The following press release was received from Switzerland yesterday. It
seems the 29 months prison term for André Fürst has now begun. You can
help to put pressure on the Swiss authorities to make it as short and
human as possible: please send the
http://www.encod.org/info/PUBLIC-LETTER-TO-SWISS-AUTHORITIES.html and
ask others to do so as well..

Best wishes,

Joep

PR concerning the arrest of Andre Furst:

Sunday 09.09.07, The Fribourg cantonal police arrested André Fürst

For a couple of months, Chanvre Info has been taking care of a hemp field
for the production of seeds, hemp schnapps and essential oil, three
strictly legal products. Suddenly, the police sequestered the storage
hall, blocked the access to the field and later arrested André Fürst.

The pretext used is not acceptable. André Fürst never received instruction
from the cantonal judge Markus Jumly to send a harvest-announcing letter.
Chanvre-Info will start harvesting on the 17th September. Before, we just
maintain the field by taking out the mouldy, male, hermaphrodite and sick
plants. Exactly what the police found in the truck on the filed and in the
storage during its first intervention Saturday evening.

This field is official; the authorities could stop the Chanvre-Info
expenses to grow and protect it for such a long time if they would have got
a legal argument to do it. The narcotic Federal law has not been revised.
The popular initiative for hemp regulation will be up to vote around
2008/09
The reform of the Swiss hemp policy has not been achieved. Why has the
Fribourg authorities suddenly chosen this brutal repression?

Switzerland was well known for its tradition of socially acceptable
compromise and great respect of human and civil rights. André Fürst was
arrested on Sunday without his lawyer's assistance and for a futile
pretext. This zero tolerance style of justice, directly inspired by the
USA, is not an acceptable way to threaten a Swiss citizen.

We claim for André Fürsts liberation and impartial justice for hemp.

Chanvre-Info

http://www.chanvre-info.ch/info/en/