Below you find the collected press releases in English from the campaign Disarm.
Press release the 5th of November 2010
Dual disarmament in Sweden billed at €70k
- Historic peace action received final verdict yesterday
The striking double disarmament action in Sweden on Oct 16, 2008, when 12 grenade launchers and parts to 9 howitzers at two different facilities were damaged beyond repair, yesterday got what will probably be
its final sentence from the courts.
A local judge in Eskilstuna town, where the € 2 645 bln arms and aerospace corporation Saab AB is headquartered, ordered yesterday peaceniks
Anna Andersson, 28, and Martin Smedjeback, 37, to return the arms giant expenses equivalent to € 50 586 in costs interred in one of the nightly civil disobedience acts two years ago.
The couple, who say they took action to prevent the greater evil of the transfer of arms to the US military, which would employ them in the carnage in Iraq, have earlier been sentenced to four months imprisonment.
"I regret our court was not yet ready to rule on the level of its counterparts in Ireland, England and Germany, who have all vindicated peace activists following disarmament and ploughshares actions," said
Martin Smedjeback, a nonviolence consultant since many years.
Smedjeback's and Andersson's co-activists Catherine Laska and Pelle Strindlund received a € 20 682 in reparations and one of them served three months in jail for their act against a Saab Bofors and British Aerospace enterprise, where they broke in and damaged inter alia nine howitzer coolers, bound for India.
The peace campaigners of the Disarm effort all refuse to pay the damages, instead calling it a reminder of Western privilege that they despite such arrears will continue to lead lives of relatively high standard. They intend to continue their nonviolent struggle against war profiteers.
"Arms made in Sweden cause wanton destruction overseas, hence it is the manufacturers who ought to be paying repairs," said Anna Andersson, a web designer, in a comment from her prison cell.
This coming summer, a multinational peace action camp will be held at an aerospace test range in northernmost Sweden, where Nato and Israeli military aircraft test weapons and systems.
For interviews, contact Martin Smedjeback, +46-70-2579097, smedjeback@gmail.com and Anna Andersson (at Hinseberg correctional
facility, call the guard at +46-581-79 78 10, office hours, and ask for her to call back.
See also:
www.warstartshere.com - an action camp in July 2011 against training grounds for war in northern Sweden.
www.avrusta.se - The Disarm ("Avrusta") campaign was launched in September of 2008 and has been condoned by i.a. the Arch Reverend Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn and Francis Boyle.
www.ofog.org - The Anti-Militarist Network Mischief ("Ofog"), has been working against nuclear arms and militarism, thru civil disobedience and peaceful direct action, since 2002.
Press release the 5th of May 2010
They hammered on weapons – were sentenced to prison
Today the sentence for the two peace activists, Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback, was announced. The Svea court of appeal gave them four months in prison for the disarmament action in the city of Eskilstuna in October 2008, where they disarmed fourteen bazookas at Saab Bofors Dynamics weapons factory in Eskilstuna.
- This peace action is among the best things I have ever done in my life. A prison sentence does not bring me down considering the fact that our action might have saved lives, says Martin Smedjeback, nonviolence trainer from Mjölby, Sweden.
It was the 21st of April their case were brought up in the Svea court of appeal in Stockholm. It was announced today at 11 a.m. Swedish time.
- The Swedish weapons export has increased by more than 400 percent since 2001, in spite of the fact that a majority of the Swedish people, according to a recent published poll, wants to stop it. It is my responsibility as a fellow human being to act against this deadly trade which causes so much destruction in the world, says Anna Andersson, web designer from Göteborg.
Smedjeback was also sentenced to pay 7 800 Euros in criminal damage for climbing over a fence in November 2008 to the weapons factory Aimpoint in Malmö. The charges for criminal damages in connection to the disarmament action in the city of Eskilstuna will be processed in a coming civil law trial.
Contact persons:
Anna Andersson, kinaya@gmail.com, cell: +46-73-777 28 18
Martin Smedjeback, smedjeback@gmail.com, +46-70-257 90 97
Press release 2009-08-26
Desmond Tutu supports Swedish disarmament campaign
The Nobel laureate and one of the world’s foremost moral authorities, Desmond Tutu, has this Monday sent out a statement of support to the Swedish peace campaign Avrusta (Disarm), which has within the last year disarmed about 20 Swedish weapons before they were exported.
