<![CDATA[URGENT: Zolo Agona Azania endangered by execution!!!
I writing to you about a New Afrikan political prisoner, Zolo Agona Azania,
who I represent and who is facing a October 25th execution date by the
State of Indiana. He has a web site at www.dragking.org/freezoloazania.html
where you can learn more about his case. His is an artist, writer and conscious
citizen of the Republic of New Africa and the Indiana Supreme Court is ignoring
serious issues in his case including the fact that 70% of the Black people
in the jury pool in the County that he was tried were mysteriously erased
from the jury pool at the time of his trial in what they are calling a computer
error. Of course he was tried by an all-white jury.
Also despite his impressive accomplishments while in prison and the universal
respect with which he is regarded by fellow prisoners and believe it or
not most of the prison staff, his defense counsel put on no mitigation evidence
about him at the death penalty phase retrial which was held in 1996. He
was convicted in 1982 of the murder of a Gary policemen who was killed in
an exchanged of gun fire with three men who were fleeing a bank robbery.
His co-defendants were given 60 years but Zolo was targeted and got death,
because as the prosecutor told the prior counsel he was a "New Afrikan
Terrorist."
We are trying to build an emergency campaign to force the Indiana Supreme
Court to stay his execution date and consider a myriad of issue which have
never been raised before. I have attached a form letter and a summary of
the legal arguments in his case. Can you help get the word out and get people
to send letter to the Indiana Supreme Court?
If you can help, all of us working here on Zolo's behalf would greatly appreciate
it.
Michael Deutsch
****************
A plea for help from death row USA
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Zolo Agona Azania #4969.
i write this to you from Indiana's death row. i am bound in the web of the
U.S. political legal sanction system. This is the same system that's putting
two million people in prison and the same unjust system does this to people
everyday.
This extinguishment of a human life by lethal injection is dressed up as
a medial procedure which is actually a cold, calculated, ritual murder.
The condemned prisoner is strapped to the death gurney. The first drug is
sodium pentothal. A saline solution is then used to insure the tube is cleared
out so the drugs won't mix because sometimes there's a chemical reaction
where they can clog. The third one is pancuronium bromide. That is the muscle
relaxer. The fourth syringe then pushes another saline solution through.
The fifth syringe is potassium chloride. That is the toxic drug that stops
the heart.
Following the completion of the injection process, and a five (5) minute
waiting period, the blinds to the witness area will be closed and the Physician
advised. If the prisoner's heart has not stopped, the lights shall be dimmed,
blinds opened, and the Superintendent or designee shall order the injection
procedure to be repeated. After this procedure is completed, the blinds
will once again be closed, and the Physician will again check for signs
of life. The Physician shall then report his or her findings to the Superintendent
or designee.
My dilemma began on August 11, 1981 when i was captured by occupation army
police near the neighborhood where i lived, handcuffed, pistol whipped,
and arrested without warrant or explanation. The next day the State prosecutor
filed death penalty counts for armed bank expropriation and murder of a
White soldier-cop in the city of Gary, Indiana.
On may 25, 1982 i was sentenced to the penalty of death. My direct appeal
was rejected on October 1984. The Supreme Court of Indiana subsequently
overturned the death sentence in May 1993, but hey allowed the prosecution
to put in on me again in March 1996. i am still appealing the State government's
ruling.
The lawyer who represented me at the first jury trial never investigated
my case and he wouldn't sit next to me in the court room. The lawyer who
represented me on direct appeal turned and repudiated my appeal claims of
error. He was not the same one who represented me at the trial. Another
set of court appointed lawyers filed a petition for post-conviction relief
into the trial court, but they omitted the essential claims of error in
violation of my human rights that would overturn or reverse the conviction.
Then another set of lawyers were appointed by the sentencing judge to defend
me at the second trial and they sold me out like a chattel slave on the
auction block.
There was no pretrial identification and a paraffin gunshot residue test
showed i had not fired a gun. The judge had me shackled during the trial
in the presence of the all-White jury the first time, and again in the presence
of the 11 Whites (Amerikkkans) and 1 Mexican jury at the second trial. The
court bailiff spoke to the jurors in the deliberation room on the orders
of the judge and said they should be ready to be asked individually to state
that their verdict is death.
i was fortunate to find out about this ex parte communication and the foreman
of the jury gave a sworn affidavit confirming it. The jurors were allowed
to consume alcohol during the retrial. New Afrika (Black) people were systematically
excluded from selection as jurors. The jury trial was rigged! The prosecutor,
among others, blamed the problem on a computer glitch, but racial discrimination
is an integral part of the political process and it is very unlikely that
this is a coincidence. The prosecutorial machinery knowingly used false
testimony and they covered up material evidence that did not favor their
charges against me.
