UPDATE:::ANDRES IS NOW IN PRISON!!! see video

The Provincial Court has ordered the entry into prison for Andrés Bódalo, for assault against authority. The union claims that the SAT agricultural union will not surrender.

by  Carmela Negrete      Andrés Bódalo, a member of the Andalusian Union of Workers and a councillor for the Podemos (We can do it) party, during a demonstration against the Gag Law.

Strategies to crush strikes
A Court hearing condemns to 3 years in prison Andrés Bódalo of the  SAT
Andrés Bódalo is Jaén city councilor since June 2015. In the Andalusian Union of Workers (SAT) is responsible for social movements, which is linked to the Marches of Dignity and all social mobilizations. It was also in the Podemos in the Congress of Deputies by Jaen. The Provincial Court of Jaen has ordered his imprisonment for allegedly assaulting a policeman.

What happened the day the events for which you have condemned took place and what the sentence says?

It was on October 27, 2012, in the context of a protest over the issue of peons that are needed here in Andalusia to collect agricultural subsidies, which are 426 euros, and in general by the lack of work that was in these moments. In a town like Jodar 12,500 inhabitants, 80% are unemployed. It was like a grape harvest campaign in France in Castilla-La Mancha, but with no wages.We made a protest of 21 days locked in the House of Culture of the municipality and the September 16 evicted us badly and we went to the street. We walked several times a day with demonstrations calling people dignifying work and wages.

One day we were protesting next to City Hall and there was a mishap, because we wanted to access the City Council to declare the subject of an ordinance that the mayor had imposed on the people by punishing the use of public address with fines from 1,500 to 3,000 euros. We are a union and they wanted us to cut free speech.

And then what happened?

Then the deputy mayor, Juan Ibarra, who came to breakfast, tried to enter forcibly at City Hall and, finally there was shoving and pushing. That’s what happened. Following that we made a criminal complaint to the council .

The Provincial Court asked for 5 to 6 yrs jail each for 18 colleagues, almost a hundred years in prison in total, just for the fact of denouncing the situation we’re living in.The day October 21, 2015 the trial was held in the Provincial Court, attended by all witnesses of the Consistory, the local police, Councilman Juan Ibarra, because he is no longer deputy mayor, and the Civil Guard.

By taking testimony of all, we said what had happened there and there were even local policemen who testified on my behalf and explained that I did not attack anyone. Even the Guardia Civil presented as evidence a video where you can see I did not commit any attack against anyone.

“Today there is a mass picket and I will not surrender, come and get me”

What is the situation now?

Right now I’m sentenced to three and half years in prison. The entrance is in prison today. We have appealed the sentence, but for the error of a prosecutor that he was wrong on time, it happened, and could not submit the appeal, although everything was already prepared. We turned this situation by explaining that it had been a mistake and we asked that the situation be reviewed, but the Supreme Court has denied us the review.

At the end we are left defenseless. We have now asked in an appeal to the Constitutional Court to protect him forcing us to the Supreme to consider the appeal, which can be demonstrated by the evidence we have provided and the various contradictions in the statements of the police, the guard own civil and Juan Ibarra.

What happened with the other defendants?

Fourteen of them were acquitted and three other colleagues were sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 1,800 euros. But as the sentence did not exceed two years in prison they have not had to enter the prison, but as I have been condemned to three years and six months and 1,800 euro fine …

Does the deputy mayor ”attacked’ have some kind of injury?

None at all. He presented a medical report saying he had a bruise on his back. The forensic doctor certified that it a was minor bruise. That same day he attended the full City Council. The conviction is for assault on authority. The imprisonment could have been stopped, but with the new Gag Law that is no longer possible. This law has been written to put us in jail, so that we are helpless.

Do you think it was a political conviction?

Our union has been 40 years being persecuted politically and judicially. We have 600 partners and colleagues pending trial. More than one million euros in fines and more than 300 years in prison requests.

It is clear that we are a union in Andalusia and have used protest to demand the fundamental rights of people: freedom, justice, employment, housing. In this case it is clear. The strangest thing of all is that is the PSOE, who is the ruler in Jodar, is the prosecution of this judgment, which means that do not allow critical voices, even knowing that after 40 years in office in Andalusia and we have a rate unemployment of over 35%.

In some provinces it is almost 50%. 70% of young people are unemployed. A third of the Andalusian live below the poverty line … When we protest repressors used state mechanisms, we fear not to take to the streets.

Are you going to mobilize the SAT for their freedom?

Last Saturday we demonstrated in Jaen and gathered 3,000 people who arrived from many corners of Andalusia and came to show their solidarity. The union is not going to stand idly by and if today incarceration occurs, we will carry out a calendar of mobilizations against the jailing.I am a completely innocent person and I have not done anything of what I am accused. And there is clear evidence to prove it. If justice has not been fair with me, surely citizens and people will protest this injustice….Today there is a concentration and I will not surrender, come and get me.