“Videotaping is Not A Crime” Nationwide Initiative

June 7, 2012
For Immediate Release
Ad Hoc Committee for Reason dropthecharges.net /The World Can’t Wait worldcantwait.net

“Videotaping is Not A Crime” Nationwide Initiative Launched

CHICAGO – Opponents of the continuing prosecution of Gregory Koger for videotaping with his iPhone announced a new nationwide initiative today. A statement opposing this Cook County, Illinois prosecution will be circulated nationwide to gather support as Mr. Koger’s attorneys petition for review of his conviction by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Mr. Koger’s supporters see his prosecution as part of worldwide attempts to curtail the ability of dissenters and protesters to document their actions and police repression. “[F]rom Tunisia to Wall Street, political attacks on those who document these courageous acts are escalating,” their new statement maintains. Mr. Koger is fighting a 300-day jail sentence for attempting to videotape a statement by Sunsara Taylor opposing the censorship of her talk prior to a public event at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago on November 1, 2009. The group argues that this extraordinary sentence for a non-crime was meted out because of his early juvenile convictions, another dangerous precedent. “Former prisoners who step forward to become part of challenging injustices of this society and inspire others to do the same cannot be allowed to face political repression,” their statement states.

As part of this national effort, the new support statement will be presented at the annual conference of the American Humanist Association in New Orleans this weekend, where Debra Sweet, Director of World Can’t Wait, will receive that organization’s Humanist Heroine award. Ms. Sweet stated, “In focusing on what our government unleashed with its aggressive war on terror and system of torture and indefinite detention across the globe, we find real crimes. Gregory Koger, who ironically suffered solitary confinement himself as a young man, did no criminal act and his conviction should be overturned.”

The new statement is available for signing at the website of the Ad Hoc Committee for Reason, Mr. Koger’s defense committee, www.dropthecharges.net. M. Ross Adams, a member of that organization, commented, “I resigned from the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago because of their unethical and inhumane behavior in this case. I had been a member for almost 10 years.” The defense group argues that the newly available police report and the video taken by Mr. Koger before his arrest now available at their website put the lie to testimony given by key prosecution witnesses from the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago.

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