Desmond Tutu, who is Archbishop emeritus in South Africa, has joined his Swedish colleagues Archbishop emeritus KG Hammar and Archbishop Anders Wejryd of the Swedish Lutheran Church. They have also expressed support for the nonviolent actions of the disarmament campaign as complimentary methods to the parliamentarian work.
- During the struggle against apartheid in South Africa we often used civil disobedience and other nonviolent methods. These methods are equally relevant when it comes to the struggle against weapons export, and especially the export of Saab's Gripen fighter from Sweden to South Africa, a deal fraught with bribes and coercion, writes Desmond Tutu in a public letter to the Swedish activists, who have served time in prison during the spring and summer.
- If not this strong statement from one of the most important leaders of South Africa makes the Swedish politicians say stop instead of turning a blind eye to the next unethical Swedish weapons deal, I don’t know what it would take, says Martin Smedjeback, 36-years old nonviolence trainer who disarmed 14 Carl Gustaf grenade launchers last year and was arrested on his way to render harmless the Gripen fighter in March.
The five members of the campaign Disarm have until now been sentenced to prison sentences amounting to 26 months and more than 50 000 Euros. The investigations concerning corruption connected to the Gripen fighter deals have been shut down in spite of overwhelming evidence of bribes. The weapons export from Sweden to the Iraq war, South Africa, India, Pakistan and many other countries continue while you are reading this. What continues is also the work of the peace movement, including the work in the campaign Avrusta.
Contakt: Martin Smedjeback, +46-70-2579097, smedjeback@gmail.com
Contact with Archbishop Tutu: Vivian Ford, Personal Assistant: Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, P O Box 1092, Milnerton 7435 Ph: +27 21 552 7524, vivian@tutu.org.za
The original letter from Desmond Tutu
Press release 2009-04-21
Six months prison for peace activists – sentenced to attempt of sabotage
Today the sentence was made public for the three Swedish peace workers who at the end of March entered Saab Aerosystems in Linköping, Sweden, with the aim of disarming the fighter jet ”Jas 39 Gripen” bound for export. The three managed to get inside the building where the fighter jets were stored but were undramatically arrested before they reached the planes.
The peace workers were sentenced to attempt of sabotage; Martin Smedjeback to five months in prison, Pelle Strindlund to four months in prison and Annika Spalde to six months in prison. The three were
also sentenced to pay 151.000 SEK (13.000 Euro) to Saab. All three have been imprisoned since the action and will be moved from the remand prison to an ordinary prison in the following weeks.
In the trial on the 14th of April, the accused peace workers demanded to be acquitted, claiming they acted to prevent suffering and death caused by the fighter jets around the globe. The prosecutor did not
agree and demanded the action be seen as an ”attempt of sabotage” and a ”crime against the protection of installations important for society”. The three peace workers have not yet decided if they will appeal to the higher court.
- In court I talked about the risk that Jas could be used to fire nuclear weapons. Something is wrong when you are sentenced to prison for trying to prevent a nuclear treat, says Martin Smedjeback.
- To work for a more peaceful world is satisfying, even behind bars. I feel free in my prison cell, says Pelle Strindlund
- It is not fun to be imprisoned, but I feel happy that our action brought up the perspectives of the victims. Because the Swedish arms export creates, and will create many victims, says Annika Spalde.
The action was part of the campaign Avrusta, organized by the antimilitaristic network Ofog, with the aim of stopping the Swedish arms export. Prior actions within the campaign has seen disarmaments
of howitzer cannons bound for India and granade launchers of the type Carl Gustaf bound for the United States. In these prior actions two peace workers were sentenced to four months in prison, one to three
months in prison and a fourth got her verdict changed after appealing from three months in prison to just a fine and a conditional sentence.
Contact:
avrusta@ofog.org
www.avrusta.se
+46 (0)733-815 361
Press release 2009-04-14
Peace Activists still imprisoned after trial – verdict to be made public on the 21th of april
The three peaceworkers who on the 22d of march this year tried to disarm the fighter jet ”Jas 39 Gripen” met the weapons industry and the state prosecutor on the 14th of April in the court of Linköping. Saab has confessed that fighter jets for export were stored in the building the activists visited.
