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On 11/06/2008, at 07:00, spectre-request at mikrolisten.de wrote:

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>    1. KURTZ : ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN	PRECEDENT-SETTING
>       CASE (Ewen Chardronnet)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:45:24 +0200
> From: Ewen Chardronnet <ewen at no-log.org>
> Subject: [spectre] KURTZ : ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN
> 	PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE
> To: spectre at mikrolisten.de
> Message-ID: <484F7484.9040300 at no-log.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
> ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE
>
> Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal
> Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal
>
> Buffalo, NY—Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at
> Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group
> Critical Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and  
> wire
> fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the
> government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient  
> on its
> face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment
> (which the judge must accept as “fact”) were true, they would not
> constitute a crime. The US Department of Justice had thirty days from
> the date of the ruling to appeal. No action has been taken in this  
> time
> period, thus stopping any appeal of the dismissal. According to  
> Margaret
> McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ  
> will
> not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek any new charges  
> against Kurtz.
>
> For over a decade, cultural institutions worldwide have hosted  
> Kurtz and
> Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects, which use common
> science materials to examine issues surrounding the new  
> biotechnologies.
> In 2004 the Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Kurtz had schemed
> with colleague Dr. Robert Ferrell of the University of Pittsburgh
> Graduate School of Public Health to illegally acquire two harmless
> bacteria cultures for use in one of those projects. The Justice
> Department further alleged that the transfer of the material from
> Ferrell to Kurtz broke a material transfer agreement, thus  
> constituting
> mail fraud.
>
> Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for these charges was
> increased from five years to twenty years in prison.
>
> Dr. Kurtz has been fighting the charges ever since. In October  
> 2007, Dr.
> Ferrell pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge after recurring  
> bouts of
> cancer and three strokes suffered since his indictment prevented him
> from continuing the struggle.
>
> KURTZ SUMS UP END OF FOUR-YEAR NIGHTMARE
>
> Finally vindicated after four years of struggle, Kurtz, asked for a
> statement, responded stoically: “I don’t have a statement, but I do  
> have
> questions. As an innocent man, where do I go to get back the four  
> years
> the Department of Justice stole from me? As a taxpayer, where do I  
> go to
> get back the millions of dollars the FBI and Justice Department wasted
> persecuting me? And as a citizen, what must I do to have a Justice
> Department free of partisan corruption so profound it has turned on
> those it is sworn to protect?”
>
> Said Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria, “I am glad an innocent man has  
> been
> vindicated. Steve Kurtz stared in the face of the federal  
> government and
> a twenty-year prison term and never flinched, because he believes  
> in his
> work and his actions were those of a completely innocent man. Clients
> like him are a blessing, and although I have had many important
> victories, this one stands at the top of the list.”
>
> As coordinator of the CAE Defense Fund, a group organized to support
> Kurtz from the beginning of the case, Lucia Sommer sees the end of the
> prosecution as bittersweet, and like Kurtz, is thoughtful about the
> broader significance of the case: “This ruling is the best possible
> ending to a horrible ordeal—but we are mindful of numerous cases still
> pending, and the grave injustices perpetrated by the Bush  
> administration
> following 9/11. This case was part of a larger picture, in which law
> enforcement was given expanded powers. In this instance, the Bush
> administration was unsuccessful in its attempt to erode Americans’
> constitutional rights.”
>
> Referring to the international outcry the case provoked, involving
> fundraisers and protests held on four continents, Sommer said, “The
> government has unlimited resources to bring and prosecute these  
> kinds of
> charges, but the accused often don’t have any resources to defend
> themselves. This victory could never have happened without the  
> activism
> of thousands of people. Supporters protested, vocally opposed the
> prosecution, and refused to let it go on in silence. And without their
> efforts at fundraising, Kurtz and Ferrell would not have been able to
> defend themselves from these false accusations.”
>
> Sommer added that the next step for the defense will be to get back  
> all
> of the materials taken by the FBI during its 2004 raid on the Kurtz
> home, including several completed art projects, as well as Dr. Kurtz’s
> lab equipment, computers, books, manuscripts, notes, research  
> materials,
> and personal belongings. The four confiscated art projects are the
> subject of an exhibition entitled SEIZED on view at Hallwalls
> Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, NY, through July 18:
> http://www.hallwalls.org/visual_shows/2008/show_seized.html.
>
>
> BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
>
> The case originated in May 2004, when Kurtz’s wife Hope died of heart
> failure as the couple was preparing a project about genetically  
> modified
> agriculture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.  
> Police who
> responded to Steve Kurtz’s 911 call deemed the Kurtzes’ art materials
> suspicious and alerted the FBI. Kurtz explained that the materials
> (legally and easily obtained basic life science equipment and two
> harmless bacteria samples) had already been displayed at museums
> throughout Europe and North America with absolutely no risk to the
> public. However, the following day, Kurtz was illegally detained  
> for 22
> hours on suspicion of bioterrorism, as dozens of agents from the FBI,
> Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security, Department of Defense,
> ATF, and numerous other law enforcement agencies raided his home,
> seizing his personal and professional belongings. After a federal  
> grand
> jury refused to charge Kurtz with bioterrorism, Kurtz and Ferrell were
> indicted on two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud
> concerning the acquisition of $256 of harmless bacteria for one of
> Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects. (Critical Art  
> Ensemble
> is the recipient of numerous awards for its projects, including the
> prestigious 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of
> Artistic Expression Grant, in recognition of twenty years of
> distinguished work: http://www.creative-capital.org/index2.html.)
>
> The Department of Justice brought the charges in spite of the fact  
> that
> the alleged “victims of fraud”—American Type Culture Collection and  
> the
> University of Pittsburgh—never filed any charges or complained of any
> wrongdoing, and the fact that in bringing the charges the  
> Department of
> Justice was acting completely outside its own Prosecution Policy
> Relating to Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud
> (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/ 
> title9/43mcrm.htm).
>
>
> For more information and extensive documentation, including the  
> Judge’s
> dismissal, please visit:
> http://caedefensefund.org
>
> ***
>
>
>
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> End of SPECTRE Digest, Vol 64, Issue 11
> ***************************************