Georgia attorney general indicts 61 'Stop Cop City' activists under RICO statute
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr obtained a 109-page RICO indictment in August 2023 against 61 people associated with opposition to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, citing protest activity, bail-fund organizing, and zine distribution as predicate acts. Civil liberties groups described it as the largest protest-related RICO case in U.S. history.
On August 29, 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced a 109-page racketeering indictment against 61 defendants associated with the 'Stop Cop City' movement opposing construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in the South River Forest. The indictment under Georgia's RICO Act treated the decentralized movement as a single enterprise and listed acts such as distributing flyers, occupying trees, organizing the Atlanta Solidarity Fund bail fund, and reimbursing protesters for camping supplies as overt acts. Three Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers had been arrested on money laundering and charity fraud charges in May 2023. The ACLU of Georgia, EFF, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press warned the prosecution chilled protected First Amendment activity. As of 2024, the case remained pending.