The most beautiful news during the International Week of Solidarity for Anarchist Prisoners!
Thomas Meyer-Falk has finally been released from prison after almost 27 years of imprisonment.
We are very happy about this news!
We are happy for you Thomas and wish you all the best for a new start in freedom!
Thomas Meyer-Falk was behind German bars since 1996.
First in solitary confinement in Stuttgart Stammheim until spring 1998, then somewhat “less restrained” in Straubing in Bavaria, and since fall 1998 in solitary confinement in Bruchsal. He was sentenced in 1997 for a bank robbery with hostage-taking. This was to organize money for legal and illegal left-wing political projects. From 2013, he was then in preventive detention in Freiburg.
Already in the fall of 2022, an expert opinion was commissioned by the court for the review of the detention after 10 years of preventive arrest. In the expert opinion, the Munich expert stated that there was no danger of legally significant acts or serious acts of violence.
So there was almost nothing standing in the way of a release of Thomas!
However, the public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart, the prison and the court did not share this expert opinion. Two more experts were commissioned. These interviews took place in May 2023.
July 2023 now marked the end of this detailed review of a possible release or
extension of the preventive arrest. The regional court Freiburg had decided on 05.07.2023 that the further accommodation in the preventive arrest is not necessary. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart appealed against this decision.
Then the German bureaucracy took another two months to send papers from A to B and to formulate decisions and complaints! It is simply an insolence how people are treated.
In the end Thomas won and is finally free!
Thomas is a well-connected activist who has maintained many contacts in prison and supported projects, such as the International Week of Solidarity for Anarchist Prisoners!
Political friends of Thomas published a collection of his texts in July. You can read all of Thomas’ texts on his website.