October 15th Solidarity - Remember the state terror raids

Co-accused Valerie Morse and Emily Bailey have had their non-association order varied by consent of the Crown in the High Court in Wellington on Tuesday, 27 May. It allows limited association including once monthly 128 community house meetings and at the Oblong Internet cafe. An earlier order allows them to live together at Tira Hou Marae during the depositions hearings set down for the entire month of September.

The two had gone to the court in the hope of having the entire restriction removed. However, the judge in the case today was not willing hear the case and has sent the women back to Justice Cooper in the Auckland High Court to hear the matter in full again. There was substantial confusion on the Crown side as to the precise nature of the non-association of Valerie Morse and her co-accused Urs Signer. They tried to suggest that it was limited in nature. This was not the case, as decided by the District Court Judge in Auckland on 5 March, however, this judge failed to make an appropriate notation of it.

Needless to say, it was intensely frustrating as none of the lawyers present, nor the judge, have been present for ANY of the previous hearings. Thus all of the people with the power to present and decide on the case did not have an clear idea of what was actually going on. Meanwhile the friends and supporters of the co-accused sat silently, with no opportunity to clarify a simple bureaucractic error on the part of the courts.

Nevertheless, the Judge did indicate that the Crown's position, given the allowance of the limited association, was fairly absurd.