Getu then had to wait another month to meet with the judge assigned to his case, John Zottalo, to learn when he will be going to trial. At that meeting, on June 19, Getu learned that he will have to wait another six months — until December 12 — for trial, when he will be able to clear his name and resume his normal life.

In the meantime, Getu has begun looking for a job, an effort complicated by the charges against him.

While he waits, he has strong support from the Free Getu Coalition, composed of groups including Zi, the Thomas Merton Center, Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, Muslim Students Association, Pittsburgh Anti-War Coalition, Amnesty International, and United Electrical Workers (UE). The Coalition is led by Pete Shell and Saleh Waziruddin, both TMC board members.

Representatives of these and other groups joined Getu for a press conference on June 13 on the sidewalk opposite the Greyhound bus terminal. Among the speakers demanding justice for Getu were Pamela Jordan, Amnesty International; Tim Stevens, president of the Pittsburgh NAACP; Polly Halfkenny, National Lawyers Guild; Ken Miller, Industrial Workers of the World; Mary Zimmerle of Zi; Walter Shaahid, president of the Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh; Sanjulo Ber, Black Radical Congress; Father Jack O’Malley; Molly Rush of the Merton Center, and the Rev. Art McDonald, pastor of the Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church.

Coalition members demonstrated outside the County Court House on June 19, before Getu’s meeting with the judge, as they have demonstrated every time Getu appears for some court procedure.

After the sidewalk rally, members of group went inside the Court House to the office of District Attorney Stephen Zappala, where they gave a DA staff aide a package of 170 letters asking Zappala to drop the charges against Getu. The DA now has until December 12 to weigh that request, while Getu waits.