Lmst

Defendants in Georgia ‘Cop City’ case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue

By R.J. RICO
Updated 12:26 AM EDT, May 12, 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — "Single mother Priscilla Grim lost her job. Aspiring writer Julia Dupuis frequently stares at the bedroom ceiling, numb. Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program.

"The three are among 61 defendants accused by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of participating in a yearslong racketeering conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility just outside Atlanta that critics pejoratively call 'Cop City.'

"Their cases are at a standstill, 20 months after being indicted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, which is likely the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts say.

"Trial for five of the defendants was supposed to start last year but got bogged down in procedural issues. The judge overseeing the case then moved to another court. A new judge has set a status hearing for Wednesday.

"The delays have left people in limbo, facing charges carrying up to 20 years behind bars for what they maintain was #LegitimateProtest, not #DomesticTerrorism. The case also has suppressed a movement that brought together hundreds of #activists to protect a wooded patch of land that ultimately was razed for the recently completed $118 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) project.

"Officials say the project is sorely needed to replace outdated facilities and boost officers’ morale. Opponents say it will be a training ground for a #MilitarizedPolice force and its construction has worsened #environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.

"Protests escalated after the fatal 2023 shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as #Tortuguita, who was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed Tortuguita, 26, after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.

"A family-commissioned autopsy concluded Tortuguita was killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers’ use of force was 'objectively reasonable.' "

#ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol #StopCopCity #WeelauneeForest #DefendTheForest #CopCity #SilencingDissent #CiminalizingDissent #MilitarizedPolice

#CopCity Is Everywhere

Learning from the Movement to #DefendTheForest

#CrimethInc, 2025-03-14

"The movement to #StopCopCity and defend #WeelauneeForest was one of the most important social struggles of the Biden era. Its trajectory tells us a lot about the challenges we confront today under Donald Trump. In the final chapter of our chronology, we trace the movement’s concluding phase, beginning in 2023 and ending with Trump’s arrival in power, and explore what we can learn from it."

Reports from the Festivals of Resistance / Day of the Forest Defender

#Crimethinc, 2025-01-20

"January 18 is the Day of the Forest Defender, honoring the life of Manuel '#Tortuguita' Terán, who was murdered by Georgia State Troopers two years ago while protesting the construction of Cop City in Atlanta, and everyone else who has given their lives in the fight against those who would render the earth uninhabitable in the course of their pursuit of profit. This year, a call circulated for people to organize festivals of resistance in their communities on the weekend of January 17-19. Here, we share reports from some of these events.

"The situation is grim. Despite acknowledging that Trump represents #fascism, Democrats have nonetheless welcomed the arrival of #despotism, dutifully voting for new legislation targeting immigrants and doing their best to keep protesters out of the streets. #TechCEOs have followed suit, pouring millions of dollars into his inauguration and crowding into St. John’s Church to worship at the feet of their new master.

"#ElonMusk made the #Nazi salute twice from the podium during the inauguration, leaving only just enough plausible deniability to confuse the most naïve. Musk has posted fascist dog whistles on Twitter before, even before he purchased it in order to reintroduce Nazis to the platform, ban anarchists, and promote the fascist agenda.

"From this point forward, nothing should surprise us. The incoming government has made it clear that they intend to inflict as much harm as possible on those who are vulnerable while concentrating as much money as possible in the hands of the ultra-rich. These are the central points of their agenda. Attempting to spread information about their misdeeds in order to provoke popular outrage is a waste of time. From here out, all that matters is developing the capacity to defend each other from their attacks while preparing to go on the offensive as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

"The faces of the #oligarchy looked craven and servile as they lined up at the inauguration to toady to Trump. #Capitalism concentrates power in the hands of the most rapacious, but they can only hold on to power by being completely subservient to its demands.

"Fortunately, not everyone is taking this sitting down. #Anarchists around the country called for 'festivals of resistance' the weekend before the inauguration in order to bring communities together prepare to resist. Here follow reports from a few of these. You can read the original call to organize festivals of resistance here, along with a list of dozens of events around the country."

