It’s bad enough for the German state to lock up Jo & Dy – two anti-fascists who did what the state refused to do and took necessary action to protect their community from organized mobs of fascists. But not while they sit in prison, Jo and Dy now have a 140,000€ civil judgement against them to look forward to paying off when they are released.
You might recognize those two names because we helped to pay for their legal team when they first went on trial in 2021. Unfortunately, this is another case where, thanks to the civil indemnity judgement against them, support must continue well beyond that.
This decision by the Defence Fund was not without controversy. The Decisions Crew – the body of over 600 anti-fascists tasked with making all decisions related to the Defence Fund – had a vigorous discussion about the implications of helping to pay a court-ordered amount of money that would ultimately be going to the fascist “victims.” But, as Jo and Dy’s support team puts it, “not only the high prison sentences, but also the high costs are an aspect of state repression and represent a high burden for the two accused and their families. As an anti-fascist movement, we must also face this type of repression together and in solidarity. Even if the two anti-fascists have to go to jail on our behalf as a movement, we can at least relieve them of the costs.” In the end, we agreed with this and have sent money to help pay some of that crippling judgement down.
The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund 
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