Adam released from custody

Today a Warsaw court released Adam P. from custody. He had been held over one month in arrest for failing to appear at trial. Despite pleas from the attorney and defendant, the court refused to dismiss the case against him.

Adam was in low spirits, visibly tired from his ordeal. A large group of supporters arrived at the court to observe the proceedings. Adam recounted the history of his arrest on May 16, 2005 when, after a demonstration during the Council of Europe Summit he was arrested. He told the court that he had already left the demo when he noticed that the police had surrounded people and were harrassing them. He joined the crowd. He was arrested when trying to help another comrade who had been picked up by police. One of the accusations against Adam is that he used "language generally considered to be offensive" (!); when asked what he said, it could be roughly translated to "leave her the fuck alone".

The attorney motioned for the case to be dismissed and called the police testimony "unreliable". The judge's facial expressions tend to show contempt for the defendants, but this may be misleading. She did not dismiss the case and set another court date, calling witnesses from among the demonstrators and the police. Video evidence was still not viewed by the court and the judge seems to be intent on leaving that until after all testimony has been heard.