Community organizations involved in the ongoing campaign to defend the South River Forest outside Atlanta, Georgia and ‘Stop Cop City’ say state prosecutors are planning on releasing indictments in the coming weeks charging them as a “criminal organization” under RICO statutes.
“The notion that RICO would be invoked to punish protestors engaged in a widely-supported challenge to a government decision is a giant leap in the wrong direction,” said Don Samuel, a Georgia attorney who has written about Georgia RICO statutes. Samuel’s written statement was shared by the groups during their announcement.
The CLDC went on to say, “Know your rights, do not cooperate with the state to do harm to yourself, your comrades or the political movements you support, and trust that there is a strong and vigorous legal support structure in place to defend you, if needed.”