HT @UnicornRiot

Parents of #ForestDefender Killed by Police File #CivilRights Lawsuit

By Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot December 20, 2024

"The parents of slain forest defender Manuel ‘#Tortuguita’ Paez Terán filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against three Georgia law enforcement officers they say are most responsible for the death of their child in January 2023."

https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/parents-of-forest-defender-killed-by-police-file-civil-rights-lawsuit/

#JusticeForTort #StopCopCitiesEverywhere
#Decolonize #Resist #CorporateColonialism
#DayOfTheForestDefender #StopCopCity #SmashThePatriarchy
#DefendTheForest #ProtectTheForests #ACAB

Festivals of #Resistance

A Call for Gatherings the Weekend Before Trump Takes Office

2024-12-03, #CrimeThinc

"The chaos that will accompany the return of the Trump administration represents an opportunity as well as a challenge. This is a chance to assert an autonomous pole of organizing, carrying forward the lessons of 2020 and the movement against Cop City while continuing the fight against patriarchal violence, white supremacy, and colonialism.

"By organizing ahead of Trump’s inauguration, we can seize the initiative and set our own timeline rather than being caught flat-footed and forced to react. We need to welcome new participants into these struggles and foster a revolutionary perspective that can orient us through the challenges ahead. No amount of internet activity could substitute for gathering face to face. The most important battles ahead will not be fought online, but in the streets of our communities.

"January 18 is observed as the Day of the Forest Defender. It will be the two-year anniversary of the murder of Tortuguita in Weelaunee Forest. It is an important date to gather, honor the memory of the fallen, and pledge ourselves to resistance and to one another."

#CallingAllActivists #CallingAllAnarchists #Resistance #JusticeForTort #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #Decolonize #Resist #CorporateColonialism #DayOfTheForestDefender #StopCopCity #SmashThePatriarchy #WhiteNationalism #ChristoFascism

@leah POWERFUL! #RestInPower #NotForgotten #JusticeForTort

Today across the US, dozens of cities are holding community events, vigils, and memorials for martyred anarchist #Tortuguita, who was killed one year ago defending the Weelaunee forest from the construction of a corporate backed, counter-insurgency training facility, known as Cop City.

#StopCopCity #ATL #JusticeforTort

Check out the list of events here: https://itsgoingdown.org/day-forest-defender-jan-18/

Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight against #CopCity

Six More Months in the Movement to Defend the Forest
2023-12-12 via #CrimeThinc

"Escalating Repression: #RICO and the Furtherance of the Conspiracy

"With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the 'tactics of organized criminals' language Governor Kemp used on July 2 was not just boilerplate copy drafted by an intern, nor was the August 2 press conference simply propaganda to assure backers that the state could still protect their investments. These phrases and statements were shaping operations, carefully crafted interventions designed to position the government for their next operation: the blanket criminalization of the entire movement.

"On August 29, the Attorney General of #Georgia, Christopher M. Carr, filed an indictment with the Fulton County Superior Court, bringing charges against 61 people under Georgia’s version of the Rackeeter-Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act O.C.G.A. § 16-14-4. The indictment became public on September 5. The document, which is over 100 pages long and very poorly written, claims that the 'conspiracy' (which it names 'Defend the Atlanta Forest') was 'founded' on May 25, 2020—the day that #MinneapolisPolice officers murdered #GeorgeFloyd, precipitating a nationwide #uprising.

"This was a serious escalation. It did not catch everyone by surprise: the #AtlantaSolidarityFund has been braced for such charges since February. The authorities and their extreme-right proxies had been demanding a full-scale crackdown on the movement for over a year, spreading a conspiracy theory that the movement was a mafia controlled by a shadowy and well-connected group (a narrative some activists also reproduced, apparently with no sense of irony). According to one version of this conspiracy theory, circulated by far-right trolls, the Network for Stronger Communities (a Georgia-based nonprofit organization) operates a number of financial enterprises, including the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, that coordinate acts of terrorism in order to accumulate wealth and influence. Of the 61 accused, three were members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The 42 people already facing #DomesticTerrorism charges were also indicted, as well as a number of other people whose connection to the movement was unclear. The indictment alleged that some people had committed acts in 'overt furtherance of the conspiracy' such as buying #GlueSticks for #SignMaking. [UK is using similar tactics, arresting people for just having #Superglue or #BikeLocks in their possession.]