The electric chair is no longer used in Indiana. It was replaced by lethal
drug injection in 1995.
International human rights standards are not recognized in the state of
Indiana (and elsewhere in these United States) because I raised the fundamental
issue in my direct appeal and it was rejected by the State Supreme Court.
The use of the death penalty to repress liberation movements is State sanction
terrorism. Revolutionaries are criminalized as enemies, a threat to the
opulent security of the ruling elite, and must be treated accordingly. U.S.
capital punishment is an instrument of class warfare, organized and designed
to permit an elite, local and multinational, to operate without any constraint
from democratic human rights processes. My case is an example. See web site
at http://members.xoom.com/ccadp/zoloazania.htm
i was politically active on the grassroots level prior to my incarceration
in 1981, and i continue to remain active in the area of human rights in
spite of my predicament. In the appeals of my conviction and sentence, i
petitioned the courts to recognize my international protected status as
an anti-colonial combatant, citing resolutions of the United Nations' General
Assembly and the Geneva Convection. There isn't much that I can do except
use the written word and visual art as weapons of war, not merely to call
attention to myself, but to educate and raise the political awareness of
my people and the world of Our struggle for self-determination and independence
from the imperialist hegemony of the U.S.
The death penalty system is fatally flawed. Status quo politicians play
on people's fears to make money, get votes and advance their careers. The
use of the death penalty to murder a freedom fighter violates every basic
principle afforded anti-colonial combatants under international human rights
law. Anti-death penalty issues are in the news media almost daily because
the thinking public is calling and writing to their local and national media
demanding real coverage of issues.
The guilt of innocence of an accused is not figured into the equation of
a higher meaning of equal justice because it is considered less important
to capital punishment proponents. The U.S. criminal sanction system is anchored
over procedural issues rather than guilt or innocence. The law court judges
hold that mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence
properly reached. All that the law in the U.S. require is that the accused
receive a fair trial, not a perfect one.
Most human beings want to give a helping hand to those in need, but are
often physically and financially unable or unsure exactly what to do. Others
simply look the other way. The grave plight which has befallen me could
also happen to you or to someone dear to you. The law is for everybody,
including you.
On June 6, 2000 the Indiana Supreme Court denied my appeal again and i need
your help. Their denial is part of the cover up. For more information contact:
Zolo's Campaign
c/o CROSSROAD Support Network
3420 W. 63rd Street
Chicago, Illinois 60629
USA
Voice/Fax: 773-737-8679
e-mail: crsn@aol.com
http://www.afrikan.net/crossroad
Zolo's Legal Campaign
c/o People's Law Office
1180 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
USA
Telephone: 773-235-0070
e-mail: mdeutsch45@aol.com
South Chicago ABC Zine Distro$
Anthony Rayson
P. O. Box 721
Homewood, IL 60430
USA
e-mail: anthonyrayson@hotmail.com
http://members.xoom.com/thoughtbombs
http://members.xoom.com/ccadp/zoloazania.htm http://alerts4row.homestead.com/ZoloAgonaAzania2.html
http://www.dragking.org/freezoloazania.html
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/lepan/lene/indiana/index.htm
http://www.melanet.com/yebbg/zolo.html
http://melanet.com/yebbg/editorial0297.html
Signed by Zolo Agona Azania:
Zolo Agona Azania #4969
Indiana State Prison
PO BOX 41
Michigan City IN 46361-0041
USA
*********************
Please send following protest letter to this address:
Randall T. Shepard
Chief Justice of Indiana
Indiana Supreme Court
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2732
USA
Dear Justice Shepard,
I am writing you on behalf of Zolo Agona Azania, who has been scheduled
to be executed by the State of Indiana on October 25, 2000 by order of your
Court. I understand that your Court has not yet had the opportunity to review
serious and fundamental constitutional violations that occurred in Mr Azania's
trials and I am at a loss how you can order his execution without first
reviewing the merits of these claims.
As I understand it, among the claims that you have yet to review are the
exclusion of 70% of the Black jurors from the Allen County jury pool at
the time of Mr. Azania's retrial, the failure of his defense counsel to
put on any mitigation about him at his death penalty phase retrial, and
the recent disclosure that a critical witness at his earlier trial perjured
himself at the behest of the prosecution. These are very serious allegations
which must be carefully considered before you allow a man to be put to death.
I urge you to stay the October 25th execution date and allow Mr. Azania
to have the opportunity to fairly and fully present all the issues that
have not be considered by the Indiana courts. At the very least, simple
decency and fairness demand nothing less.
Sincerely,
(your name here!)
***********************************
Article compiled and distributed by Anarchist Black Cross Innsbruck:
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Austria
e-mail: abcibk@hushmail,com
http://www.freespeech.org/entfesselt
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