The first six of the Filton 24 start their trial

After FIFTEEN MONTHS IN PRISON – without being convicted of any crime – the first six of the Filton 24 have begun their trial at Woolwich Crown Court. All were arrested after taking action inside the Elbit facility in August 2024.

The trial began on 17 November and is expected to last around 8 weeks, not including a 2-week break over the Christmas period.

Get trial updates

• RealMedia is posting detailed, daily updates from court on its website
• Our friends at Da’m – Defend and Mobilise – are sending out trial updates. Sign up for them here
• FreetheFilton24 website

Come and support them

Every Friday there will be supporters outside Woolwich Crown Court all day – come and join them!

NOTE: Supporters must NOT shout ‘Free the Filton 24’ or approach individual members of the public. Either action could result in criminal charges for influencing the jury and adversely affect the trial.

Weeks 1 & 2: The prosecution begins

The first week saw the prosecution open the case against the six, who are all charged with aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage. Samuel Corner is also charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

The court heard from three Elbit security guards who described the events of that night and their own actions in response to the intruders. By the time the defence barristers had finished questioning them, and going through the body worn camera footage, the court was getting a very different story to the one the guards had originally told. Read all about it on the RealMedia website (see ‘Day Five – The confused military security guards’).

This week on Monday several police officers gave evidence and were questioned - with more interesting results (catch up on RealMedia week 2). The court will not sit on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, during the judicial review of the Palestine Action ban. Friday will be one of the last days of the prosecution case.

So far, one of our favourite moments was when a security guard testified that Jordan Devlin explained their actions in Star Wars terms. 

The guard said, “He said I was the Empire and they are the Rebels”

This quote inspired @weaponised.apathy on Instagram to produce some great images.

Attending court from prison is brutal

All of our loved ones have been refused bail multiple times and the time of the trial is no exception. This means they have to attend from prison.

Lottie, Ellie, Fatema Zainab and Zoe are held in HMP Bronzefield, Surrey. They are woken at 5am and driven in a Serco prison van to court, taking 2.5 hours, often leaving and arriving late – meaning that the defendants are denied time with their lawyers before court. The journey back to Bronzefield can take as long as 5 hours, with the van stopping to collect other prisoners. The defendants can only have their evening meal when they get back to Bronzefield, often as late as 9pm, too late to be allowed to shower.

Sam and Jordan are held at the infamous HMP Belmarsh next door to Woolwich Crown Court and are taken to court each morning via an underground tunnel. Despite being only 200 yards away, both are also woken at 5am. Belmarsh is vile. They have been repeatedly strip-searched, X-rayed more than once a day, and denied vegetarian food, showers and phone calls to loved ones on the outside.

Hope for justice!

Despite all of this, they seem to be keeping their spirits up, and it’s been beautiful to see their brave faces in the dock every day. We hope and pray that as they share their motivation for taking action against Elbit Systems – to stop UK collusion in a genocide against the people of Palestine – the jury will be won over and find them innocent.

Join us on a Friday if you can!

With love and solidarity,

The Filton 24 family & friends

P.S Join our mailing list to stay informed about the ongoing trial, upcoming events, protests, and other ways to support the Filton24 here. This is our last update via our petition page. Future updates will be to our mailing list which you can join here.