Solidarity Poster for Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vaggelis Chrisohoidis (greece)

Current information about Amadeu Casellas (February 2010)
13 02 2010



February 12, 2010

In a letter from Amadeu dated February 5, 2010, he tells us that, together with the Girona prison warden and a legal expert, they have figured out the number of days of preventative detention that should be subtracted from the 37-year sentence Amadeu is serving for several bank robberies during the 1980s. Amadeu’s sentence was set for 2016 after an earlier reduction due to credit earned for work.

After calculating the amount of preventative detention that must still be deducted from his sentence, it was determined that, not counting the time he’s already been credited, he is still owed over 4000 days.

His lawyers have already petitioned to credit him some of these days, and Amadeu himself has written a report to the courts detailing the total number of days he feels he should be credited. If one were to compare the years already logged by Amadeu to the time he should be credited, it would reveal that the general administration of Catalan prisons has made him serve a sentence several years too long.

According to Amadeu, they owe him almost 12 years of credit for preventative detention served. That’s why they need to add six more years to the six years they’ve already subtracted from his total sentence.

Amadeu has been demanding his freedom for years, but the Councilor of Justice and the General Administration of Catalan Prison Services have not only denied him all possibility of release, but have also intensified the conditions of his imprisonment by depriving him of contact with his friends and comrades, both outside and inside prison.

Given the circumstances, Amadeu has been forced to go on several long hunger strikes in order to be heard. Just a little more than three months ago, Amadeu abandoned a hunger strike he had maintained for 99 days, and in the middle of January he planned to begin another, but dropped the idea in the hope that he would be credited with the days of preventative detention he is owed.

After sending several letters to the court, Amadeu has become aware that the prison has been notified about some of this credit, yet it has nevertheless still not been applied. For this reason, and after waiting more than a month for some response from the prison that would break the stalemate, Amadeu is considering beginning a new hunger strike on February 20, 2010 in the event that he is not set free.

Therefore, via this document, we want to bring the current situation to the attention of everyone who has expressed their solidarity. Keep an eye out for further information we will be disseminating in order to demand, once again, freedom for Amadeu Casellas.