ATLANTA — Two civil liberties groups have teamed up in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI over records related to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Defending Rights & Dissent and Project South said in their lawsuit that the government failed to provide records on surveillance and investigations of protesters in connection with the site.
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The organizations said they have sought these records since February 2023.
“More than two years later, DHS has failed to respond entirely, while the FBI has repeatedly stonewalled and slow-walked the release of these documents in the public interest,” the lawsuit stated.
The groups said that people protesting the facility “have been branded as terrorists or extremists for opposing ‘Cop City.’ All too often we know federal agencies like the FBI or DHS play a role in facilitating these crackdowns.”
The DHS and FBI have 60 days to respond to the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed on May 9, the lawsuit said.
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Sixty-one defendants were indicted on state racketeering charges in 2023 in connection with the protests and the violence surrounding them.
Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer has severed the cases and will try them five at a time, with trials expected to start as soon as this month.
Protests escalated at the site after the 2023 shooting death of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita.
Paez Terán was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed the 26-year-old after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.
A family-commissioned autopsy concluded they were killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers’ use of force was “objectively reasonable.”
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