#Georgia judge to toss landmark racketeering charges against ‘#CopCity’ protesters

By R.J. RICO
Updated 3:36 PM EDT, September 9, 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — "A Georgia judge on Tuesday said he will toss the racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of a yearslong conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility that critics pejoratively call '#CopCity.'

"Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer said he does not believe Republican Attorney General Chris Carr had the authority to secure the 2023 indictments under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO. Experts believe it was the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history.

"The defendants faced a wide variety of allegations — everything from throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, to supplying food to protesters who were camped in the woods and passing out fliers against a state trooper who had fatally shot a protester. Each defendant faced up to 20 years in prison on the RICO charges.

[...]

"Emerging in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests, the '#StopCopCity' movement gained nationwide recognition as it united anarchists, environmental activists and anti-police protesters against the sprawling training center, which was being built in a wooded area that was ultimately razed in DeKalb County.

"Activists argued that uprooting acres of trees for the facility would exacerbate environmental damage in a flood-prone, majority-Black area while serving as an expensive staging ground for militarized officers to be trained in quelling social movements.

"The training center, a priority of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, opened earlier this year, despite years of protests and millions in cost overruns, some of it due to the damage protesters caused, and police officials’ needs to bolster 24/7 security around the facility."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-cop-city-rico-charges-61-9d0928ca44c5ddc931cd640a8805664a

#StopCopCity #JusticeForTort #SaveTheForest #ACAB #StopCopyCitiesEverywhere

Nearly Two Years After Being Indicted on #Racketeering Charges in #Georgia, the First of 61 #StopCopCity Defendants is Set to Start Trial Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 7, 2025 via #WeelauneeTheFree

Repeated Evidentiary Violations, Dismissals of Charges, and More Than 200 Unresolved Motions Have Plagued the State’s Efforts to #Criminalize a Political Movement

ATLANTA, GA – "Nearly two years after being indicted on State racketeering charges in Georgia, the first of 61 Stop #CopCity defendants charged with #RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) will go to trial today, Monday, July 7 at 9 am in Fulton County Superior Court. A press conference will also be held today after the trial adjourns.

"#AylaKing filed for a speedy trial in October 2023, but their case has been held up on appeal while higher courts considered whether Georgia’s speedy trial statute had been violated and whether King’s rights had been denied. Multiple pretrial motions and the possibility of additional motions being filed this morning could delay the start of the trial, but according to Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer, jury selection will begin today.

What: First of 61 Stop Cop City RICO trials for Ayla King and press conference
When: Monday, July 7, 2025: Trial at 9am; Press conference at 4pm or when trial adjourns
Where: Fulton County Superior Court, 185 Central Ave SW, Courtroom 4D

" 'Despite facing two decades in prison—nearly as long as they’ve been alive—Ayla King has bravely pushed for a speedy trial, and will now, after two years, finally see their day in court,' said local community member Evan Grace. Supporters of King argue that the charges are politically motivated. 'We know these charges are meant to bully us into silence, but the movement to Stop Cop City has always taken the courageous path, the one in righteous opposition to the #racist, #classist, violent system of #police and #prisons,' continued Grace. 'King, all the Stop Cop City defendants, and everyone coming out to show support during this trial will prove that the scare tactics they throw at us will never stop us from fighting back.' "

https://weelauneethefree.org/nearly-two-years-after-being-indicted-on-racketeering-charges-in-georgia-the-first-of-61-stop-cop-city-defendants-is-set-to-start-trial-today/

#CopCity #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #WeelauneeForest #ACAB #RememberTort #JusticeForTort #JusticeForTortugita #AtlantaGeorgia #SystemicRacism #SaveTheForests #NoCopCities

Defendants in Georgia ‘Cop City’ case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue

By R.J. RICO
Updated 12:26 AM EDT, May 12, 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — "Single mother Priscilla Grim lost her job. Aspiring writer Julia Dupuis frequently stares at the bedroom ceiling, numb. Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program.

"The three are among 61 defendants accused by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of participating in a yearslong racketeering conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility just outside Atlanta that critics pejoratively call 'Cop City.'

"Their cases are at a standstill, 20 months after being indicted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, which is likely the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts say.

"Trial for five of the defendants was supposed to start last year but got bogged down in procedural issues. The judge overseeing the case then moved to another court. A new judge has set a status hearing for Wednesday.

"The delays have left people in limbo, facing charges carrying up to 20 years behind bars for what they maintain was #LegitimateProtest, not #DomesticTerrorism. The case also has suppressed a movement that brought together hundreds of #activists to protect a wooded patch of land that ultimately was razed for the recently completed $118 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) project.

