Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence, facing six months prison

by Community Solidarity Network

TORONTO, APRIL 28, 2011 -- Today, at the Ontario Court of Justice at Old

City Hall, Montreal-based G20 protester Jaggi Singh has pled guilty to
urging people to tear down the G20 security fence.

Jaggi, a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and No One Is
Illegal-Montreal, has technically pled guilty to “counselling to commit
mischief over $5000”. His specific crime occurred during a short speech
and subsequent replies to media questions during a No One Is Illegal press
conference at the $5.5 million G20 security fence on June 24, 2010, just a
few days before the G20 conference officially began in downtown Toronto.

Jaggi’s remarks, which will be entered into evidence, can be viewed online
in two segments:
i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc;
ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030).

For Jaggi’s words, the Crown is demanding six months in prison, while his
lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, is arguing for a much lesser penalty.

In return for Jaggi’s plea, the Crown is withdrawing all criminal
conspiracy charges, charges still being faced by 17 other former
co-accused who will begin their preliminary inquiry in September.

As part of the plea agreement between the Crown and Jaggi: i) the Crown
will not call Jaggi as a witness in any G20-related case; ii) Jaggi’s plea
cannot be used by the Crown in any other G20 prosecutions; iii) Jaggi will
offer no cooperation to the Crown or the police; iv) Jaggi will offer no
apologies for his actions and words; v) the entirety of my agreement will
be public and not subject to any publication ban (plea agreement and
related exhibits are linked below).

Sentencing arguments are being heard in front of Justice Bigelow at the
Ontario Court of Justice today, and it is expected that he will deliver
his ruling on sentence on June 21.
----------

The following groups have today issued public support letters in support
of Jaggi:

* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On
the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

* Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC): In Montreal, In Toronto and
Everywhere, the Walls Must Fall!

* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi

* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and
Resistance to Capitalist Austerity

* Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW): (to be posted shortly)

If your group or organization would also like to write a support letter,
or endorse an existing one, please contact the CLAC in Montreal via
blocampmontreal@gmail.com
----------

 

- PLEA AGREEMENT: http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/PLEA
AGREEMENT - English.pdf

- Exhibit A: Agreed Statement of Facts

- Exhibit B: Jaggi Singh twitter feed (June 3-July 6, 2010)
(Why the twitter feed?: The twitter feed was public and intended for a
general audience. The Crown is using Jaggi’s twitter feed (June 3 to July
6, 2010) to highlight that he posted information like: 1) CLAC’s
Anti-Capitalist Reader produced before the G20 called “Warning Shot!”; 2)
No One Is Illegal statements produced before and after the G20; 3) a video
posted by Jaggi (but not produced or made by him) called “Mon voyage à
Toronto”, which includes the Dead Prez song “Fuck the Law.” You can access
the relevant excerpts of the twitter feed directly at
http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)

- Exhibit C: Jaggi Singh Speech and Q&A at the G20 Security Fence (June
24, 2010)
The speech can be viewed at the following links: i)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030). A transcript
of the speech is available HERE.
----------

276 letters were submitted to the judge today in support of Jaggi. Many
letter-writers indicated their full support for Jaggi’s words at the
fence, and expressed agreement that the G20 security fence should have
been removed. All letter-writers have urged the judge to impose a minimal
sentence.

Among the groups who submitted support letters for Jaggi (as
organizations, or as individuals on behalf of the organization): Anarchist
Bookfair Collective (Montreal), Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense
des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du
Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Canadian Union of Postal
Workers (CUPW), Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des
femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Committee to Aid
Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc
Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le
Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action
populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes
assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de
l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG),
Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations
socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal-Nord Républik, National
Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition
Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective,
Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité
Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia,
QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement
intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans
frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Table des
regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto
People’s Assembly on Climate Justice

As well, many more individuals (and other groups) from Montreal, Toronto,
as well as all over Quebec, Canada, the USA and overseas have submitted
letters of support.

-----
After today’s plea, Jaggi Singh has issued the following short statement:

“By pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief, I can openly state
that the fence deserved to come down, and that the G20 deserved to be
confronted. I'll pay a price for having said so openly, but I am ready to
assume that responsibility,

I assume that responsibility knowing that I have amazing and deep support
from an engaged community of social justice organizers and activists in
Quebec, Canada and beyond. I would like to express my profound thanks to
everyone who’s offered me support in the past few months, in so many
touching and diverse ways.

Importantly, I would like to particularly express a public note of
solidarity and support for all remaining G20 defendants who continue to
fight their criminal charges. They are all deserving of everyone’s
interest and active support, and I encourage all concerned about police
and state repression to provide it, tangibly.

By pleading guilty now, I am ending this legal matter, relatively
speaking, on my own terms and timetable, and I’m looking forward to
returning to the streets and protests of Montreal shortly.”
-----

SUPPORT G20 DEFENDANTS:

- “Support G20 Defendants” Flyer:
http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/new-g20-support-flyer/

- Free Byron Sonne: http://freebyron.org/index.php/Main_Page

- Community Solidarity Network Updates:http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

CONTRIBUTE:

- The G20 Legal Fund (Québec): http://www.clac2010.net/en/node/193
"The G20 Legal Fund considers that all arrests occurred in the context of
a legitimate struggle against the capitalist policies of the G20, and that
all charges should be dropped immediately."

- Guelph ABC G20 Support Fund:
http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/g20-support/
"An accessible alternate fund for G20 arrestees, mostly those facing
serious charges. The fund is for immediate short-term needs of the
defendants."

- The G20 Legal Defence Fund (Toronto):
http://g20legaldefencefund.wordpress.com/
"A fund that exists to hold and give out funds raised to support legal
costs, fees, and other associated costs of legal defense for people facing
charges stemming from the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit."