JUSTICE ON TRIAL - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal from bignoisetactical on Vimeo.
Estreou em 21 de setembro passado em dois locais diferentes na Filadélfia o documentário Justice on Trial (A Justiça em Julgamento), narrado pelo ex-colega de Mumia Abu-Jamal, Juan Gonzalez, do Democracy Now, e feito por Johanna Fernandez, que diz que o documentário oferece "uma versão alternativa do caso Mumia".
A professora de História da Universidade Baruch, disse à mídia local que ficou quatro anos trabalhando no filme, viajando pelo país realizando diversas entrevistas, inclusive com a irmã de Mumia.
Ela e Kouross Esmaeli, da Big Noise Films, tomaram a decisão de acelerar a produção deste documentário para "elevar a qualidade do diálogo sobre o caso". Seu documentário analisa as violações graves no caso de Abu-Jamal - parcialidade judicial, improbidade do Ministério Público, a discriminação racial na escolha do júri, a corrupção policial e manipulação de provas para uma condenação - o que não são exclusivas para este caso. Ao contrário, são amplamente praticadas no sistema de justiça estadunidense, e que explicam o encarceramento desproporcionado de afro-americanos e latinos nos Estados Unidos. O caso de Mumia Abu-Jamal é um microcosmo de problemas maiores no sistema de justiça nos Estados Unidos atualmente. O foco em muitas das violações fazem do caso Mumia Abu-Jamal um dos mais importantes episódios de direitos civis de nosso tempo.
Durante uma discussão após a estréia do documentário no National Constitution Center, Mumia falou por telefone ao público, provocando efusivos aplausos de todos os presentes. Ele mencionou as palavras do já falecido juiz Albert Sabo, que presidiu o seu julgamento em 1982 e uma audiência de apelação (do seu próprio veredicto) em 1995. No verão de 1995, Sabo disse no tribunal que “a justiça é apenas um sentimento emocional...”.
“Suas palavras me deixaram assombrado... E ele estava certo. A justiça não é uma realidade. É apenas uma palavra fácil de escrever, dispor, como “os direitos constitucionais” ou “o processo legal”... Em suma, a justiça não existia em seu tribunal”, contou Mumia.
Justice on Trial navigates the tempest of the Abu-Jamal trial by reviewing the known facts of the case. It demonstrates that the major violations in the Abu-Jamal case -- judicial bias, prosecutorial misconduct, racial discrimination in jury selection, police corruption and tampering with evidence to obtain a conviction-- are not special to this case. Instead, they are commonly practiced within the criminal justice system and account for the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos in the United States. The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is a microcosm of greater problems in the criminal justice system in the United States today. The attention that its many violations have received make the Abu-Jamal case one of the most important civil rights cases of our time.
About the Justice on Trial team
Director
Iranian-born Kouross Esmaeli has been a member of the Big Noise Films Collective since 2007. His international and domestic news dispatches and documentary work have appeared on MTV, Current TV, Al Jazeera and Democracy Now, among others. A board member of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association, his co-production of the documentary on Iraq for MTV's True Life won the RTNDA’s Edward L. Murrow Prize for Best Television Documentary in 2005. Kouross’ last production with Big Noise, Yo Soy el Army: America’s New Military Caste, details the heightened recruitment of Latinos by the U.S. military. It debuts next month. Kouross is currently finishing his doctorate in media studies at New York University.
Producer
Johanna Fernandez has a Ph.D. in history and teaches 20th-century America, the political economy of American cities and African-American history at Baruch College of the City University of New York. She has published in the Journal of Urban History, in Race and Reason, and in field-defining anthologies on the Civil Rights movement. Her book on the history of the radical Puerto Rican organization, the Young Lords, will be published in 2011. In Spring 2011, she will travel to Jordan as a Fulbright scholar where she will teach graduate courses in American history.
The broader message of this film was inspired, in part, by the intrepid reporting of Northwestern journalism students, who in the 1990s scrutinized the work of Chicago prosecutors and police, exposed the practice of tortured and coerced confessions that sent countless innocent and predominantly black men to death row unjustly, and led to a moratorium on executions in Illinois.
She believes that the problem of mass and wrongful incarceration is one of the gravest civil rights problems of our time.
Johanna Fernandez has a Ph.D. in history and teaches 20th-century America, the political economy of American cities and African-American history at Baruch College of the City University of New York. She has published in the Journal of Urban History, in Race and Reason, and in field-defining anthologies on the Civil Rights movement. Her book on the history of the radical Puerto Rican organization, the Young Lords, will be published in 2011. In Spring 2011, she will travel to Jordan as a Fulbright scholar where she will teach graduate courses in American history.
The broader message of this film was inspired, in part, by the intrepid reporting of Northwestern journalism students, who in the 1990s scrutinized the work of Chicago prosecutors and police, exposed the practice of tortured and coerced confessions that sent countless innocent and predominantly black men to death row unjustly, and led to a moratorium on executions in Illinois.
She believes that the problem of mass and wrongful incarceration is one of the gravest civil rights problems of our time.
Film Editor
Aljernon Tunsil has been editing documentaries for the past 15 years. Recently he edited several films for Firelight Media, which were presented on PBS as part of its American Experience series, they include: Freedom Riders,Wounded Knee (Episode 5 of the We Shall Remain series) and Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. In addition to his work on long format historical documentaries, Aljernon has edited numerous short format films and trailers. Aljernon was as the assistant editor on several Academy Award-nominated documentaries including The Smartest Guys In the Room: The Enron Story, Sound and Fury, and The Farm.
Aljernon Tunsil has been editing documentaries for the past 15 years. Recently he edited several films for Firelight Media, which were presented on PBS as part of its American Experience series, they include: Freedom Riders,Wounded Knee (Episode 5 of the We Shall Remain series) and Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. In addition to his work on long format historical documentaries, Aljernon has edited numerous short format films and trailers. Aljernon was as the assistant editor on several Academy Award-nominated documentaries including The Smartest Guys In the Room: The Enron Story, Sound and Fury, and The Farm.
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