SPEAK 16 - Update on the trial

On Monday 30th April sixteen supporters of the SPEAK campaign arrived at Oxford magistrates court for the start of a scheduled four week trial arising from arrests made at a demonstration in Oxford on 21st June 2006 for alleged public order offences.

This case has already resulted in all the defendants being barred from entering the city of Oxford for ten months and was the second trial date set, the first one being at the end of January 2007. On arriving at the court for the second day of the trial (Tues 1st May) we were greeted by security staff at the doors of the magistrates court who informed us that the court was closed for 'security reasons' and were told to head off to the crown court where we would be dealt with.

After assembling all sixteen defendants and their legal representatives together we made our way to the crown court and, after passing through some very aggressive security staff, made our way to the court we were told was going to be used. After sitting around for nearly an hour we were then informed that we should go back to the magistrate’s court where a court room would now be made available.

The sixteen defendants and their legal representatives were checked in by security staff but no members of the public were allowed to enter the building as it was still considered to be a 'security alert!' area. After sitting around for a further hour we were finally put before the district judge who was dealing with our case. After some lengthy legal arguments surrounding bail conditions and abuse of process the judge declared that the trial be “aborted” for reasons that were not divulged to us. We were then informed that we would have to return to Oxford magistrate’s court on the 22nd May for a new trial date to be set. We left court facing another lengthy wait and almost one year on still not allowed to demonstrate in Oxford, a right which articles 10 & 11 of the Human Rights act guarantee to all citizens.