"Officials say the project is sorely needed to replace outdated facilities and boost officers’ morale. Opponents say it will be a training ground for a #MilitarizedPolice force and its construction has worsened #environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.

"Protests escalated after the fatal 2023 shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as #Tortuguita, who was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed Tortuguita, 26, after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.

"A family-commissioned autopsy concluded Tortuguita was killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers’ use of force was 'objectively reasonable.' "

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-rico-charges-61-atlanta-be5ef1ed1951a73870656f61fbbc567b

#ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol #StopCopCity #WeelauneeForest #DefendTheForest #CopCity #SilencingDissent #CiminalizingDissent #MilitarizedPolice

#CopCity Is Everywhere

Learning from the Movement to #DefendTheForest

#CrimethInc, 2025-03-14

"The movement to #StopCopCity and defend #WeelauneeForest was one of the most important social struggles of the Biden era. Its trajectory tells us a lot about the challenges we confront today under Donald Trump. In the final chapter of our chronology, we trace the movement’s concluding phase, beginning in 2023 and ending with Trump’s arrival in power, and explore what we can learn from it."

Read more:
https://crimethinc.com/2025/03/14/cop-city-is-everywhere-learning-from-the-movement-to-defend-the-forest
#ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol

Reports from the Festivals of Resistance / Day of the Forest Defender

#Crimethinc, 2025-01-20

"January 18 is the Day of the Forest Defender, honoring the life of Manuel '#Tortuguita' Terán, who was murdered by Georgia State Troopers two years ago while protesting the construction of Cop City in Atlanta, and everyone else who has given their lives in the fight against those who would render the earth uninhabitable in the course of their pursuit of profit. This year, a call circulated for people to organize festivals of resistance in their communities on the weekend of January 17-19. Here, we share reports from some of these events.

"The situation is grim. Despite acknowledging that Trump represents #fascism, Democrats have nonetheless welcomed the arrival of #despotism, dutifully voting for new legislation targeting immigrants and doing their best to keep protesters out of the streets. #TechCEOs have followed suit, pouring millions of dollars into his inauguration and crowding into St. John’s Church to worship at the feet of their new master.

"#ElonMusk made the #Nazi salute twice from the podium during the inauguration, leaving only just enough plausible deniability to confuse the most naïve. Musk has posted fascist dog whistles on Twitter before, even before he purchased it in order to reintroduce Nazis to the platform, ban anarchists, and promote the fascist agenda.

"From this point forward, nothing should surprise us. The incoming government has made it clear that they intend to inflict as much harm as possible on those who are vulnerable while concentrating as much money as possible in the hands of the ultra-rich. These are the central points of their agenda. Attempting to spread information about their misdeeds in order to provoke popular outrage is a waste of time. From here out, all that matters is developing the capacity to defend each other from their attacks while preparing to go on the offensive as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

"The faces of the #oligarchy looked craven and servile as they lined up at the inauguration to toady to Trump. #Capitalism concentrates power in the hands of the most rapacious, but they can only hold on to power by being completely subservient to its demands.

"Fortunately, not everyone is taking this sitting down. #Anarchists around the country called for 'festivals of resistance' the weekend before the inauguration in order to bring communities together prepare to resist. Here follow reports from a few of these. You can read the original call to organize festivals of resistance here, along with a list of dozens of events around the country."

Read more:
https://crimethinc.com/2025/01/20/reports-from-the-festivals-of-resistance-day-of-the-forest-defender
#FestivalsOfResistance #DayOfTheForestDefender #JusticeForTort #StopCopCity

HT @UnicornRiot

Parents of #ForestDefender Killed by Police File #CivilRights Lawsuit

By Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot December 20, 2024

"The parents of slain forest defender Manuel ‘#Tortuguita’ Paez Terán filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against three Georgia law enforcement officers they say are most responsible for the death of their child in January 2023."

https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/parents-of-forest-defender-killed-by-police-file-civil-rights-lawsuit/

#JusticeForTort #StopCopCitiesEverywhere
#Decolonize #Resist #CorporateColonialism
#DayOfTheForestDefender #StopCopCity #SmashThePatriarchy
#DefendTheForest #ProtectTheForests #ACAB

Festivals of #Resistance

A Call for Gatherings the Weekend Before Trump Takes Office

2024-12-03, #CrimeThinc

"The chaos that will accompany the return of the Trump administration represents an opportunity as well as a challenge. This is a chance to assert an autonomous pole of organizing, carrying forward the lessons of 2020 and the movement against Cop City while continuing the fight against patriarchal violence, white supremacy, and colonialism.

