Police Make No Apologies For Operation 8 Nor Urewera 4′s Sentencing

The October 15th Solidarity Group has issued a scathing statement over the sentencing of the Urewera 4: Taame Iti, Rangi Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey.

The statement reads: “The sentences of 2.5 years for Taame Iti and Rangi Kemara are manifestly unjust. This is an outrage. The sentences of Urs Signer and Emily Bailey are equally absurd. The judge sought to retry the entire case at sentencing today and himself decided their fate. It is an outrage.”

“Our four friends may have been sentenced today but it is far from over,” said Valerie Morse from the October 15th Solidarity Group. “We will continue to fight for and support these people until justice is done and all the charges are dropped.”

The October 15th Solidarity Group statement adds: It has been nearly five years since Operation 8 came to light and the process and punishment continues and is not forgotten.

In response, New Zealand Police Commissioner Peter Marshall makes no apology and said the Police approach and actions reflected the gravity of the situation.

“In 2006 Police received a number of complaints about an ever-increasing number of people who were collecting firearms, including a sawn-off shotgun, and discharging hundreds of rounds of ammunition. These people were in possession of Molotov cocktails, were engaged in military style tactics and were having discussions that were causing increasing alarm. Comments were also made about killing people,” Commissioner Marshall said.

He added: “It was incumbent on Police to investigate. Our decision-making took into account intercepted conversations between those involved, which were not put to the jury as a result of the Solicitor General’s decision. Even without that evidence, the material produced in court revealed an extremely serious situation that had the potential to escalate and endanger lives.”

See Scoop for the October 15th Solidarity Group statement and the Police Commissioner’s statement.