(en/es)_Animal cruelty on pig farms exposed - the investigators facing prison?

In 2009 a Finnish animal rights organization Oikeutta Eläimille (Justice for Animals) published an investigation into the pig industry. 30 pig farms were filmed and the videos and pictures were shown on national media. The investigation sparked a big debate about how pigs are kept in factory farms and about how we should treat animals.

Pictures of dying and suffering animals living in cramped and filthy conditions caused a public outrage, and many politicians and even the industry condemned the images.

Now, two years later, a court case is coming up in October 2011. However, the authorities did not charge any pig farmers for cruelty to animals. Instead accused are two investigators, who publicly admitted having filmed some of the material. Karry Hedberg and Saila Kivelä explained in 2009 why they felt it was necessary to get footage from Finnish pig factories. They said they felt it was the only way to get truthful video material of the every day life on pig farms.

http://www.sikatehtaat.fi/sikatehtaiden-kuvaajat
http://www.sikatehtaat.fi/sikatehtaiden-kuvaajat

Nothing was broken during the visits, all the doors were open, and according to the farmers they hadn't even noticed the visits until the investigation was published. Karry and Saila are charged with "aggravated defamation" of the pig farmers and "disturbing the peace."

The prosecutor is also asking actual prison sentence for Karry, and a suspended prison sentence for Saila. In addition, they want the activists to pay 180 000 euros compensation to the pig farmers.

As if this wasn't enough, they are also charging two Oikeutta Eläimille -activists for the aggravated defamation. The reason? There was a link to the sikatehtaat.fi webpage on the oikeuttaelaimille.net home page. And the prosecutor explains the reason. Oikeutta Eläimille has shared a link to a page which has video material that has been obtained illegally, and that is considered aggravated defamation of the pig farmers. By saying this, they fail to remember that every national newspaper and tv-channel had the link to the sikatehtaat-page on their sites too in 2009.

Can showing the truth and the reality of factory farms be criminal? And if so, how will people ever find out how animals are treated, and make choices accordingly? It remains to be seen whether the Finnish justice system thinks filming factory farms is a bigger crime than abusing animals. We will follow the new developments of the court proceedings on this page.

If you want to support the activists, please share this page and the video. You can contact us on info (at) oikeuttaelaimille.net

How to use the site:
If you want to see the videos from the 30 pig farms, go to Sikalat. There are videos of every single farm.

http://www.sikatehtaat.fi/sikalat

If you want to see pictures, go to Media. Scroll down and you find a gallery.
http://www.sikatehtaat.fi/media

If you want to see videos with the most common problems in pig farms, click on Taustaa, and you will find clips of injuries (vammat), dead pigs (kuolleet siat), hygiene (hygienia), living conditions (tila) and behavioural problems (käyttäytymishäiriöt).

--VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxItilxZfIU&feature=player_embedded

http://sikatehtaat.fi/english


Finlandia: juicio a dos activistas por grabar en una granja

Dos activistas por los derechos animales finlandeses, Karry Hedberg y Saila Kivelä, acusados de "difamación grave" y "alteración de la paz" tendrán que defenderse en el juicio que se celebrará mañana en Finlandia y evitar la pena de cárcel solicitada para ambos —además de una compensación económica de 180.000 euros —por un granjero de cerdos que trata de castigar a estos dos activistas que han reconocido públicamente haber grabado terribles escenas de animales agonizando en varias granjas.

En 2009 la organización de derechos animales Oikeutta Eläimille (Justicia para los Animales) publicó una investigación sobre la industria de explotación de cerdos. Treinta granjas de cerdos fueron filmadas y fotografiadas y las imágenes se difundieron en los medios de comunicación. La investigación dio lugar a un gran debate sobre los cerdos en las granjas y nuestra responsabilidad. Las imágenes de animales agonizando y sufriendo, viviendo entre excrementos causaron una gran conmoción en la sociedad y muchos políticos condenaron estos hechos. Ahora, dos años después, dos investigadores, Karry Hedberg y Saila Kivelä, que han reconocido públicamente haber grabado parte de las imágenes, se enfrentan a cargos con una posible pena de cárcel por supuestamente haber "difamado gravemente" al granjero mostrando las imágenes obtenidas en su granja y por "alterar la paz" al provocar un debate en la sociedad sobre ello.

Karry y Saila explicaron que consideraban necesario grabar en estas granjas para mostrar la realidad de la explotación animal y contrastarla con la falsa imagen difundida en los anuncios publicitarios de la industria porcina. Los activistas no rompieron nada durante sus visitas y ni siquiera forzaron las puertas que se encontraban abiertas.

Según reconocen los propios granjeros, ellos ni siquiera se habían percatado de que sus granjas habían sido visitadas hasta que la investigación vio la luz.

Puedes apoyar a los activistas difundiendo su video y el enlace a su página web: http://sikatehtaat.fi/english

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxItilxZfIU&feature=player_embedded

http://www.semilladeliberacion.com/index2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1319569856&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&