."
Independent investigations have shown that Barry was
arrested by mistaken identity -- French police mistook
him for another man of African descent whom they had
had under surveillance days before Barry ever came to
France for the first time. Police claimed to be
arresting this suspect. However, description of the
suspect they were seeking as given in their reports is
diametrically opposed to Barry's: the suspect is described
as short and stocky, while Barry is in fact VERY tall and
VERY lean.
What Barry did have in common with the suspect was
being of African descent. During the trial, a French
official urged the court to give the defendants of
African descent longer sentences, claiming they are not
bothered as much because "conditions in prison are
better than what they are used to in normal life."
This statement was neither thrown out nor challenged.
Right on cue, Barry was given 18 years without the
right to appeal.
In July, Barry will pass his 7th consecutive birthday
behind French prison bars, in semi-isolation, in a
9X12-foot cell.
Please send Barry a simple message of encouragement (a
postcard or a letter). The more communication
prisoners have with the outside world, generally the
better they are treated.
Barry B R A I M A H
8674 B-Sud 227
Centre Pen. de Clairvaux
10310 Ville sous La Ferte
FRANCE
__________________________________
The urgency to help Barry is felt all the more when we
think of his cell mate. A French youth of Senegalese
descent, early 20's, he was deeply depressed and
suicidal. Little interest in his well-being was
shown by French prison authorities, despite being
warned numerous times.
Then, (ironically) while Barry was away from his cell
visiting with Human Rights Monitors, his cell mate
tried to kill himself, by leaping from a second story
window.
He survived.
"...But for the grace of God, there go we..."
Barry cannot help himself.
But we who care about Human Rights can.
Best regards,
Family Liaison
Amnesty & Justice / Letters with Wings
BarryS...@starmail.com
Huma...@iname.com
_________________
_________________
FRANCE: Prosecutorial Excess
LIBERATION, 25 September 1998
Go to:
http://www.duth.gr/maillist-archives/thrace/tl47/msg00071.html
A related article (Liberation, 28 September 1998, on
mass arrests and mass trials of an "Islamic network"
in France) is found at:
http://x1.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=398924597
These are translations of articles from
Liberation which discuss cases of
prosecutorial excess.
However, it should be admitted that prosecutorial
excesses can exist in any system.
There is the natural desire to find the "guilty"
person, and proof of innocence is ignored or not
researched in the investigation. In the most abusive of
situations evidence against the accused is actually
manufactured, but even in "good faith" situations,
prosecuting officers have been found to hold back from
the defense conclusive evidence of innocence. There is
a whole spectrum of abuses and the cases in the translations
happen to make the press because of their outrageous nature.
Human Rights Monitors - Paris