I am reposting the following articles with regard to two independent Voice of Wales journalists whose trial begins this Wednesday, 10th August in Newport Crown Court, Wales.
Their crime? Reporting on a very small protest in Cwmbrân, Monmouthshire, South Wales on January 19, 2022 .
From the Voice of Wales website is an overview of what happened and has subsequently transpired.
On January 19th 2022, both Dan and Stan were arrested and held in custody for 32 hours for an allegation of committing aggravated trespass at Cwmbran Leisure Centre which at the time had part of the building being used as a Covid vaccination centre.
Whilst in custody, they were further arrested for fraud offences relating to the same incident, the fraud allegations were serious indictable offences which gave Police power to carry out house searches , their houses were accordingly searched and equipment vital to their work seized using these powers.
Dan and Stan were released on bail with very restrictive bail conditions imposed by the Police for several months, the conditions were designed to try to prohibit further work being carried out by Voice of Wales. The Police retained possession of equipment seized in the house searches.
After several months Dan and Stan were informed by post they were being charged with an offence of Aggravated Trespass Section 69 (3) (a) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Unsurprisingly the fraud allegations which gave the power to Police to search houses and seize equipment had been discontinued due to no evidence, but Police retained the equipment for months not restoring it until they were forced to.
If you are looking for more information surrounding the context of this case, we released a statement around the time it happened, which can be found here.
At court today, Thursday 9th of June 2022, the preliminary court proceedings began, Dan and Stan entered not guilty pleas to the charges against them. The Judge explained that they were charged with violating Section 69 (1) of the Public Order Act. “It’s an offence to ignore the directions of a uniformed police officer to leave the land, when a senior officer present reasonably believes that the person is committing or is about to commit aggravated trespass.”
The solicitor representing Dan and Stan explained to the court that their defence was based mostly on the fact they are Journalists, who were reporting on the event, and they followed all directions given to them by the Police.
The Judge was informed by the defence solicitor that his clients would be submitting a video to the court to prove that they had attended the location as Journalists and had complied with Police directions.
The majority of the hearing was taken up with discussion about the necessity of witnesses attending court for the future trial, the Defence solicitor requested that Chief Inspector Martin Smith be called to court to justify his actions on the day, this was agreed by the Judge, all other Police Officers who attended the scene will also be called to court to confirm details given in their statements and to explain their actions.
Dan and Stan requested the court split the case into two hearings – one for the activists and another for the two Journalists. The reasoning behind this is to make clear that Voice of Wales is completely separate from the activists and operates as a media company. The Judge refused this motion to split it into two court cases on the grounds that she doesn’t want to hear the same evidence twice as it “isn’t fair on either party” and two hearings would have cost implications.
There are three other defendants listed in the same case, one failed to turn up at court, another pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 200 hours Community service and ordered to pay £85 court costs, the third entered no plea which the court took as not guilty by default, and thus was bailed to return for a full hearing.
The trial, which is currently expected to take three days, is set to take place between the 10th and 12th August at Newport Magistrate’s Court.
A case management hearing is set for the 20th July .
Throughout all of this, we have failed to waiver or cower down and we’ll never stop exposing the truth and asking the difficult questions others are afraid to ask. Voice of Wales is a completely self-funded independent media company and we need your support to continue bringing the content that makes us the only Welsh media company who tells the truth. Please support us by clicking on any of the following links:
*Correction: previously we made the assumption that one of the defendants entered a not guilty plea. In actuality, he entered no plea which was taken by the court as not guilty by default. The relevant adjustments have been made.*
The following article by Rhoda Wilson was published by The Daily Exposé provides some background information and commentary.
Next week sees the start of another dark week in the People’s Socialist Republic of Wales, wrote Voice of Wales (“VoW”). Starting on 10 August, VoW journalists are due to appear in Newport Crown court in a show trial lasting three days.
VoW, hosted by Dan Morgan and Stan Robinson, began broadcasting on YouTube in July 2020 “giving a voice to the people not represented by mainstream media.” By February 2021, the establishment’s propaganda machine had caught up with them as described by THISBBC article. YouTube had removed some of its videos and demonetised others. At the time, VoW had more than 5,000 subscribers and more than 350,000 views. You can follow Voice of Wales on Rumble HERE.