"By organizing ahead of Trump’s inauguration, we can seize the initiative and set our own timeline rather than being caught flat-footed and forced to react. We need to welcome new participants into these struggles and foster a revolutionary perspective that can orient us through the challenges ahead. No amount of internet activity could substitute for gathering face to face. The most important battles ahead will not be fought online, but in the streets of our communities.

"January 18 is observed as the Day of the Forest Defender. It will be the two-year anniversary of the murder of Tortuguita in Weelaunee Forest. It is an important date to gather, honor the memory of the fallen, and pledge ourselves to resistance and to one another."

Read more:
https://crimethinc.com/2024/12/03/festivals-of-resistance-a-call-to-gather-the-weekend-before-trump-takes-office

#CallingAllActivists #CallingAllAnarchists #Resistance #JusticeForTort #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #Decolonize #Resist #CorporateColonialism #DayOfTheForestDefender #StopCopCity #SmashThePatriarchy #WhiteNationalism #ChristoFascism

Today across the US, dozens of cities are holding community events, vigils, and memorials for martyred anarchist #Tortuguita, who was killed one year ago defending the Weelaunee forest from the construction of a corporate backed, counter-insurgency training facility, known as Cop City.

#StopCopCity #ATL #JusticeforTort

Check out the list of events here: https://itsgoingdown.org/day-forest-defender-jan-18/

Don’t Stop: Continuing the Fight against #CopCity

Six More Months in the Movement to Defend the Forest
2023-12-12 via #CrimeThinc

"Escalating Repression: #RICO and the Furtherance of the Conspiracy

"With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the 'tactics of organized criminals' language Governor Kemp used on July 2 was not just boilerplate copy drafted by an intern, nor was the August 2 press conference simply propaganda to assure backers that the state could still protect their investments. These phrases and statements were shaping operations, carefully crafted interventions designed to position the government for their next operation: the blanket criminalization of the entire movement.

"On August 29, the Attorney General of #Georgia, Christopher M. Carr, filed an indictment with the Fulton County Superior Court, bringing charges against 61 people under Georgia’s version of the Rackeeter-Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act O.C.G.A. § 16-14-4. The indictment became public on September 5. The document, which is over 100 pages long and very poorly written, claims that the 'conspiracy' (which it names 'Defend the Atlanta Forest') was 'founded' on May 25, 2020—the day that #MinneapolisPolice officers murdered #GeorgeFloyd, precipitating a nationwide #uprising.

"This was a serious escalation. It did not catch everyone by surprise: the #AtlantaSolidarityFund has been braced for such charges since February. The authorities and their extreme-right proxies had been demanding a full-scale crackdown on the movement for over a year, spreading a conspiracy theory that the movement was a mafia controlled by a shadowy and well-connected group (a narrative some activists also reproduced, apparently with no sense of irony). According to one version of this conspiracy theory, circulated by far-right trolls, the Network for Stronger Communities (a Georgia-based nonprofit organization) operates a number of financial enterprises, including the Atlanta Solidarity Fund, that coordinate acts of terrorism in order to accumulate wealth and influence. Of the 61 accused, three were members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. The 42 people already facing #DomesticTerrorism charges were also indicted, as well as a number of other people whose connection to the movement was unclear. The indictment alleged that some people had committed acts in 'overt furtherance of the conspiracy' such as buying #GlueSticks for #SignMaking. [UK is using similar tactics, arresting people for just having #Superglue or #BikeLocks in their possession.]

"The RICO indictment was not a legal procedure but a political act. It was not a judicial intervention to suppress criminal activity but a government measure to crush what the text describes as '#anarchism,' '#collectivism,' '#SocialSolidarity,' '#MutualAid.”

"It is not simply 61 people who are on trial. By dating the case to the murder of George Floyd, the prosecution showed that their real target was the entire population of millions that participated in the consequent revolt. This is not an unusual court case, but a new chapter in the fight between those who seek to preserve the hierarchies of a structurally white supremacist society and those fighting to destroy it root and branch. The indictment does not present a list of crimes. It describes the contours and values of a rival society emerging within the movement to stop Cop City, aspiring to reinvent the world according to a different logic.

"The Fulton County Judge assigned to the RICO case immediately recused himself. Until then, judges had not recused themselves from cases related to the movement even when they possessed obvious ties to the Atlanta Police Foundation."

Full article:
https://crimethinc.com/2023/12/12/dont-stop-continuing-the-fight-against-cop-city-six-more-months-in-the-movement-to-defend-the-forest

#JusticeForTort #StopCopCity #ACAB #DirectAction #Fascism #CriminalizingDissent #ForestDefenders #EnvironmentalActivists #ClimateActivists #ClimateJustice #SilencingDissent #CorporateColonialism #EcoActivists #Censorship #HumanRightsViolations #Article20 #RightToProtest #SLAPPs