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Re: [dvd-discuss] Skylarov indicted for trafficing and conspiracy.



On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Steve Hosgood wrote:

> > On Wed, Aug 29, 2001 at 03:17:09PM +0300, MosheVainer wrote:
> > >
> > > BTW, in case he is found innocent, would the US be
> > > responsible to pay damages due to his inability to support
> > > his family in Russia while on trial?
> > > Any lawyer would like to comment?
> >
> > Not as far as I am aware....
> >
>
> What, so the US govt. can arbitrarily arrest a foreign national(*), chuck him
> in jail, drag him in chains from one state to another, deprive him of
> all accepted 'rights' and after all *that* if a judge chucks the case out
> of the window they can just say "oops, sorry" and expect not to get sued
> for at least a million bucks(**) by their victim?

Yep.

One of the 2600 folks (Shapeshifter, I believe) was arrested at the
Republican National Convention.  The police claimed he was calling someone
on his cellular phone and advocating the blockage of streets in the
protest.  Some streets were blocked, but people dispersed when the police
asked.

At his trial, the only evidence the prosecution had was a videotape that
DIDN'T EVEN HAVE HIM IN IT.

The judge apologized for wasting the jury's time and dismissed the case.

The bond that was paid for his bail was not even all returned to him, even
though he was found innocent.  Evidently, 750 dollars of the bail money
was allowed to be kept for "Administration costs".  Evidently, being
suspected of a crime is enough to allow these costs to stick, because
there is no other reasonable explanation.

You can read about this at http://www.2600.com/news/display.shtml?id=510
(and other places in their news archive).

People are getting screwed by the system all the time.  There are not
enough lawers who will fight for the common good anymore.  The dvd-discuss
list and the EFF lawyers are a rare breed, for which I am very thankfull.
We need more of these.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

All of the problems associated with Intellectual property can easily
be resolved by keeping those who believe in it on a strict diet of
Intellectual bread and water.

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______         _ __         "If you don't have the freedom to use what you
  /           ' )  )               own - then you do not own anything."
 / o ______    /  / _  . .    No apologies to Jack Valenti or the MPAA
/ <_/ / / <   /  (_</_(_/_  -- tneu@visi.com / http://www.visi.com/~tneu --