Court case for alleged assault: Solidarity with Baki!
We are publishing the open letter from Baki Devrimkaya, who has been wrongfully accused and is currently on trial. You can find the link to sign the petition below.
Baki Devrimkaya, a nursing student and activist in solidarity with Palestine, is on trial for alleged assault. The plaintiff is one of Berlin’s most media-present Zionists.
The lawsuit for alleged assault is based on a lecture hall occupation on December 14, 2023, at the Free University of Berlin. There, Baki defended access to the occupied lecture hall in a completely nonviolent manner against troublemakers who had already torn down posters and pictures with genocidal quotes from Israeli politicians in front of the lecture hall and harassed activists at the entrance to the lecture hall.
The lecture hall occupation was one of many occupations in Berlin that were met with massive police violence and broken up. Still today, authorities criminalize protests in solidarity with Palestine by different means. Especially in autumn of 2023, demonstrations were often prohibited entirely.
The baseless lawsuit against Baki is therefore not an isolated case, but part of a massive campaign of repression against activists in solidarity with Palestine. Since October 7, 2023, hundreds of students and demonstration participants have been facing lawsuits because they were all reported to the police in connection with lecture hall occupations and demonstrations. Internationally, the Palestinian movement has also been persecuted with baseless accusations, such as the recent case of railway worker and spokesperson for Révolution Permanente, Anasse Kazib, who was charged with “glorifying terrorism” for tweets in solidarity with Palestine,, or the European Parliament member Rima Hassan (LFI). Nevertheless, the Palestinian movement continues to bring millions onto the streets around the world and has produced progressive actions such as the blockade of arms deliveries by port workers, which offer a perspective for an end to the genocide.
Baki himself saw his defense of the lecture hall occupation at the FU Berlin as an expression of deep international solidarity: „For me, as a health worker who is primarily committed to our health colleagues in Gaza and fights for a safe and beautiful life for all people, it was clear: This occupied lecture hall must be protected from all kinds of attacks—whether by provocateurs who harass, intimidate, and threaten peaceful students, or by the state and its servants, who removed these peaceful students from the lecture hall with hundreds of police officers.“
Baki’s trial is an example that Germany wants to use to intimidate us all. For us, however, it is a trial for humanity, against genocide, against Germany’s complicity, and against every war in this world that is waged or supported by imperialist powers.
We, the undersigned, demand: Acquittal for Baki! Stop the genocide in Gaza and stop the criminalization of voices in solidarity with Palestine!
