People believed to be campaigning to close down the world’s third largest animal testing facility; Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), have repeatedly been subjected to arrest and harassment. Read more about the lab, government involvement and repression of campaigners here.
On the morning of 6th July 2012, several teams of police raided the homes and business premises of three people arresting them on suspicion of “conspiracy to blackmail”, in relation to animal testing laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences. The person in the UK is accused of committing this between 2001-2011 and the 2 people in Holland between November 2008-December 2010. In recent years this charge has been deliberately used against campaigners due to its good conviction rate and because it carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. This is the third UK conspiracy to blackmail trial involving people accused of campaigning against HLS.
One set of raids took place in London, while the others took place at two locations in Amsterdam. Two people in Amsterdam were arrested with a European arrest warrant, and after a week in prison they were released on strict bail conditions, having surrendered their passports. They now await extradition to the UK. The third defendant, in London, was bailed the following evening and also has many restrictive bail conditions.
During the Dutch raids, police forced entry into a shared office space, removing computers, electronic devices and paperwork belonging to a variety of campaign groups. This is on top of a huge amount of items taken from the suspects’ homes, which included cameras, printers, storage devices and several laptops.
Some months later another person was also raided and arrested in the UK, but their charges have now been dropped.
The defendant in the UK is due to go on trial in early February 2014, but because the extradition of the two people from Holland could take some time, their trial will be delayed until a a later date.
This most recent case reflects the ongoing attempts by the UK authorities to criminalise and stop the effective and persistent targeting of HLS. Huntingdon have once again clicked their fingers to order a round-up of people they believe are affecting their business.
In an atmosphere of increasing repression against activists and the criminalisation of effective campaigns, it is important that we show our solidarity for those involved and form a strong network of support for the animal rights movement in the UK.
Help us to raise awareness and support the Blackmail3!
Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is Europe’s largest animal testing laboratory. They kill 500 animals every day.
Because they’re a contract testing facility, they will test anything they’re paid to – including household products, cleaning chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, food colourings, food additives, artificial sweeteners, GMOs, photocopier ink… They’ll poison animals with anything they can profit from.
Some of the animals used in experiments at HLS are monkeys, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice and birds. Right now there are about 70 thousand animals locked inside the lab facing a death sentence.
Staff at HLS have been routinely exposed for animal cruelty, misconduct and falsifying test data. They’ve been caught dealing drugs on site, simulating sex with animals and most famously, punching beagle puppies in the face. HLS is the only contract testing lab to have had its licence temporarily revoked for animal cruelty. Needless to say, this type of abuse happens every day inside Huntingdon, with another animal dying every 3 minutes.
Compassionate people have been so outraged by what’s happening that HLS has become the most protested animal lab in history and the target of the largest and most effective grassroots animal rights campaign the world has ever seen; SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty). Over the past decade hundreds of companies – including some of the world’s largest financial institutions – have cut their ties with HLS and sworn never to deal with them again. Because of this, HLS are now over £100 million in debt.
HLS have been repeatedly dragged to their knees and would have been forced into closure many times already, except for help from the UK government, who have vested interests in the pharmaceutical and vivisection industries. In a desperate attempt to protect these interests, the government stepped in and provided a massive lifesaving loan, along with private banking and insurance facilities to HLS. Huntingdon is the only commercial business in history to have received private banking and insurance from the British government. On top of this, the UK authorities have launched a lengthy campaign of repression against anyone they consider to be a threat to HLS. This has included numerous international police operations, with surveillance, undercover police infiltrators and dozens of raids and arrests. Activists have also been given disproportionately long prison sentences and extreme bail and licences conditions – in some case, even lifelong ASBOs.
This latest case against the Blackmail3 is the third conspiracy to blackmail trial against people accused of campaigning against HLS. Once again, the authorities are attempting to silence anyone they believe to be challenging animal testing in the UK.
It’s important that we stand in solidarity against animal testing and state repression.
To find out more and to support the Blackmail3, please email us. Your support will make a big difference to the defendants!
Email: info@blackmail3.org
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Address: Blackmail3, Kebele Community Co-operative, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol BS5 6JY