The Queen vs David Burgess & Will Saunders.
Charge: Maliciously Damage Property

This week, David Burgess & Will Saunders are due to appear before the 
Sydney District Court on charges of malicious damage arising out of the 
painting of "NO WAR" on one of the sails of the Opera House. They state 
their case:

On February 16th 2003, about a million people (that's 1:19 of Australia's 
whole population) marched against the upcoming war in Iraq. Mainstream 
newspolls showed consistently that opposition to this war was running at 
about 70 per cent. Later that week our Prime Minister referred to these 
people as a "mob". A month later, he took us to war.

On March 18th 2003, after it became apparent our Government was going to go 
to war illegally and against the wishes of its own people, we climbed up 
the outside of the Sydney Opera House and painted "NO WAR" on its highest 
sail.

While we were painting, the "Coalition of the Willing" (USA, UK & 
Australia) announced the (official) commencement of hostilities against 
Iraq.

The action received coverage across the world. To this extent, we were 
successful in drawing world attention to the opposition of the Australian 
people to any non-UN-sanctioned Australian involvement in the invasion. 
Many people didn't know Australia was actually involved.

The action also exposed (coincidentally from our point of view) the lack of 
promised security measures around a building supposedly on high alert for 
terrorist attacks.

After our arrests we were taken to The Rocks Police Station and charged 
with the criminal offence of Malicious Damage and the summary offence of 
Wilfully Marking a Building With Chalk/Paint etc. If found guilty, the 
charges carry penalties of up to five years jail and a $440 fine 
respectively.

Along with these, we are facing a compensation claim of A$166,000 or 
US$106,000. The bills have been paid by the Opera House so the matter, it 
appears, is now in the hands of their insurance company.

Our attempts to enter into talks with the Opera House over the compensation 
issue were unsuccessful. Our bail conditions still prohibit us from 
entering a large section of the CBD.

In the six months since, we have been through six Local Court appearances, 
the last of which saw us plead not guilty to the more serious charge and 
committed for trial in the District Court from September 29 to October 1. 
The case will now be heard before a jury. Dave's case will be heard first 
and Will's case second. Will is representing himself in court.

As we did on March 18th, we still believe Australia's involvement in the 
war on Iraq was illegal and immoral. If anything, this belief has been 
strengthened by events that continue to unfold around the world.

We believe we did not act out of malice towards anybody. It was an 
extraordinary day on which Australia became an aggressor in conflict for 
the first time in its history without voting on the matter in Parliament.

Given the total collapse of democracy applied by the Australian Government, 
we felt that what we did required an extra-ordinary responseb&

For more information on the court case and fund raising for the cleaning of 
the Opera House, visit http://www.sydneyoperahousenowarcleanupfund.org