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It’s been a long legal slog for Zoe Buhler, but the Australian woman has finally won a free speech victory in court. Still, the two-year court grind proves that the process is ultimately the punishment.
Buhler made headlines around the world in 2020, when she was arrested by three police, pregnant, in her pyjamas, and crying, in her own home in front of her family. The Ballarat, Victoria, woman’s “crime”? A social media post that police claimed “incited others to breach the state’s stay at home orders”.
After two long years, all charges have finally been dropped.
In the Ballarat Magistrates Court this morning, police prosecution applied to have the charge struck out, which was approved by Magistrate Mark Stratmann.
In a statement, Victoria Police said they withdrew the single charge following an assessment of the case, determining it was “not in the public interest to continue with the prosecution”.
Ms Buhler, now 30 years old, said she was relieved but had “no regrets” outside the court this morning.
“I think it’s disgusting our rights and freedoms were taken away. I’ve pretty much felt that way the whole time,” Ms Buhler said.
“I’ll be considering my options going forward, especially with regards to being handcuffed while pregnant.”
ABC Australia
“In the end justice will be served where it is needed. It’s important to stand up for what is right,” Ms Buhler said.
“I guess my message for Dan Andrews would be, I hope one day you’ll have your day in court.”
But should it have ever come to this? Buhler became one of the human faces of the World’s Longest Lockdowns. To her credit, she decided to stand up to Dan Andrews’ bully boys.
A pregnant Ballarat mum is set to challenge whether police legally searched her home when she was arrested in her pyjamas for allegedly inciting others to protest Victoria’s lockdown […]
Her lawyer Hugo Moodie told the court there were several key issues he would argue […] the first was whether the police search of her home was legal […]
Mr Moodie also told the court his client wanted to get her phone back from police who had it since she was initially arrested.
News.com.au
Lawyers don’t come cheap, though. For a working-class family from rural Ballarat, Big Tech made sure that fighting for their Mum’s rights was all the harder.
Ms Buhler told reporters she didn’t “have a lot of money” and might “try a GoFundMe to try and get a decent lawyer” to fight the charge.
Later, her brother started a GoFundMe to raise money for her cause […]
However, within hours of being created, the crowdfunding page was taken down.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe told 7NEWS.com.au it was taken down by the organiser, with no reason given.
It had raised more than $8,600.
Under the platform’s terms and conditions, people are allowed to raise money for legal fees with some exceptions that the incitement fee would not appear to fall under.
7News
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the whole point was to make the process the punishment. Clearly, the charges were flimsy enough that they simply dropped once it went to court. But, how many people have the resources — financial and psychological — to grind through two years of legal punishment, just to fight what should have never happened in the first place?
