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Stop the Forced Psychiatric Treatment of Georges Cipriani
Stop the Forced Psychiatric Treatment of Georges Cipriani!
Georges Cipriani was captured in February, 1987 together with three other militants of Action Directe in France. The French government charged them with several armed actions against the military industrial complex and NATO. The took responsibility for the actions as members of AD.
After their arrest they were totally isolated. They have fought for improvements in their prison conditions with several long hungerstrikes. After a second hungerstrike in 1989 they were able to gain some minor improvements. The two women, Joelle Aubron and Nathalie Menigon, were housed together in a special part of the prison in Fleury and the two men, Georges Cipriani and Jean Marc Rouillan, were housed together in a special part of the prison in Fresnes.
They are held under modified isolation conditions of sensory deprivation similar to those employed in Germany and other imperialist countries in an effort to break political prisoners mentally and physically. The conditions are of total isolation from other prisoners, special cells, continuous lock down, extreme limits on mail, visitors, etc.
After more than two years they stopped their unsuccessful chain hungerstrike for better conditions. Solitary confinement is proscribed as torture by several international organizations such as Amnesty International, the United Nations and other groups. Even then French minister of justice Arpaillange called this kind of imprisonment torture. But it is still currently practiced.
Georges Cipriani was sent from the prison at Fresnes to the closed ward of the psychiatric hospital at Colin-Vilejuif on June 15, 1993. He is being forcibly "treated" with psychotropic drugs against his will.
The responsible doctor ordered a total contact ban for the first nine days and total isolation form other patients. Georges was not allowed to receive any visits from friends, family or his attorney. He was not allowed to receive mail and until now has been confined in an empty cell (no newspapers, no books, no writing materials, etc.). At the time of the contact ban Georges was forcibly injected with 150 mg of the psychotropic drug Loxapac a day. Since June 24, 1993, he is allowed to walk in the prison courtyard everyday and eat with the other patients.
An attorney visit that was planned for June 24,1993, was allowed by the Prefecture (the district administration and security authorities responsible for compulsory hospitalization).
In the meantime the dosage of the same psychotropic drug was increased to 400 mg a day. This is an extremely high dosage. After several policemen roughly tried to prevent the lawyer from visiting Georges at the doorway of the hospital, the attorney was able to talk with Georges for the first time.
The visit showed that he is suffering from the typical consequences of such compulsory hospitalization. He is unable to remember anything in the immediate past. He is unable to understand why he is in the psychiatric hospital to begin with. It is hard for Georges to formulate a goal for himself and not fall into indifference.
Two months before his forced hospitalization Georges learned that his mental and physical health was adversely affected by the conditions in the jail at Fresnes. Since May of 1993 he tried to have a critical look at his situation with some close friends and visitors in order to offset this development. But the restricted visiting possibilities and his permanent placement in the isolation control unit made this impossible. Until now it has not been possible to discuss the situation with him due to the intervention of the responsible doctor and the ensuing contact ban.
Until now it has not been possible for a doctor who has Georges' confidence to visit him. Such a visit is the indispensable prerequisite for further steps to treat Georges. Due to the collusion between the psychiatric and security forces it is not possible to obtain permission for friends and family members of Georges to visit him after his arrest continue in order to destroy him mentally and physically.
The current forced hospitalization is certainly not the treatment that Georges needs to come to terms with his situation and the consequences of continuous solitary confinement. For any treatment to succeed it has to be free and voluntary. This hospitalization means that the consequences of solitary confinement are being muffled and individualized with chemicals in order to place Georges back into the same prison conditions that caused the problem to begin with.
It is of the utmost importance that people protest the treatment of Georges. One of imperialism's dirty little secrets is the large number of political prisoners it holds in its prisons. They are held in harsher, more punitive conditions than social prisoner, usually with longer sentences. The purpose of these conditions is to destroy them as individuals and members of the movement for social change that they represent. The mainstream "human rights groups," like Amnesty International, etc., have a pro-imperialist bias that does not recognize political prisoners in the imperialist countries. Because militants like Georges do not renounce the people's right to self defense they are not even considered "political prisoners" by AI and such.
Please write and demand that Georges forced hospitalization stop at once; that Georges be permitted treatment by a doctor of his choice; unlimited visits with friends and family and creating conditions which make it possible for Georges to come to terms with his situation and the consequences of long term isolation.
Write, fax, phone you protest to the Prefecture which is responsible for administrative and security tasks and the doctor in attendance, Dr. Robbe:
M. le Prefet du Val de Mame
7. Ave. du General de Gaulle
F94011 Creteil CEDEX,France
Tel: 00331/49566053
Dr. Robbe
Centre Henri Colin
54. Ave. de la Republique
F94800 Villejuif, France
Tel: 0031/455957
Monsieur Laroche
Chef du Cabinet du Prefet
Fax: 00331/49566404
Donations for legal fees and expert testimony can be sent to: W. Kronauer, Sonderkonto "Georges", Postgrio Frankfurt/Main, BLZ 50010060, Germany, Kto.Nr.: 0264059-609
For more information, updates, etc., contact: Fruende de Politischen Gefangenen in Frankreich, C/O Info Buro, Am Landwehrplatz 2, 66111 Saarbrucken, Germany, Tel: 0681/399990.