- The swedish weapons export creates many victims, but their voices can not be heard. To be passive is to be part of the these injustices, says Annika Spalde, 39, author and diakon in the swedish church.
She and the colleauges Pelle Strindlund and Martin Smedjeback are still after the trial imprisoned. When the verdict is made public on the 21th of april, they will have been imprisoned for 30 days, since they tried to disarm the fighter jets bound for export at Saab Aerosystems in Linköping.
The peaceworkers demand to be acquited of charge since they have acted to prevent suffering and death, directly because of the ongoing internal conflict in Thailand and indirectly because of the enormous amounts of money used for bying weapons instead of in the struggle against poverty or HIV/Aids in South Africa.
Thailand got permission a year ago to buy six Jas 39 Gripen even though the country is ruled by a military dictatorship and has internal conflicts in the southern parts of the country. South Africa bougth 28 fighter jets in 1999, an affair that has been criticized by the civil society with bishop Desmond Tutu in the lead. Saab and the swedish goverment are also trying to sell Jas Gripen to India, even though there is a great risk the jet will be equipped with nuclear weapons.
- When the goverment and companies cooperate to export weapons to poor countries and conflicts it is up to us regular citizens to act. The civil obedience is a far worse problem than the civil disobedience, says the author Pelle Strindlund, 37.
Instead of taking this in account, prosecutor Wilhelm Storck argued that the three should be convicted
of attempt to sabotage. He demanded that they be kept imprisoned and be made liable for damages to Saab worth 222.000 swedish crones.
The attorney argued that sabotage, or ”crime against the safety of the nation”, can not be in question since the activists were aiming to disarm fighter jets bound for export. And even if they had in fact disarmed a fighter jet for the swedish military the safety of the country would not have been at risk, since Sweden owns far to many fighter jets than they need.
Ulf Nilsson, in charge of the fighter jet program at Saab, testified that a disarmament of the weaponholder or frontcone of a fighter jet would have meant reparations during 6-9 months.
The trial started dramatically when one of the jurymen realized he worked at Saab and had to be replaced, which meant that the whole trial had to start over again.
Press release 2009-03-22
Peace activists arrested at weapons factory in Linköping, Sweden
In the early morning of March 22nd three peace activists were arrested at Saab Aerospace Systems’ weapons factory in Linköping, Sweden. Martin Smedjeback, Annika Spalde and Pelle Strindlund were on their way to disarm Jas 39 Gripen fighter jets, which are intended for export to India, Thailand and South Africa. The peace activists, who are all part of the anti-militaristic network Ofog, entered Saab’s industry area in Linköping by cutting holes in the barbed wire fence surrounding the area. Once inside they held a silent minute, dedicated to the twenty children that die every minute because of poverty in a world that invests more money in weapons than in fighting poverty.
In 2010 the Indian air defence will order 126 Jas 39 Gripen fighter jets. Saab is currently marketing these jets in India with much support from the Swedish government. If Saab gets the contract, Swedish jets could be loaded with weapons of massdestruction, as part of the Indian nuclear weapon programme.
– India’s 200 million starving citizens don’t need expensive fighter jets. What they need is food and clean water. When I was in India in February, I saw the widespread poverty with my own eyes. Several Indian organizations begged us Swedes to stop the weapons export to their country, says Martin Smedjeback, 35, non-violence educator.
As a symbol of the Indian resistance the activists put a picture of the Indian activist Elsey Jacob on the fence before going inside. A picture of the South African bishop Desmond Tutu was also put up. Tutu is working to make his government cancel the Jas 39 Gripen affair. In 1999 Saab managed to sell 28 Jas 39 Gripen to South Africa to a total of 17 billion Swedish crowns. South African social movements critizise this affair of being bribed. Beside, many critics claim that this weapon affair is taking resources from fighting poverty and HIV in South Africa.
– I simply can not accept that my country, by its weapons export, breeds conflicts and poverty. Sweden will deliver six Jas 39 Gripen to Thailand, despite the fact that the chief of Thai air defence declared in public that the planes will be used in the armed conflict in the southern parts of the country. The affair with South Africa is just as objectionable. According to the South African Christian council, the agreement should be stopped immediately. According to them the country’s largest enemy is poverty and that the money is needed for that struggle, says Annika Spalde, 39, author and lay worker in The Swedish church.
