Lancelot Armstrong
Jamaican On Death Row, Florida
Denied his consular rights under the
Vienna convention
by Florida Officials as a Jamaican national
MESSAGE TO FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF LANCELOT :
Vejen, 28.11.02
Dear friends of Lancelot Armstrong.
It has been a while, since I adressed all of you in a common roundletter.
As life is a constant struggle, the waves of change kept bashing against
my existence including my family. I am no more working as a volunteer
against HIV/Aids in Africa, but started about 4 months ago to work as
a
butcher (unlearned) in a big company. I am now cutting oxen and calves
and getting the bones out of the meat.
But let’s not get lost in talking about me. This whole thing is about
Lance.
I do not know, how much he is communicating with each one of you, and
what of the following you already know. However, I will give you a short
overview of the current situation:
1) Lance has got an attorney! It is Mr David P. Rowe,
he is not yet his
regular assigned attorney! I talked to him on the phone a few days ago.
He told me, that he was asked by the Jamaican government to take up
Lance’s case. Now it seems, that the Jamaican government does not
posses the necessary funds to also pay him. He has been working on
Lance’s case already voluntarily for about 2000 U.S.D.; which
is an
outstanding thing to do! God bless him. He promised me to send some
information about the latest development by snailmail, I will keep you
all
informed on the situation.
2) The urge of time is growing steadily. To
my knowledge, Lancelot has
been on death row almost 13 years by now. Statistically people on the
row
get killed after 7 years. Mumia Abu Jamal has been over 20 years incarcerated,
and his situation only changed, because of a strong organisation backing
him
up and thousands of active supporters worldwide. How many are we? A handful?
How many of us are active in campaining and collecting money for Lancelot?
I do not know, but it is not enough right now!
The point is: We need money now, and
all we can get.
3) We need to get more people involved. The pastor
in my local church, he
is also a journalist for a christian weekly newspaper. I am working on
translating
my report from the visitation of Lancelot in september 2000 into danish.
When I
am fast enough (danish sucks!), we can have a big article in next weeks
paper
with photo and everything. It might also be possible, to make it a weekly
colummn,
maybe with letters from Lance. I haven’t asked the pastor about it yet.
4) The European Union states clearly in its constitution,
to work towards a
global abolition of capital punishment. It also has a paragraph ( i cannot
recite it
exactly, right now) where it preserves itself the right to intervene
on a diplomatic
level, when a state want to execute a foreign person. This plays into our hands,
since Lancelot is a Jamaican citizien. So I am preparing in the
near future to
contact at least the danish and german member in charge in the european
parliament.
Possible other states could be Britain, Italy and Spain, but that would
take an amount
of extra work, I do not know at the moment how to cope with. If you have
friends in any
European country, please, please let me know, so I will prepare a letter
to their member
of parliament they only have to sign and send.
All right, to sum it shortly up, we can say that: Lance has a lawyer
(smile), time is
running out, we need more publicity, we need more ”important” people
to know, we
need money!!!!!
And on the last issue, the money, I have a few more words to say. Mr
Rowe made
a very ”down to earth” impression on me on the phone. I do not know what
Lance
thinks of him and what experiences he had, but I think, we can be very
glad for him.
I can clearly remember how Lance complained about the former lawyers,
but now
he even writes to send money direct to the attorney. Mr Rowe said, the
whole
procedure of defending Lance would consume about 15.000 U.S.D., which
is not
an impossible amount to reach, depending on how far one’s willing to go
for it.
An urgent need now, however, comes to 3000 U.S.D. This would keep the
steam
on it, I would say. See, there are possibilities. If you like to go to
the cinema, or
to the hair dresser, or you have a hobby that costs money - leave it,
don’t do it,
at least for once. Save the money, turn it into a U.S.Dollar cheque and
send it to
Mr. Rowe/Attention Lancelot Armstrong. I mean, honestly, this is
not about
entertainment, fashion or whatever self satisfaction. This is about saving
our
brother from a most cruel death. And, how he himself writes, ”nothing
is too
small or too large”, every cent will sum up! I greet you all
from the depths of
my heart. May the Lord God keep you and preserve you and let his peace
and
love grow in you.
Jan Naumann
Plantagevej 23, 1. th
6600 Vejen
Denmark
Phone: (0045) 75555852
Email: jannaumann@softhome.net
Legal Defense Fund for Lancelot
Contributions
can now be sent to his lawyer:
David P. Rowe, LLB, J.D.
Lance Armstrong Defense Fund
18800 N.W. 2nd Ave.
Suite 105 A
Miami, Florida
33169 USA
As you may know, spending money must be sent
via money order and a special form to :
Financial Service Center,
Centerville Station,
Call Box # 12100,
Tallahassee, FL
32317-2100 USA
Lancelot Armstrong
is a Jamaican national, a Christian ( Seventh Day Adventist ),
and the father of two children.
He is also an accomplished artist and his beautiful handmade
greeting cards are available for sale (See links above . . . )
He
welcomes all letters and correspondences at the address below
Mr. Lancelot Armstrong 693504
P61205 Union Correctional Institution
7819 N.W. 228th St.
Raiford, FL 32026
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This page was
last updated December 11, 2002
Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty
This page is maintained and
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