_Serious FBI violation of civil rights _

Minneapolis, MN – The FBI says they have finished copying the political material and personal papers seized in the Sept. 24, 2010 raids on the homes of Twin Cities anti-war and international solidarity activists. On the afternoon of Nov. 1, FBI agents delivered the last batch of notebooks, family photos, membership lists for anti-war and several other groups, computer backup discs and political documents to the office of attorney Bruce Nestor. The FBI has been returning batches of the copied material seized in the September 24, 2010 raids over the last several weeks.

“This is a serious violation of our right to organize against war,” states Jess Sundin of the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee. “The FBI took the computers from the office of the Anti-War Committee and made copies of lists that include thousands of our supporters. They copied notes from meetings and plans for events. They took our personal papers, political materials and books from my home. They are stepping all over our right to organize, associate and speak out.”

The material that the FBI copied and returned comes from the homes of Twin Cities activists Jess Sundin, Steff Yorek, Mick Kelly, Meredith Aby, Anh Pham and Tracy Molm and the office of the Anti-War Committee. All of them are among the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists summoned to appear in front of a Chicago grand jury headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating ‘material support for terrorism.’

The U.S. Attorney’s office is threatening to indict the anti-war activists.

Mick Kelly, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression states, “We have done nothing wrong. The FBI should destroy the copies of everything they took.”

The FBI returned the copied material after Attorney Bruce Nestor filed a motion in Federal Court to demanding that the property of Jess Sundin be returned. The hearing on the motion scheduled for Nov. 10 will be canceled.

Activists from around the country will attend the national conference organized by the Committee to Stop FBI repression in Chicago on Nov. 5 to build the fight that against the ongoing attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists.

#MinneapolisMN #JessSundin #MeredithAby #September24FBIRaids #TracyMolm