Punished Without a Sentence

Description

“Maarten Blok’s extradition to Sweden ” 135 pages, 18 cm. + DVD with videomaterial of actions. In recent years, tens of thousands of people take to the streets to demonstrate during international summits. Many people prepared themselves for the EU Summit, which was to take place from June 14 through 16 2001 in Gothenburg, Sweden as well. The Dutchman Maarten Blok was one of them. The EU Summit had not even begun when the police surrounded the school he was staying in and arrested all people present. After Maarten had spent two days in jail, he was flown to the Netherlands and released without charge. Several months later it turned out that Sweden was requesting Maarten’s extradtion. This book is a report on the events that followed. It is about the court cases that maarten was involved in, demonstrations that were held, the trial in Sweden and Maarten’s acquittal in Septemebr 2004. It is not only a factual account but a report on the difficulties that Maarten had to deal with; friends and family members also provide their point of view. Maarten’s story is also an example of the dangers that the new European extradition treaty brings to life. It shows us that having blind trust in other countries’legal systems is a risky business. In the end, it all ended relatively well for Maarten. Others were less fortunate. But whoever struggles for what they believe in has a chance of exposing injustice and delivering a victory to the rule of law.