Georges Cipriani was captured in February, 1987 together with three other militants of Action Directe in France. The French government charged them with several armed actions against the military industrial complex and NATO. The took responsibility for the actions as members of AD.
After their arrest they were totally isolated. They have fought for improvements in their prison conditions with several long hungerstrikes. After a second hungerstrike in 1989 they were able to gain some minor improvements. The two women, Joelle Aubron and Nathalie Menigon, were housed together in a special part of the prison in Fleury and the two men, Georges Cipriani and Jean Marc Rouillan, were housed together in a special part of the prison in Fresnes.
They are held under modified isolation conditions of sensory deprivation similar to those employed in Germany and other imperialist countries in an effort to break political prisoners mentally and physically. The conditions are of total isolation from other prisoners, special cells, continuous lock down, extreme limits on mail, visitors, etc.
After more than two years they stopped their unsuccessful chain hungerstrike for better conditions. Solitary confinement is proscribed as torture by several international organizations such as Amnesty International, the United Nations and other groups. Even then French minister of justice Arpaillange called this kind of imprisonment torture. But it is still currently practiced.
Georges Cipriani was sent from the prison at Fresnes to the closed ward of the psychiatric hospital at Colin-Vilejuif on June 15, 1993. He is being forcibly "treated" with psychotropic drugs against his will.
The responsible doctor ordered a total contact ban for the first nine days and total isolation form other patients. Georges was not allowed to receive any visits from friends, family or his attorney. He was not allowed to receive mail and until now has been confined in an empty cell (no newspapers, no books, no writing materials, etc.). At the time of the contact ban Georges was forcibly injected with 150 mg of the psychotropic drug Loxapac a day. Since June 24, 1993, he is allowed to walk in the prison courtyard everyday and eat with the other patients.
An attorney visit that was planned for June 24,1993, was allowed by the Prefecture (the district administration and security authorities responsible for compulsory hospitalization).
In the meantime the dosage of the same psychotropic drug was increased to 400 mg a day. This is an extremely high dosage. After several policemen roughly tried to prevent the lawyer from visiting Georges at the doorway of the hospital, the attorney was able to talk with Georges for the first time.
The visit showed that he is suffering from the typical consequences of such compulsory hospitalization. He is unable to remember anything in the immediate past. He is unable to understand why he is in the psychiatric hospital to begin with. It is hard for Georges to formulate a goal for himself and not fall into indifference.
Two months before his forced hospitalization Georges learned that his mental and physical health was adversely affected by the conditions in the jail at Fresnes. Since May of 1993 he tried to have a critical look at his situation with some close friends and visitors in order to offset this development. But the restricted visiting possibilities and his permanent placement in the isolation control unit made this impossible. Until now it has not been possible to discuss the situation with him due to the intervention of the responsible doctor and the ensuing contact ban.
Until now it has not been possible for a doctor who has Georges' confidence to visit him. Such a visit is the indispensable prerequisite for further steps to treat Georges. Due to the collusion between the psychiatric and security forces it is not possible to obtain permission for friends and family members of Georges to visit him after his arrest continue in order to destroy him mentally and physically.
The current forced hospitalization is certainly not the treatment that Georges needs to come to terms with his situation and the consequences of continuous solitary confinement. For any treatment to succeed it has to be free and voluntary. This hospitalization means that the consequences of solitary confinement are being muffled and individualized with chemicals in order to place Georges back into the same prison conditions that caused the problem to begin with.
It is of the utmost importance that people protest the treatment of Georges. One of imperialism's dirty little secrets is the large number of political prisoners it holds in its prisons. They are held in harsher, more punitive conditions than social prisoner, usually with longer sentences. The purpose of these conditions is to destroy them as individuals and members of the movement for social change that they represent. The mainstream "human rights groups," like Amnesty International, etc., have a pro-imperialist bias that does not recognize political prisoners in the imperialist countries. Because militants like Georges do not renounce the people's right to self defense they are not even considered "political prisoners" by AI and such.
Please write and demand that Georges forced hospitalization stop at once; that Georges be permitted treatment by a doctor of his choice; unlimited visits with friends and family and creating conditions which make it possible for Georges to come to terms with his situation and the consequences of long term isolation.
Write, fax, phone you protest to the Prefecture which is responsible for administrative and security tasks and the doctor in attendance, Dr. Robbe:
M. le Prefet du Val de Mame
7. Ave. du General de Gaulle
F94011 Creteil CEDEX,France
Tel: 00331/49566053
Dr. Robbe
Centre Henri Colin
54. Ave. de la Republique
F94800 Villejuif, France
Tel: 0031/455957
Monsieur Laroche
Chef du Cabinet du Prefet
Fax: 00331/49566404
Donations for legal fees and expert testimony can be sent to: W. Kronauer, Sonderkonto "Georges", Postgrio Frankfurt/Main, BLZ 50010060, Germany, Kto.Nr.: 0264059-609
For more information, updates, etc., contact: Fruende de Politischen Gefangenen in Frankreich, C/O Info Buro, Am Landwehrplatz 2, 66111 Saarbrucken, Germany, Tel: 0681/399990.
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