A silent vigil will take place at Reading Crown Court tomorrow morning organised by campaign group Defend Our Juries.
They will be hosting a sit-in protest from 8.30-10am on Monday morning as citizens across both England and Wales gather outside of courts to highlight what they describe as ‘justice lottery’ approach between different judges.
On Tuesday,July 2, on the orders of Judge Chrispher Hehir, 11 people were arrested outside Southwark Crown Court for holding signs that said ‘Juries deserve to hear the whole truth’ and ‘Juries have the absolute right to acquit a defendant on their conscience.’
Spokesperson for the campaign group Defend Our Juries in Reading, Lucy said: “What madness, in the face of local and global genocide and ecocide, that the judiciary makes a mockery of trial by jury by denying defendants the opportunity to give their motivation. Juries will not hear the whole truth and cannot give an informed verdict.”
James added “We feel so intimidated by Judge Hehir’s blatant disregard for the High Court decision on Trudi Warner’s case that some of us are adopting the blank A4 paper approach”.
After 11 people were arrested for holding signs in July, a Crown Court Judge described the sign holders as ‘trouble makers’.
The group has highlighted their ‘mounting concerns’ of the governments’ crackdown on protests and said that it is ‘undermining fundamental democratic rights in the UK, such as rights to freedom of speech and assembly.’
They also believe that the judge’s action defies a recent High Court ruling that ‘criminal prosecution is a disproportionate approach to this situation in a democratic society
