FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2025
On Second Anniversary of Mass Arrest in Atlanta, Multiple RICO Defendants File Civil Lawsuits Seeking Damages Against Police and the City
Several Lawsuits Filed So Far Include Claims of False and Retaliatory Arrest, Unlawful Detention, and Malicious Prosecution in Violation of Plaintiffs’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights
ATLANTA, GA — Wednesday marked two years since the sweeping, unconstitutional arrests of 23 festival-goers at the South River Music Festival in Atlanta, for their alleged involvement in political organizing against the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, otherwise known as ‘Cop City’. All 23 arrested on March 5th, 2023 for domestic terrorism have not as of yet been indicted on those charges. In August 2023, the Georgia Attorney General issued the largest RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations) indictment of its kind against 61 people, including the 23 festival-goers, for their perceived involvement with the ‘Stop Cop City’ movement.
In the two years since their arrests, several RICO defendants have filed civil lawsuits to meet the two-year statute of limitations in Georgia. To date, six lawsuits have been filed for claims ranging from false and retaliatory arrest to unlawful detention and selective prosecution. RICO defendants also allege their First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated in the process. The prosecution has also been accused of recording and publishing confidential attorney-client communications as part of the discovery.
Jamie Marsicano, who was arrested on March 5, 2023, filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages against officers responsible for the South River Forest arrests and the City of Atlanta for “implementing an unlawful, blanket policy of arresting and pretextually charging individuals perceived to be protesting Cop City.”
Marsicano’s defense attorneys say they’ve documented a number of incidents where pretextual charges have occurred under the city’s policy, and further argue it is because of this policy that law enforcement killed Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, or ‘Tortuguita’ on January 18th, 2023.
‘The police terrorized us’: Details about the March 5 arrests
On March 5, 2023, over a thousand people gathered in Weelaunee People’s Park—a then-public space also known as Intrenchment Creek Park, about a mile away from the Cop City construction site—to attend the South River Music Festival, which was organized as part of a broader week of action to support the Stop Cop City movement. At about 5:30 p.m., police and construction vehicles were set on fire at the construction site. Around an hour or so later, police entered the music festival grounds and began making indiscriminate arrests.
As reported in Mainline and the Appeal, officers “did not communicate or give clear orders to attendees, including elderly individuals and children.” Witnesses also reported that police “pointed lights and guns into a children’s bounce house.” That night, police detained a total of 35 people, including a legal observer from the National Lawyers Guild. Of those, 23 were arrested for domestic terrorism and taken to DeKalb County Jail where they were held for months without bond. A total of 42 people have been arrested on domestic terrorism charges and five have so far been indicted for domestic terrorism.
“Captivity is an experience I will never forget,” says Victor Puertas, who was arrested while attending the music festival and has since been charged with RICO. “All I had been through and knew at that time was that I had been arrested in an extremely violent manner and that I had been charged with the most bogus and punitive charges possible: domestic terrorism and RICO.”
Other lawsuits filed
Another RICO defendant who was arrested on March 5, 2023 filed a lawsuit on Wednesday. Three RICO defendants who were arrested on January 18, 2023, the same day that police murdered Tortuguita, previously filed civil lawsuits for false arrest, unlawful detention, and malicious prosecution. An additional RICO defendant, Hannah Kass, who was arrested on May 12, 2022, after attending a protest at an office of Cop City contractor Brasfield & Gorie, also filed a civil lawsuit.
“I filed a civil lawsuit because I believe it is critically important for us as targeted forest defenders to push back against the state’s authoritarian repression of the Stop Cop City movement,” said Kass, who filed their lawsuit in May 2024. “The state must be held accountable and dissuaded from continuing to use police terror, random false arrests and detention, malicious prosecution, and other civil rights violations as tools of abuse against those who disagree with state actions.”
Kass’ experience is just one example of how the process of arrest, incarceration, and awaiting trial on serious charges has had a devastating impact on the lives of dozens of activists. “As a result of my arrest, I have been scarred with continual post-traumatic stress and reputational harm,” continued Kass. “I have been hospitalized and medicated due to panic and paranoia. I was doxxed and harassed by right-wing media pundits and trolls, and subsequently subjected to a disciplinary hearing by my university’s conduct office.”
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For more information on the sweeping RICO criminal case and ways to support the
defendants and the movement to Stop Cop City visit: weelauneethefree.org.