– In general, we should follow the law, but senseless obedience is not in any way worth striving for. Civil disobedience by peacefully objecting the law, can be an obligation in certain situations. When governments and companies cooperate to export weapons to poor countries and conflict zones, it is ordinary citizens’ duty to intervene, says Pelle Strindlund, 37, author.
The action in Linköping, Sweden, is part of the campaign ”Avrusta” (Disarm) launched in the autumn of 2008. By public opinion raising and civil disobedience actions, the campaign aims to stop the Swedish weapons export. In October 2008, two coordinated disarmament actions took place in the towns of Karlskoga and Eskilstuna. Parts for howitzer canon (FH77), going to India, and grenade launchers Carl Gustaf, used by the American army in Iraq, were disarmed. Two of the activists were sentenced to three months prison and demands of 220 000 Swedish crowns, and two other activists to four months in prison.
You find more information at www.avrusta.se. There you also find video material from the action at the Jas 39 Gripen factory in Linköping, and photos of the activists. All this material is free for use.
For more information:
Telephone: +46733815361
E-mail: avrusta[a]ofog.org
Swedish peace activists get four months imprisonment
For breaking into a Saab Bofors arms factory in Eskilstuna, Sweden, and disarming 14 Carl Gustaf bazookas, a local court today sentenced Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback to four months imprisonment. The judge dismissed Saab's claim for some 120 000 Euros in damages.
– I commend with all my heart the bravery of Swedish citizens who oppose the weapons export of their government, said Daniel Berrigan, poet and fellow founder of the ploughshares movement, who joins some one thousand international and Swedish supporters on www.avrusta.se and on Facebook.
The trial on March 9 was unusual in so far as the judge never once interrupted Andersson and Smedjeback. Instead they carefully argued and explained how their action on October 16, 2008, was a way to safeguard the official Swedish guidelines banning the country from supplying arms to warring states.
– Saab Bofors Dynamics deliver grenade launchers to the US military, which among other places, uses them in Iraq. I am ready to be imprisoned if necessary to hinder arms exports that cause so much suffering and death, said Martin Smedjeback, 35, a nonviolence trainer.
In a public gathering on the Eskilstuna main square representatives from the largest peace movements in Sweden spoke - the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society and the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation. The chairperson of the Christian Social Democratic movement also held a speech, about the importance of popular resistance against the weapons export. The manifestation also contained witnesses from the actions, a book cafe for locals who were also entertained by a musician and jesters.
– It is my duty to intervene due to the gross criminal damage and death that Saab causes around the world. Others who get in the way of Swedish weaponry, for example in Iraq and Afghanistan, pay a substantially higher price, said Anna Andersson, 27, a web developer.
Smedjeback was also sentenced to pay restitution of some 15 500 Euros for jumping over a fence at the Aimpoint red dot sights facility in Malmö, Sweden, in November 2008. The ongoing campaign Avrusta ("Disarm") now counts a total of fourteen months of prison time and some 37 500 Euros in damages for stopping export arms.
Andersson's and Smedjeback's work is part of the Avrusta campaign, launched in September 2008 by the Swedish antimilitaristic network Ofog ("Mischief"). The campaign has rendered useless 14 Carl Gustaf grenade launchers and parts to 9 units of howitzer FH77B. The campaign continues its work.
Contacts:
Martin Smedjeback, +46-70–2579097, smedjeback@gmail.com
Anna Andersson +46-73–7772818, kinaya@gmail.com
For more info on the trial, including statements and video: http://www.ofog.org/r%C3%A4tteg%C3%A5ngar
For images from trial day: http://www.ofog.org/avrusta_bilder
Press release March 8, 2009
Saab Bofors disarmers face court in Sweden
They hammered on Carl Gustaf bazookas bound for the US, causing damages of over USD 100 000. On Monday, two peace campaigners appear in a local court in Eskilstuna, Sweden, for disrupting the Nordic country's arms exports to wars and human rights abusers.
