This Thursday, June 25, the first hearing in the trial of our comrade Anasse Kazib, a railway worker and spokesperson for Révolution Permanente (RP) — our sister organization in France — took place in Paris.

Anasse and another of our RP colleagues are being tried on charges of “apology for terrorism” for tweeting in support of the Palestinian struggle. This trial is part of the French state’s larger criminalization of all support for the Palestinian people and any questioning of the genocide that the State of Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, or the systematic attacks on the Palestinian population of the West Bank.

As Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise, pointed out during a rally in defense of Kazib held on Thursday:

It was our duty to be here with Anasse Kazib and his colleagues who are facing charges in the upcoming trial. Several hundred people have been charged in this case, and we, the members of La France Insoumise, have the honor of having nearly ten of our members facing charges. Therefore, without diminishing the differences we have with Anasse and his colleagues, there is an absolute duty of solidarity on this issue. This is not a minor matter in the Palestinian struggle: it is a methodical and international persecution aimed at building, around the crimes committed against Palestinians and their neighbors, an internationally coordinated policy to persecute all those who oppose it. […] At this moment, Kazib and I, both presidential candidates, should either of us be elected, will remember perfectly what we must do: grant amnesty to those convicted. Kazib is right to say that this is a “political” trial. We are forced to explain why we support Palestinian rights while not a single one of those who systematically invaded all their neighbors is held accountable for their crimes.

A First Victory

After a long campaign of national and international solidarity, and a strong strategy to turn the trial against Anasse into a trial against the criminalization by the State of those who support the Palestinian cause, a major victory was finally achieved this Thursday.

Kazib’s defense team had presented two questions of constitutionality to the court, which allowed them to petition the Constitutional Council for an opinion on the admissibility of some of the elements of the trial. The court granted one of the motions filed by the defense, so now it must be sent to a higher court, which will evaluate whether to send it to the Constitutional Council. For the time being, the trial has been postponed for several months.

Outside the courthouse, hundreds of activists and solidarity organizations had gathered since the morning to show their support for Anasse. This solidarity campaign, which had already manifested itself on Wednesday with demonstrations in a dozen cities, has been ongoing for several months. In addition to petitions signed by prominent figures from around the world, there were also several events like the one held last week in Saint Denis with over 1,000 people, and a strong international solidarity campaign, including demonstrations this Thursday in Spain. Our comrade. Myriam Bregman, an Argentine congresswoman from the Workers’ Party (PTS) in the Left Front, also spoke and participated in solidarity actions in Paris.

As Kazib said before his trial: “We are going to bring the Palestinian cause to the court. We are proud to be heirs to the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles, to the struggles of the workers’ movement. This is a political trial that seeks to silence those who oppose the genocide and the government. We draw strength from the Palestinian people, a revolutionary people among revolutionaries. We will chant ‘Long live Palestine’ in the courtroom!”

The post France: Trial of Our Comrade Anasse Kazib Postponed Thanks to Massive Solidarity Campaign appeared first on Left Voice.

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