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Lynne Stewart, people’s lawyer, freedom fighter, presente!
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Lynne Stewart, after 78 winters in America, has died, after battling for years against breast cancer.
But those were just some of her battles and, like most of us, she won some and lost some. But she never stopped fighting!
For decades, she and her husband, Ralph Poynter, fought for New York’s political activists and revolutionaries, like Black Panthers and Young Lords, a Puerto Rican socialist collective. But mostly, they fought for the freedom of the poor and dispossessed of New York’s Black and Brown ghettoes.
She – they – fought often and fought well in the city’s courts.
Her husband, Ralph, was a stalwart of the Black Panther Party and her most committed defender.
When Lynne was targeted by the U.S. Justice Department, and she was tried and convicted for putting out a press release for her client, the blind Egyptian sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman, Ralph stood in the hot Washington, D.C., sun with a sign in front of the White House, demanding his wife’s release.
Her defense of her client was in the best tradition of criminal defense lawyers, and she received significant support from a broad swath of the Bar – from lawyers, yes; judges, no.
Initially sentenced to 28 months, the 2nd Circuit sent it back for resentencing – and she got 10 years! Her support only grew.
The late activist lawyer Bill Kunstler once opined that defense lawyers should be officers of their clients, instead of officers of the court.
Lynne Stewart was an officer of her clients, a People’s Lawyer, beloved and respected.
May she ever be so.
(Español) La Voz de los Zapotecos Xiches en Prisión: Campaña: #alvarolibre
A nuestr@s compañer@s del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional
A nuestr@s compañer@s del Congreso Nacional Indígena
A nuestr@s compañer@s de la Red Contra la Represión y por la Solidaridad
A nuestr@s compañer@s de la Sexta en México y el Mundo
Los que conformamos el colectivo La Voz de los Zapotecos Xiches en Prisión, queremos compartir con tod@s ustedes los detalles del momento en que nos encontramos con respecto a la lucha por la Libertad de nuestro compañero Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez.
El once de enero de dos mil diecisiete, a nombre del compañero ÁLVARO SEBASTIÁN RAMÍREZ, se promovió un Incidente no especificado tendente a la libertad preparatoria, ante el Juzgado Octavo de Distrito radicado en el Estado de Oaxaca.
Un incidente no especificado es el nombre del trámite que se realiza para solicitar la libertad antes de concluir la sentencia completa, esta figura esta contemplada dentro de los “beneficios” a los que se puede acceder en cuanto al cumplimiento de una sentencia y se encuentran contenidos en el Artículo 84, del Código Penal Federal, que indica: “se concederá la libertad preparatoria al condenado que hubiere cumplido las tres quintas partes de su condena”.
Bajo este criterio, tenemos que el compañero Álvaro se encuentra sentenciado a 27 años de prisión, de los cuales lleva 19 años con 3 meses en la cárcel; esto quiere decir que ha rebasado por 3 años la condición planteada en el Art. 84 del Código Penal Federal.