In January, Morgan and Robinson were arrested while reporting on a protest. The arrests took place even though the pair were known to the police as journalists. They spent thirty-six hours in custody at Newport Police Station. On their release, one of five bail conditions dictated they were not to associate with one another.
Another bail condition was Morgan and Robinson were not to attend any covid vaccination centre in England or Wales unless they were attending to get “vaccinated” themselves.
In February, all the bail conditions were dropped.
“All around the world journalists are being arrested and falsely imprisoned because, according to the police, you have to be ‘accredited journalists’. Accredited, by who? The very people committing this global tyranny. Who should tell the people what they can and cannot read, view or think? Certainly not the Welsh Police Chief Constables or Crime Commissioner. Not the Welsh Government or Drakeford. The attack on Voice of Wales was an attack on our democracy and those responsible should be called to account,” VoW wrote.
To give you a background on the case, back in January, Voice of Wales was made aware of a group of people intending to serve papers on a vaccine centre in Cwmbran to raise concerns about the dangerous side-effects of the vaccine. They wanted the police to attend with them to facilitate a peaceful protest. This was the first vaccine centre in Wales where this was taking place and Voice of Wales was invited to go along at short notice to report.
On the day the group tried to contact the police making repeated phone calls to notify them of their intentions. Police told the protestors they would not attend. The three protestors filmed by VoW reporters proceeded to the vaccine centre to “serve the papers.” The group were calm, and peaceful, causing no problems for the staff on the day. The staff phoned the police who then arrived and again, this was very calm with no aggression.
This all changed with the arrival of Chief Inspector Martin Smith. Chief Inspector Smith arrived and completely escalated the situation with a rather unprofessional and hostile attitude. When the protestors explained why they were serving papers the Chief Inspector was very rude. He insulted them calling their protest “bunkum.”
Instead of remaining impartial, he took a political stance. He invited the group to move from the doorway and to “stand in the designated protest area” pointing to an area approximately 6 meters away from the door. He then instructed the police officers to escort the group to this area. All, bar one of the group immediately complied and moved. The Chief Inspector hearing the objections from one protestor now became hysterical and within less than a minute he gave contradictory orders to his staff and ordered the arrest of the whole group, including the journalists of Voice of Wales.
Dan and Stan were held in custody for 32 hours. During their time in custody, Gwent Police used documents found on the group to further arrest Dan and Stan on fraud charges. Using these charges, they then executed search warrants at the home addresses of Dan and Stan, seizing any of the Voice of Wales equipment they could find. This included 4 cameras, tripods, microphones, phones, and vehicles.
Following the release of Dan and Stan, they were handed draconian bail conditions that restricted their personal life and ability to travel and work. After seeking urgent legal advice, the condition that Dan and Stan were “not to associate” was changed to “not to work together” and after more advice, all conditions were dropped.
Voice Of Wales Bail Condition Change Press Release, 28 February 2022 (9 mins)
Voice of Wales have been building their case for 8 months now and between VoW, solicitors, barristers and an ex-police inspector of 30 years, we are confident that the CPS/police will not be able to prove the flimsy case against us.
Voice of Wales is confident that this is nothing more than a show trial. We believe this is a politically motivated case with the intention to discredit Voice of Wales by the Communist Coalition ruling from Cardiff. They are angry we dared to question legislation and policies they are pushing through with no public consultation. These include 16-year-olds and foreign nationals given the right to vote, Wales becoming a nation of sanctuary, mandatory sex education for all children from age 3, political policing and much more.
It is unbelievable that we are living in times where the journalist is arrested, charged and put before a judge for daring to report. Alternative media is growing ever more popular because more and more people are getting fed up with the biased mainstream media pumping out constant propaganda, forcing people to accept their idea of the new normal. People are getting fed up with journalists toeing the party line and only printing what the government tells them. People are getting fed up with a political police force, and people are getting fed up with the forced indoctrination of our children.
Voice of Wales was established to fill a gap in media coverage in Wales, and we are proud to say we are not puppets controlled by the Senedd. We cover all topics to raise awareness amongst our communities. We will not be intimidated or bullied into submission, and recent events have made us even more determined to work harder.
So reporters being harassed by state now. What’s next, 1984ish Master Reviewer before publishing?
Sounds a lot like the USA regarding our Jan 6 patriots