Jyllands-Posten, Denmark, February 23rd, 2002:
by Jens Chr. Hansen, correspondent of Jyllands-Posten
Despite a lengthy, sometimes very emotional trial about release on bail,
Tvind founder Amdi Petersen lost the first battle in the American legal
system. Before him awaits at least one month in prison in Los Angeles.
It was an exhausted, pale and crestfallen Tvind leader who witnessed his
own trial.
(caption) The well-known top-lawyer Robert Shapiro did not succeed in
getting Amdi Petersen let out on bail. In this picture is seen, behind
Shapiro, Amdi Petersens cohabitee Kirsten Larsen.
Los Angeles.
"Mr Petersen, will you please take your seat". This kind request would
prove to be the only positive thing judge Stephen J. Hillman had to
offer Tvind leader Amdi Petersen when the spectacular Amdi Petersen
trial was resumed the night before Saturday (Danish time) at the Edward
B. Roybal Federal Building in the city of Los Angeles.
The lengthy, complicated and at times very emotional issue about release
on bail ended with a striking defeat on Amdi Petersen's part, together
with the three Danish women Tvind supporters dressed in black, the
expensive, self-confident, Californian top defense lawyer Robert Shapiro
and Amdi Petersen's Danish lawyer Quade Andersen.
Amdi Petersen will be detained in custody. The grim, disappointed faces
shown after the judgement was clear evidence that the small hope of
freedom under house arrest for Amdi Petersen was only a dream that never
were to come true.
The judge established that there were no need for any special
considerations, and, in addition, that there was a serious risk that the
now 63-year old Amdi Petersen quite simply would leave the U.S., should
he be let out on bail.
Trying case to be expected
Tvind's spiritual leader may have to stay behind bars yet another month,
and after that he may expect a lengthy and trying fight in the American
legal system. Not even millions of kroner or expensive top lawyers could
help the "Tvind headman" shed the heavy chains and once more step out
into the early Carlifonian summer.
Looking ash-grey, tired and exhausted Tvind leader Amdi Petersen sat
ready in the prisoner's dock in the courtroom at 10.30 AM on Friday
(7.30 PM, Danish time). Ready, that is, for a day which would involve a
lot of coming and going in and out of the courtroom - many interruptions
and great uncertainty.
Six hours later the sentence fell upon him as a blow of the axe -
continued imprisonment.
The hearing was interrupted by three breaks.
Amdi Petersen and his girlfriend Kirsten Larsen only had time for
exchanging one brief look before the chains rattled again, and Amdi
Petersen in his orange convict's uniform with the text "Kern County
Jail" once again was led away by firm, moustached US Marshall officers.
The exceptional hearing on bail in connection with the issue of
extradition to Denmark was interrupted three times during the course of
the day by lengthy breaks, during which defenders and prosecutors
separately were to obtain more material in order to convince the judge.
Each time Amdi Petersen was taken in and out of the courtroom, just like
an object being moved from one place to the other.
The whole day Amdi Petersen was an inactive and silent witness to his
own trial.
During major parts of the proceedings Amdi Petersen sat with a blank
face gazing into empty space in an almost pathetic way. He constantly
moved his left leg in a nervous fashion. Several times you could see his
jaws move as if he was talking to himself.
Here he didn't have any strings to pull as in the Tvind empire. An Amdi
Petersen in chains with no other choice then letting other people pull
the strings that were to be pulled.
Amdi Petersen in prison uniform
Unlike the Tuesday proceedings when Amdi Petersen was dressed in his own
clothes, he was now forced to endure the more humiliating orange,
shortsleeved prison uniform. Under the uniform he had on a bright,
longsleeved sweatshirt. His long, thin feet were clad in white socks and
almost boat-like shoes.
During the whole proceedings his girlfriend Kirsten Larsen sat on one of
the courtroom benches intended for relations, media and other persons
interested. During Amdi's case the courtroom was almost full. Besides
Kirsten Larsen, Tvind member Ruth Sejerø Olsen and yet another Danish
woman were present. The latter wouldn't reveal her name. All three Tvind
women were dressed in black elegant suits.
At one point Kirsten Larsen tried to go over to sit down on another
bench, closer to Amdi Petersen, but one of the courtroom guards
immediately told her to move back. Jørgen Quade Andersen, who is Amdi
Petersen's appointed lawyer in Denmark, during a break tried to go over
to Amdi Petersen, but he too was very authoritatively stopped by the
"Police US Marshall" people. Only the lawyer Robert Shapiro could talk
to Amdi Petersen.
