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Press Releases R2K LEGAL COLLECTIVE PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 8, 2001 CONTACT: Kris Hermes, R2K Legal (215) 925-6791; Kate Sorensen, ACT UP Philadelphia (917) 514-5579; Lawrence Krasner, R2K Lawyer (215) 636-9500 http://www.r2klegal.org PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY PURSUES SHAM CASE AGAINST ALLEGED RNC PROTEST "RINGLEADER" Kate Sorensen -- of ACT UP Philadelphia, and a defendant from the GOP Convention protest -- initially slapped with $1 million bail, began her jury trial today. Sorensen is defending herself against charges of "Riot," "Risking Catastrophe," "Criminal Mischief," and "Conspiracy." Sorensen -- longtime proponent of nonviolent direct action -- was originally charged with ten felonies and ten misdemeanors. (Philadelphia, PA) Community activist and ACT UP Philadelphia member, Kate Sorensen, began her jury trial today on felony charges -- stemming from the Republican Convention (RNC) protests last summer. Sorensen was arrested on the day of mass protest against a morally and functionally bankrupt criminal justice system. She was apprehended while walking through Love Park talking on her cellular phone and was not told why she was being arrested. Later, Sorensen found out that she was being blamed for virtually everything that had happened in the city that day. Sorensen was the first felony defendant to go to trial out of over 300 people facing charges related to the protests during the RNC. Singled out as a "ringleader" by law enforcement and held for ten days in prison, Sorensen, was originally charged with ten felonies and ten misdemeanors. At arraignment, her bail was set at $1 million, an unprecedented sum for nonviolent protest activity. Eventually, Sorensen's bail as reduced to $100,000, still exceedingly high, and sixteen of her charges were dropped during pretrial hearings. Sorensen is left with four felonies: riot, risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, and conspiracy. Case after case has been thrown out against the majority of RNC defendants over the last seven months. Sorensen's case illustrates the overcharging by police and the overreaction by the city of Philadelphia. To date, over ninety percent of the cases against protesters have resulted in acquittals or dismissals. "District Attorney Abraham has waged war on dissent in Philadelphia, and she has yet to justify her actions both during the convention and for months after," says Krasner."They had no proof of illegal activity against virtually all of the protesters they took to court, and they had no proof against Kate.This is prosecutorial misconduct and the DA must stop persecuting committed activists." Allyson Collins of the Washington, DC-based group, Human Rights Watch, argues that the "allegations of excessively harsh treatment, including the high bail amounts set for many of those arrested, have a chilling effect on those who wish to express their views and exercise their right to free speech" An AIDS activist since 1988 and a longtime proponent of nonviolent action, Sorensen has been in local and national campaigns for social change for more than twenty years. "ACT UP and Kate Sorensen's efforts are recognized nationally and internationally for expressly challenging the role of corporate greed in health-care," said Christie Balka, executive director of Bread and Roses, a prominent Philadelphia funding organization. "This is why the authorities targeted Kate for arrest." Other potential witnesses include Henry Nicholas, President of 1199-C, the Philadelphia chapter of the hospital and health-care workers union. Sorensen had been working for Nicholas weeks prior to the RNC, organizing a legal march promoting universal health-care. The march, successfully facilitated by Sorensen, was meant to challenge the Republican's and then-Governor Bush's policies on health care during the convention. BACKGROUNDER--SORENSEN BIO Kate Sorensen was born in Torrance, CA in 1962. Sorensen attended California University of the Arts, where she studied fine arts, printing and publishing. At sixteen, she got her first job in a print shop and worked in the printing industry for nearly 20 years. A West Philadelphia homeowner and artist, Sorensen currently works as a union organizer for 1199-C, the hospital and health care workers union. As a teenager, Sorensen joined efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and was involved in other key feminist activist campaigns. In the eighties, as her friends began to die of HIV/AIDS, Kate Sorensen became involved in the earliest efforts to bring attention to the epidemic. In 1986, Sorensen joined ACT UP Los Angeles, an all-volunteer AIDS activist group. Her first AIDS protest was a successful attempt to secure beds for AIDS patients at LA County Hospital. Sorensen and other activists engaged in non-violent civil disobedience at the Los Angeles City Council. The county agreed to open an AIDS ward, one of the first in the nation. Sorensen was a founding member of Queer Nation Los Angeles, a grassroots organization that drew attention to the impact of homophobia in the United States. Her work with Queer Nation included organizing a large demonstration at the 1991 Academy Awards to protest the negative depiction of gays and lesbians in cinema and to educate American society about gay and lesbian lives. At the historic 1993 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender March on Washington, Sorensen led an all-women's march as a member of the National ACT UP Women's Network. In 1994, Sorensen moved to Philadelphia, where she became an active member of ACT UP Philadelphia, the nation's largest grassroots AIDS activist organization. She has helped organize numerous successful campaigns to address the needs of women, low-income people and people of color, and other groups hard-hit by the epidemic. These campaigns include persuading the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry to increase and improve research on women with HIV; coordinating a public poster project utilizing the art and stories of homeless people living with HIV; and designing an internationally-distributed World AIDS Day information kit on the lack of AIDS drugs in poor nations. She has worked with recovering drug users to increase access to information about HIV prevention and treatment. Last summer, Sorensen served as the organizer for the March for Universal Health Care, a rally that united unions, health care providers, and medical consumers in the call for equitable health care for all Americans. She also traveled to Durban, South Africa, to participate in the 13th International AIDS Conference, where she served as press liaison for Women at Durban, a satellite conference that provided workshops and trainings by and for HIV-infected women, including many from local townships and neighboring African countries. Recently, Sorensen has served as a link between anti-globalization activist groups and the communities of color impacted by unjust trade and social policies. In April 2000, Sorensen facilitated the participation of over 500 African-American HIV-positive Philadelphians in the core rally and march at the Washington, D.C. Mobilization for Global Justice. In June 2000, she helped put together a groundbreaking training for low-income people and people of color in Philadelphia, designed to increase their skills as advocates in their communities. Currently, Sorensen is continuing to work with ACT UP Philadelphia and the Nobel-prize winning organization Doctors Without Borders, on a highly-successful campaign to put affordable AIDS medications and other lifesaving drugs within the reach of the millions of HIV-infected individuals in the developing world. --030-- |
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