"The RICO indictment was not a legal procedure but a political act. It was not a judicial intervention to suppress criminal activity but a government measure to crush what the text describes as '#anarchism,' '#collectivism,' '#SocialSolidarity,' '#MutualAid.”

"It is not simply 61 people who are on trial. By dating the case to the murder of George Floyd, the prosecution showed that their real target was the entire population of millions that participated in the consequent revolt. This is not an unusual court case, but a new chapter in the fight between those who seek to preserve the hierarchies of a structurally white supremacist society and those fighting to destroy it root and branch. The indictment does not present a list of crimes. It describes the contours and values of a rival society emerging within the movement to stop Cop City, aspiring to reinvent the world according to a different logic.

"The Fulton County Judge assigned to the RICO case immediately recused himself. Until then, judges had not recused themselves from cases related to the movement even when they possessed obvious ties to the Atlanta Police Foundation."

Full article:
https://crimethinc.com/2023/12/12/dont-stop-continuing-the-fight-against-cop-city-six-more-months-in-the-movement-to-defend-the-forest

#JusticeForTort #StopCopCity #ACAB #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SLAPPs

Dozens indicted on Georgia racketeering charges related to ‘Stop Cop City’ movement appear in court

by Kate Brumback, Nov 7, 2023

ATLANTA (AP) — “Nearly five dozen people indicted on racketeering charges related to protests against a planned police and firefighter training facility near Atlanta appeared in court on Monday as their supporters rallied outside the courthouse.

“Protests against the proposed training center — dubbed “Cop City' by opponents — have been going on for more than two years. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr obtained a sweeping indictment in August, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to target the #protesters and characterizing them as 'militant #anarchists.'

“Demonstrators and #CivilRights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (#ACLU), have condemned the indictment and accused #Carr, a Republican, of levying heavy-handed charges to try to silence a movement that has galvanized #environmentalists and #antipolice protesters across the country.

“All 61 people indicted were scheduled to be arraigned Monday, that is to have the charges against them formally read in court. Fifty-seven of them appeared, called in small groups before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams over a three-hour period, and each waived arraignment.

“Four defendants failed to appear. One was believed to be in France and prosecutors didn’t have a good address for him. One was in federal immigration custody. Another who is not American and who had left the country tried to return twice in recent days to attend the hearing but was denied entry to the country, her lawyer said. A fourth simply didn’t show.

“Most of the people who appeared had not yet surrendered at the Fulton County Jail to be booked on their charges. Some had recently reached agreements with prosecutors on a bond amount and conditions and others were still in the process of doing so.

“Adams told them they had until 10 a.m. Tuesday, 24 hours after the start of the arraignment proceedings, to turn themselves in. If they fail to do so, she warned, a warrant for their arrest could be issued and any bond would be rescinded.

“Adams instructed defense attorneys to provide the attorney general’s office with hard drives by Friday so they can receive copies of evidence in the case, known as discovery. Prosecutors are to finish copying and distributing that evidence to defense attorneys by the end of the year.

“A final plea hearing will be set no later than the end of June, Adams said. She explained to the groups of defendants that if they want to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors they must do it by that date.
“A couple of hundred supporters of the ‘#StopCopCity' effort rallied outside the courthouse in downtown Atlanta on Monday morning singing, chanting and waving signs.

“Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other supporters say the 85-acre, $90 million facility would replace inadequate training facilities, and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers. Opponents have expressed concern that that it could lead to greater police #militarization and that its construction in the #SouthRiverForest will worsen #environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.

“Protests against the project, which have at time resulted in violence and vandalism, escalated after the fatal shooting in January of 26-year-old protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as #Tortuguita. A prosecutor last month said he would not pursue charges against the state troopers who shot Paez Terán, saying he found that their use of deadly force was ‘objectively reasonable.'

“Most of those indicted in August had already been charged over their alleged involvement in the movement. RICO charges carry a sentence of five to 20 years in prison that can be added on top of the penalty for the underlying acts.

“Among the defendants: more than three dozen people who were previously facing domestic terrorism charges in connection to the protests; three leaders of a #BailFund previously accused of money laundering; and three activists previously charged with felony intimidation after authorities said they distributed #flyers calling a state trooper a
'murderer' for his involvement in Paez Terán’s death.

“Prosecutors have alleged a conspiracy that includes a wide variety of underlying crimes that range from possessing fire accelerant and throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers to being reimbursed for glue and food for activists who spent months camping in the woods near the construction site.”

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/dozens-indicted-on-georgia-racketeering-charges-related-to-stop-cop-city-movement-appear-in-court

#DefendTheForest #ACAB #DefendWeelauneeForest #Fascism #Censorship #ClimateJustice #DirectAction #JusticeForTort #JusticeForTortugita #AtlantaGeorgia #EnvironmentalRacism #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #FreeAllForestDefenders #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent

Police officers won't face charges in fatal shooting of protester Manuel Teran at Atlanta's '#CopCity'

Six troopers fired shots that resulted in Teran's death in January.

ByMark Osborne and Kiara Alfonseca
October 6, 2023

"None of the #Georgia State Police troopers involved in the fatal shooting of Manuel '#Tortuguita' Teran will face charges, according to Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George R. Christian.

"Teran, who used they/them pronouns, was shot and killed by police on Jan. 18 as officers raided campgrounds occupied by environmental demonstrators who had allegedly been camping out for months to protest the development of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed '#CopCity' by critics.

"According to an autopsy of Teran sent to ABC News, they did not have gunpowder residue on their hands. Officials claimed Teran fired the first shot at a state trooper. Officers then responded with gunfire.

"In Friday's announcement that no charges would be filed, Christian wrote that Teran responded to officers firing 'less lethal' pepperball rounds by 'shooting four (4) times his 9 mm pistol through the tent striking and seriously injuring a Georgia State Trooper. Six Troopers returned fire resulting in the death of Teran.'

"'The use of lethal (deadly) force by the Georgia State Patrol was objectively reasonable under the circumstances of this case,' Christian wrote. 'No criminal charges will be brought against the Georgia State Patrol Troopers involved in the shooting of Manuel Perez Teran.'

"Teran had at least 57 gunshot wounds in their body, according to the autopsy, including in the hands, torso, legs and head.

"An independent autopsy from the family found that Teran’s hands were raised during the fatal shooting, however, the DeKalb County autopsy stated, 'There are too many variables with respect to movement of the decedent and the shooters to draw definitive conclusions concerning Mr. Teran's body position.'

"The DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office had ruled the death a homicide.

"The Georgia Attorney General's Office is conducting its own investigation into the shooting."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-officers-face-charges-fatal-shooting-protester-manuel/story?id=103782565

#StopCopCity #DefendTheForest #ACAB #DefendWeelauneeForest #Fascism #ClimateJustice #DirectAction #JusticeForTort #JusticeForTortugita #AtlantaGeorgia

Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight against #CopCity

Six More Months in the Movement to Defend the Forest
2023-12-12

"Starting in April 2021, people in #AtlantaGeorgia set out to defend #WeelauneeForest, where politicians and profiteers are attempting to build a police training compound known as #CopCity. Over the past two and a half years, this movement has given rise to one of the fiercest struggles in North America. Opponents of Cop City have repeatedly destroyed equipment and forced contractors to withdraw from the construction project, while the authorities have killed one #ForestDefender and pressed outlandish #racketeering charges against 61 more, including the members of a legal support collective."