In the early hours of October 16, 2008, “Avrusta” (Disarm) activists Anna Andersson, 27, and Martin Smedjeback, 35, cut open a fence and entered an assembly workshop at the Saab Bofors Dynamics site in the town of Eskilstuna, some 100 km from the capital Stockholm. They proceeded to scratch and dent 14 Carl Gustaf M3 anti-tank rocket launchers, left letters and a chocolate bar to workers and then alerted police of their presence in the high-security facility.
The peace activists were charged with gross malicious damage and breach of a law protecting installations of national security, offences which may yield up to four years' imprisonment. Acknowledging the action's impact, Saab Bofors Dynamics has penned a letter demanding 1 166 000 crowns (some USD 127 000) in damages, mainly for destroyed barrels, bolts and cartridge slots of the man-held Carl Gustafs, made in Eskilstuna since 1948.
- Swedish arms exports are larger than ever. I cannot quietly watch as arms made in Eskilstuna are used in conflict and war worldwide. The 14 grenade rifles we disarmed this fall will never be used to wound or kill a human being, says Anna Andersson, a web designer from Göteborg.
The Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle is one of the world’s most notorious killers, used since the 1950s worldwide including by the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, and in Israel, Burma, Zambia and Venezuela. In May 2008 the US government placed its latest order, worth USD 48 million, for the multi-purpose weapon. Swedish arms exports have quadrupled from some 3 to 12 billion crowns (USD 1.4 bln) since the year 2000.
- I look forward to the opportunity to defend our peace action in court. I hope we are acquitted since we acted to prevent Sweden’s complicity in war crimes, says Martin Smedjeback, a nonviolence trainer from Malmö.
A simultaneous action in the BAE Systems Bofors facility in Karlskoga, Sweden led to a November 12, 2008, sentencing of two other activists from the Avrusta campaign to three months imprisonment and some 220 000 crowns (USD 24 000) in damages. They had dismantled howitzer parts bound for India, an export deal the activists say is another breach of Sweden’s export guidelines stressing arms should not go to countries in conflict, with human rights issues or otherwise contradict development priorities.
The campaigners can be reached at +46 702 579 097, smedjeback@gmail.com (Martin Smedjeback) and, +46 737 772 818, kinaya@gmail.com (Anna Andersson).
Press release 12 November, 2008
Prison and severe fines for howitzer disarmers
Three months in prison and some 20 000 euro in damages was the verdict Wednesday, November 12, for two Swedish peace activists who in mid-October hammered on BAE howitzers bound for India. The activists say they will continue to protest Sweden's unlawful and immoral arms exports.
"We must not let injust laws and punishments that protect the arms industry hinder us in the struggle for peace and solidarity," said Catherine Laska, 24, youth leader from Göteborg, after the verdict.
She and Pelle Strindlund, 37, an author from Sundsvall in Northern Sweden, were called guilty of severe criminal damage and breech of the law on protection of national security facilities.
BAE Systems Bofors has sold spare howitzer parts to India for some 80 million euro in 2008 alone. India purchased 410 units of the field howitzer 77B in the 1980s and has used them in the Kashmir conflict. While in court lowering its demands for damages from some 50 000 to 20 000 euro, BAE Systems Bofors' security director Leif Gren admitted that the nonviolent action hurt the company's client relationships and delayed its deliveries.
Laska and Pelle Strindlund, 37, spent almost three weeks in custody in Örebro, some 240 kilometers from Stockholm, before the trial which was held November 5 at Karlskoga district court, ancestral home of the Bofors industries. Some 20 supporters of the accused attented and presented banners exposing BAE's and Swedish politicians' responsibility for fuelling wars and aiding oppression.
Catherine Laska questioned why the couple were prosecuted for criminal damage, when in fact, she said, "it is BAE Systems Bofors that should be accused of criminal damage in India and Iraq. The weapons exports from Karlskoga fuel the armed conflict between India and Pakistan and help the US kill Iraqis".
The three other Avrusta campaigners; Anna Andersson, Martin Smedjeback and Annika Spalde, who carried out other actions inter alia disabling some 20 Carl Gustaf bazookas inside a Saab plant in Eskilstuna, some 110 kilometers from Stockholm, still await a court date.