The case has created interest in the U.S.
Numerous representatives of the Danish media were present in the
courtroom but the case has also created interest in the U.S., and four
American journalists attended Friday's long - and sometimes rather
confusing - proceedings. The American media, otherwise accustomed to big
cases about financial crimes, listened carefully and took a lot of notes
about the Tvind group, which is considered one of the fastest growing
cult movements in the U.S.
The three Danish Tvind women wouldn't in any way comment the case, but
unlike their way of acting during the Tuesday's proceedings, when they
claimed that they were Robert Shapiro's American assistants, and when
they consequently replied in Danish-sounding English when addressed by
journalists, on Friday they choose to admit their Danish origin.
During one of the breaks, when the Danish vice prosecutor Poul Gade
spoke to Danish and American journalists, Kirsten Larsen was asked if
she wouldn't consider giving her version of the story.
"Our lawyer says that we mustn't say anything, so no", was her reply
in Danish.
The breaks were used for determining the tactic
The breaks were used for determining the tactic and for strengthening
both the mental and physical resources. The Amdi Petersen wing, which
consisted of seven people, gathered for instance during a lunch break in
the Roybal Cafe, where the formerly so secretive Tvind leaders sat down
with their green salad on black plastic plates and their CocaCola cans
while Robert Shapiro outlined the tactic.
Amdi Petersen's bail proceedings were not by far the only case in judge
Stephen Hillman's courtroom this Friday. While defenders and prosecutors
of the Amdi Petersen case gathered for meetings and went out to obtain
further information, judge Hillman had a number of other cases to deal
with.
All the other cases were about illegal immigration, drug crime and other
crimes against the American federation. The white-haired, pale Amdi
Petersen this Friday found himself in the prisoner's dock together with
Afro-Americans, Asiatics and Hispanics. Amdi Petersen was the only
Caucasian person in the party and moreover advised by one of the bigwigs
in the dazzling Californian legal society - Mr Robert Shapiro.
Even though Amdi Petersen's case of release on bail has been on trial
for four days now and been surrounded by much uncertainty, judge Hillman
didn't seem to be in any doubt when he finally reached his decision -
continued custody, no bail.
Requests from Robert Shapiro
After this clear decision the defeated Robert Shapiro asked to be
allowed to speak once more.
"Your Honour, we have two requests: Mr Petersen has not been able to
sleep more than seven hours the last five nights. He has been roused up
at two o'clock in the morning, and he has been moved around between a
number of different prisons. Mr Petersen is an elderly man of 63, who
suffers from gout and migraine. We request that he may be transferred to
the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC)."
After the protracted trial and the evident defeat on the Amdi Peterson
end, judge Hillman at this point thought it was about time to meet their
wishes. He said he would recommend that Mr Petersen was sent to MDC - at
least for a month's time.
MDC is a new prison in the city, and there the prisoners are detained in
cells for two persons and in some cases even in special "merciful"
cells
for physically weakened prisoners. It differs completely from the rough
conditions of Kern County Jail in Bakersfield situated 200 kilometer
outside Los Angeles. In the Kern County Jail, which has been the
accommodation of Amdi Petersen during the last three days, the prisoners
are locked up more or less 24 hours a day in cells for 32 persons - the
so called "dorms".
In these "dorms" even a minimum of privacy and peace is unthinkable.
That many prisoners in such a small place means that violence and
outrage is to be expected at all times.
Robert Shapiro had yet another request before the judge called the
proceedings off for the weekend.
That request was to grant Amdi Petersen access to up to 10 phone calls a
day at MDC - at his own expense of course. Shapiro brought forward that
this was a very special case, in which the accused party needed to be in
continuous contact with lawyers in the U.S. and in Denmark, and also
needed to communicate with the witnesses.
But here judge Hillman drew the line. He made it clear that in American
prisons you don't get advantages just because you have a lot of money,
and he approved of two phone calls a day - on call to Shapiro and one to
Amdi Petersen's lawyer in Denmark. "You will have to speak with the
supervisor at MDC about the practical matters," were his parting words.
Imprisonment in the U.S. is not for those of delicate disposition.
And then, at long last, the weekend was here.
jens.chr.hansen@jp.dk