Press Releases & Updates 1998

As C.I.D. officers of Central Scotland Police visited HMP Cornton Vale today to investigate allegations of assaults committed against Katri Silvonen (21), Hanna Jarvinen (20), both from Finland, and Angie Zelter (49), from England , the women themselves have been giving to their visitors further details of the massive over-reaction of the prison authorities to their modest protest on Saturday against the rolling out of Britain’s new Trident nuclear weapons submarine, HMS Vengeance.

Said Angie: "When I refused to move from my cell I was put in a three person hold, and my thumb was drawn back along with the wrist and then pressure was applied causing excruciating pain. I was not resisting and posed absolutely no threat to anyone. They could just have lifted me. Then I was stripped and left alone in cell. When I accidentally stood on the foot of one of the guards he said ’ If you tread on my foot again I’ll break your leg!’ "

Katri and Hanna, who also were subjected to unnecessary violence and humiliation, were particularly distressed at the brutal treatment to which Angie was subjected and felt that the underlying culture of violence and intimidation in the prison was now being exposed.

We understand that in response to initial official inquiry the Governor has indicated that the staff had feared a roof-top protest and were convinced that the women were planning to involve other prisoners in a wide-ranging protest. The five women have been consistently clear that their protest was confined to themselves and was planned to cause minimum disruption to the life of the prison, on the basis that the target of protest was not HMP Cornton Vale but HMS Vengeance. They explained all this to staff before the beginning of the protest. Apparently the Governor also said that one of the prisoners was only naked in her cell because she had decided not to put her clothes back on. The Governor is also claiming that minimum force was used. Both claims are in direct contradiction to the prisoners’ own testimony. It is difficult to judge whether the Governor has been internally misled or is a conscious part of the cover-up.

David Morris, MEP, is today putting down an urgent motion to the European Parliament in response to the Cornton incident and Scottish CND have drawn it to the attention of Amnesty International.

The women are on remand in connection with alleged offences relating to the Trident Ploughshares 2000 actions at Coulport in August, as part of TP 2000’s direct campaign to disarm the UK’s illegal nuclear weapons system. Tomorrow at 10 a.m Angie Zelter appears at Helensburgh District Court in the Victoria Halls, along with Australian Jens Light who has been on remand at Gateside in Greenock and Jens’ sister Anja. In their defence they intend to show that their disarmament actions were necessary to prevent the international war crime being committed by Britain in its threatening possession of and readiness to use nuclear weapons.

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