Cert: 18 (CTBA)
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Tue 28 July // 19:30
Tickets: £10 (full) / £5.50 (concessions)
Operation Recomply, the name given to the counter-terror policing operation, is an independent documentary which follows the events surrounding the Filton 25 case: a group of British activists who entered an Elbit Systems facility in Filton, exposing Israeli drones being manufactured on British soil.
Told through the eyes of Filton 25's loved ones, the film documents their fight for justice as the state escalates its crackdown on the pro-Palestine movement. Family members not only lived with the constant fear of not knowing when — or if — their loved ones would return home, but also experienced violent house raids, including the arrest of a defendant’s mother by counter-terrorism police, during which she was held without any contact for a week.
Bail applications were repeatedly refused, while some defendants spent nearly two years imprisoned before trial — four times the usual six-month legal limit.
Now, the first defendants, who were convicted of criminal damage, have been sentenced as terrorists, even though they were not tried or convicted of any terrorism offences. This is a first in British legal history and allowed the judge to add years to the usual sentencing guidelines. A court order prevented the jury from being informed of this.