#CriminalizingDissent #StopCopCity #DefendTheForest #ACAB #DefendWeelauneeForest #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #Censorship #Fascism #ClimateJustice #DirectAction #JusticeForTort #JusticeForTortugita #SilencingDissent

Very happy to see Cato’s @cob & @PGEddington give a fair overview of why libertarians should care about #CopCity, #AtlantaForest protests, & the murder of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán.
Tort (they/them) is misgendered during the convo, but I don’t believe it’s done intentionally.

https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/assessment-stopcopcity-training-centers-urban-combat-policing
#stopcopcity #defendatlantaforest #justicefortort

On Jan 18th, 2023, additional raids took place with more arrests. 26-year-old Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran was murdered by Georgia State Patrol after being shot 57 times while sitting in their tent.

In Tort’s name we continue the struggle to #StopCopCity.

#JusticeForTort

(8/14)

Picture of Tortuguita smiling, with several turtles above and around them. Background is forest trees.

Tortuguita sat cross-legged with their hands raised on Jan 18 shouting, “Go away,” right before cops shot them 50+ times.

As part of the #StopCopCity Atlanta Week of Action, we sat as Tort did shouting “Go away” while a massive police presence tried to intimidate us with force and helicopters. It did not work. We will not stop fighting for #JusticeForTort. Cop city will never be built.

Week of Action to #StopCopCity

A Retrospective by @hungrybowtie for #ItCouldHappenHere

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/week-of-action-to-stop-cop-114799545/

#CoolZoneMedia #DefendAtlantaForest #JusticeForTort #acab #eco

🖤❤️THIS IS POWERFUL🖤❤️
The voice over belongs to Tort, almost like they predicted their demise. Warning: If you knew them or passionately follow the cop city fiasco, you will cry hearing them describe exactly what happened to them.
#JusticeforTort #StopCopCity #ACAB

Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol Are Guilty of Murder: The Evidence and the Motive

New from @CrimethInc

https://crimethinc.com/2023/04/20/atlanta-police-and-georgia-state-patrol-are-guilty-of-murder-the-evidence-and-the-motive

@defendATLforest #StopCopCity #JusticeForTort #ACAB

May is the #StopCopCity Month of Solidarity. What can you do to help? Cop city will never be built. #justicefortort #acab @defendATLforest

"The civil rights attorney said the case to date bore similarities to one in which she defended Phoenix-area Black Lives Matter protesters. In that case, all criminal charges against protesters were dropped – including more than 100 felony rioting charges and attempts to tie defendants to what she called a “fake criminal street gang … that does not and has never existed, except as a boogeyman in the state’s head.”

Fallout in the case includes multiple resignations, demotions and even criminal investigations against prosecutors and police, after falsified evidence and other law enforcement abuses were revealed. “I heard all of the same things” at the bond hearing, she said. What happened in Phoenix, she said, “should serve as a warning as to what might happen in Atlanta."

#StopCopCity #Atlanta #DefendtheAtlantaForest #Tortuguita #JusticeforTort

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/31/georgia-cop-city-activists-prosecutors?CMP=share_btn_tw

Protesters carrying "Stop Cop City" signs.

"What’s indisputable is that police repression has extended into all corners of this movement, amounting to a profoundly undemocratic exertion of state power. From the outset, the voices of the people have been marginalized and subsumed under deference to Atlanta’s police state.

As in the days of brutal repression of the civil rights movement, so too are the levers of state power aligned against the Stop Cop City movement. But there are also reasons for hope. Despite the best efforts of Atlanta authorities to contain the movement, to smear those standing in solidarity as outside agitators, this movement is both intersectional and multilocational.

Beyond the week of action, the battle to stop Cop City continues, in forms ranging from sabotage to legal battles over environmental permitting minutiae. Only time will tell how this movement resolves — whether it succumbs to police repression or whether Cop City will indeed never be built. But it’s been a hell of a fight so far, with the full force of state power brought against the protesters that dare to defy it."

#StopCopCity #Tortuguita #JusticeforTort #Atlanta #AtlantaForest #DefendtheAtlantaForest #Weelaunee #WeelauneeForest #BlackLivesMatter

https://truthout.org/articles/atlantas-stop-cop-city-movement-is-spreading-despite-rampant-state-repression/

#JusticeForTort

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