The peace activist Martin Smedjeback from the Swedish antimilitaristic network Ofog was convicted yesterday. At the local court in Stockholm – Södertörns tingsrätt – he was charged with illegal trespass and fined 220 dollars. It was the 14th of July earlier this year that Smedjeback was arrested after having climbed over a fence going to Aimpoint, a company in Malmö, in the south of Sweden. The company manufactures red point sights. The M68 sight is a popular one on M16 and M4 in the US army. The company has sold more than 500 000 sights for military use up till today.
- Try to imagine, just for a moment, to wake up in the middle of the night of an explosion. Your front door has been blown to pieces and in comes soldiers. Red dots begin dancing around the room. Suddenly the red dots land on your children in their beds and then you find one red dot on your chest. You know that the next second everything can be gone. This has happened to countless civilian Iraqis and it is still a reality for many Afghans, said Martin Smedjeback, 40, in his closing argument in the court yesterday.
Before, during and after there was a peace vigil outside of the court. Coffee, buns and fliers were given to people passing by. “Acquit Martin. Convict the weapons trade” one banner said.
Pictures from the trial: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ofog/sets/72157636572732395/ (can be used freely. Credit to “Ofog”)
Support statement to activists at Aimpoint: http://ofog.org/about-shamepoint-in-english
Contact
Martin Smedjeback, smedjeback@gmail.com, cell: +46-70-2579097
Annika Spalde, cell: +46-76-2461994