For more information:
Catherine Laska, +46-735-618 342 and Pelle Strindlund, +46-735-813 926 (the campaign Avrusta) Karlskoga district court +46-586 - 67400
http://www.ofog.org/introduction
The campaign Avrusta has been under preparation for more than a year and is supported inter alia by prominent historian Howard Zinn and legal expert Francis Boyle. www.ofog.se
The Swedish network Ofog ("mischief") has been working against nuclear weapons and militarization, using inter alia civil disobedience, since 2002.
Press release October 31, 2008
Trial-date set for artillery-smashing Swedes
The trial against Catherine Laska, 24, and Pelle Strindlund, 37, will take place on Wednesday, Nov 5 2008, in Karlskoga Local Court (Tingsrätt), Sweden. The couple are charged with severe criminal damage, the maximum punishment for which is 4 years imprisonment.
BAE Systems Bofors has admitted that the initial estimate of some 50 000 euro in costs will not be enough, to that must be added delays in deliveries (the couple damaged BAE Systems' spare parts for Howitzer 77 bound i.a. for India, see earlier press release below and summary to the left).
- We're charged with severe criminal damage, but intend to show in court that it is BAE Systems Bofors who are guilty of severe criminal damage in India and Iraq. The arms deliveries we stalled fuel the ongoing armed conflict between India and Pakistan and help the US kill Iraqis, says youth leader Catherine Laska, who was arrested only two and a half hours after first entering the BAE Systems Bofors security area on October 16, 2008.
Örebro prosecutor Kristian Agneklev has not indicated any understanding of the international law breeches involved and instead said he will likely add events from a summer 2008 peace camp in Karlskoga to the charges. Pelle and Catherine are probably looking at years at the minimum standard of living as a result of damages they will be sentenced to restore.
Anna, Martin and Annika (see previous info) are still awaiting trials, which may be within two years.
For more info:
Martin Smedjeback, +46-70-2579097, Alvin Andersson, +46-70-0665060, Annika Spalde +46-76-2461994 (the Avrusta campaign)
Kristian Agneklev, prosecutor, Örebro, +46-19 - 15 63 20
Remand prison Örebro +46-19 - 7674001 (for contact with Catherine Laska och Pelle Strindlund)
Karlskoga Tingsrätt (local court, where you can request the sentence) +46-586 - 67400 (main proceedings set to 09.00-12.00 on Nov 5, 2008 in Karlskoga tingsrätt).
www.avrusta.se
The Avrusta campaign has been prepared more than one year. Its supporters include Howard Zinn and Francis Boyle.
www.ofog.se
The Ofog ("mischief") network since 2002 resists nuclear arms and militarisation inter alia with civil disobedience
Press release October 16, 2008
US-bound weapons disarmed in Sweden
25 Carl Gustaf antitank launchers and other armaments were damaged Thursday as Swedish peace activists broke into plants belonging to BAE Systems and Saab in Sweden. In two simultaneous non-violent actions, four activists hammered on arms bound for export to among others the US, UK and India.
Two activists entered the Saab Bofors Dynamics production unit in Eskilstuna, near Stockholm, Sweden, at 00.30 am on Thursday morning, October 16, 2008. They hammered upon and scratched 20 Carl Gustaf launchers, one of the most widespread weapons of the world, before they alerted police of their presence inside the supposedly high-security establishment.
Simultaneously, two other activists entered the BAE Systems plant in Karlskoga, Sweden, in the Western part of the Nordic country. At 2.36 am, they forced open a door to an assembly building and proceeded to damage parts for at least seven Howitzer 77 units and Archer, artillery systems used in India and Iraq.
"When your government supports an illegal war and sells arms to dictatorships, it's time for ordinary citizens like us to take action," said Annika Spalde, a deacon in the Swedish church and the fifth member of the group. On Thursday noon she held a press conference in Karlskoga and was also arrested upon attempting to enter arms manufacturing facilities there which previously belonged to famous Swedish Bofors.
When the American led invasion of Iraq started Swedish arms export increased by 88 percent and has continued to rise. The Swedish government violates it's own policy of peace and neutrality by supplying war waging countries with arms.
The activists left behind holes in the security fence with welcoming signs "The door is opened- you' re free to start disarming."
The Swedish peace group Ofog works with non violent direct action against militarism.
Contact Ofog: +46-733-815361
info@ofog.org