Text of the open letter to be signed by animal rights groups outside Austria.
Texte de la lettre ouverte proposée à la signature des associations animalistes extérieures à l’Autriche.
As representatives of the international animal advocacy groups named below, we have been informed of the final reports of the police investigation into the animal advocacy movement in Austria. It seems that after 2½ years of investigations with all technological means at the disposal of the police, including phone tapping, email surveillance, vehicle tracking, concealed informers and four extensive electronic tracking operations, as well as 26 house searches of activists’ homes and 7 animal groups’ offices, no direct evidence of any criminal activity has been found. The sole evidence presented in the final reports consists of the opinions expressed in private conversations, and under-cover investigative work carried out by NGOs and civil disobedience actions, which cannot be considered criminal.
The international community of the animal advocacy movement is very concerned that these police operations in Austria are leading to the criminalisation of legitimate campaigning practices. It is indeed very worrying if Austria should follow up these final reports with charges against a whole section of the movement of being a criminal organisation according to section 278a of the penal code.
Animal advocacy NGOs in our country have for many years engaged in civil disobedience and undercover investigations to document cruelty, and yet nowhere have they been subjected to the kind of police investigation that has happened in Austria, let alone to criminal charges for such activities. Should Austria attempt to criminalise what is in other countries regarded as legitimate social activism, it will be widely seen as departing from the standards of tolerance expected today of liberal democracies.
We therefore would like to ask you as head of the Ministry of Justice in Austria to reconsider such a move. Any free democracy must allow space for protest and the free expression of dissent. A protest movement for such important issues as animal welfare and animal rights is an essential part of any modern society. The right to protest must be upheld and no person should be prosecuted without evidence of criminal wrongdoing. We are very concerned that in Austria these basic principles of freedom, justice and democracy are being eroded.
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