Dear friends, Today, the case in appeal against the conviction of the Cannabis Social Club Trekt Uw Plant and 5 of its members because of possessing 1 cannabis plant per person has taken a strange direction today. The Prosecutors Office has requested the Court of Appeal to acquit us because of the fact that too much time has passed since the date of the facts (12 december 2006). According to the prosecutor we can only be accused of growing cannabis for personal use, which is not considered a crime but an offense, which can only be punished by so-called police convictions (fines or community work) and because this offense has been committed more than 1,5 years ago he requests to acquit us. This seems to be a childish trick in order not to have to deal with the principle matter: the Prosecutors Office itself had requested in January 2008 to postpone the case until June, possibly in order to be able to request acquittance and in this way dismiss the case. But in fact it means that the possession of 1 plant by adult citizens is tolerated also by the highest echelons of the legal system. On June 26th we will have the final sentence, but due to the fact that the court of appeal has not even heard our defense lawyer (who made his extensive preparation - referring to the legality principle included in the European Convention on Human Rights - for nothing) it is quite sure that we will be acquitted. The next step is to find out what this means concretely for our club. But today is a happy day :-) best wishes Joep / Philippe / Kris www.trektuwplant.be -- EUROPEAN COALITION FOR JUST AND EFFECTIVE DRUG POLICIES Lange Lozanastraat 14 - 2018 Antwerpen - Belgium Tel. + 32 (0)3 293 0886 - Mob. + 32 (0)495 122644 E-mail: [email protected]