Segregationist Torture

Kairos Chicago stood in solidarity as the remnant victims of hate crime took back their voice today at the Thompson Center. We joined with several other activist groups in Chicago as the cases of 20 men, who remain in prison on confessions elicited through torture, continue to sit on
Atty Gen. Lisa Madigan's desk after a judge ordered her to open them up six years ago.

Evidentiary hearings, that's all we ask for those remaining detainees of Chicago's spree of segregationist torture officiated by John Burge. In orange jumpsuit and hood, the testimony reverberated with the echo of Guantanamo Bay. Just as the Supreme Court ruled that potential terrorists deserve their day in court, so we demand the basic human right of due process applied here at home.

Madigan remains gripped by the paralysis of analysis. It seems she thinks torture too controversial. "Opinions about the use of torture against suspected terrorists also differ widely by party, as has been the case over the past four years. While 43% of Democrats say torture is never justified, 15% of Republicans and 30% of independents hold that view.”(1) In solidarity with the tortured, for both victim and persecutor, Kairos mourns.

Torture nullifies the confession it extracts, so it has no efficiency value. We decry such a thing as "state of the art" coercion; torture is cruel and inhumane. We advocate police forces that care for the Common Good, accept review, do thorough investigation, and communicate with transparency to the public. A mistake has been made, in the name of God, most merciful and compassionate, rectify it! Allow the courts to begin proceedings--ATTN: Executor of the Office of Attorney General "Do your job."


1) PEW Center http://people-press.org/report/493/obama-anti-terror-policies


6 years is too long to wait!
Rally, Press Conference, & Peoples Delegation:
Tell Lisa Madigan that Burge torture victims deserve new trials!

April 6, noon
Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph (at Clark)

For nearly six years, the prisoners and their families, activists, and attorneys having been asking the Attorney General to initiate evidentiary hearings for men who faced electro-shock, suffocation, beatings and mock executions in Area 2 and Area 3 police interrogation rooms.

While President Obama has ordered the closing of Guantanamo Prison due to international outcry over torture, Lisa Madigan has allowed dozens of Chicago police torture victims, all of whom are African-American, to languish in prison in Obama's backyard.

In 2007, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution calling on Madigan to initiate new hearings for all police torture victims. It is now March of 2009 and she has still refused to take substantial action. Even more disturbing, on April 7 2009, rather than grant relief to torture victims, she is hoping that a judge will allow her to pass five of the torture cases to new States Attorney Anita Alvarez.

With Lisa Madigan gearing up for a run for Governor, it's time for her to take responsibility for the Burge torture cases. No public official who condones torture is fit to be in the State's highest office. Join exonerated torture victims, activists, attorneys, and family members for a rally, press conference, and a people’s delegation to Lisa Madigan’s office to tell her: