Greece: Yet another anarchist refuses to appear before the public interrogator to testify for the “Revolutionary Struggle” case

translation from the anarchist blog Resalto.

Following Katerina and Lida Sofianou, E. Vlachou is the third comrade who refuses to appear before the public interrogator who called her to testify as a “witness” for the “Revolutionary Struggle case”.

So far, at least 24 people have been called for such “witness statements”, who are either comrades, friends or relatives of the accused for participating in Revolutionary Struggle – or even, because of unbelievable inklings, such as a finger-print in a book or a communique in one of the houses of the arrested. This is clearly a widening of the capacities of the repressive manipulative tactics, with post-civil war-type invitations: “we require you to attend regarding a case of yours”.

The stance of the three comrades shows the capacity, both at present and in the future, for richer and more collective refusals against the crystal-clear intention-attempt of the state to criminalise political, personal or family relations and the anarchist/ anti-authoritarian movement as a whole. Following the path of the struggle for social and personal emancipation, with jumps out of the society-prison, it continues even inside the state chambers, it does not converse with the executioners of life and envisions a world that is free, without exploitation or submission.

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/

Greece: Anarchist Nikos Maziotis ends hunger strike, demands won

From Occupied London:

Nikos Maziotis and Pola Roupa are two of the anarchists imprisoned in relation the Revolutionary Struggle case. As we published earlier, Nikos had gone on hunger strike, demanding access to the hospital where Pola Roupa would be giving birth and also, access to visits to her and their son at the female wing of Korydalos prison in Athens.

Today’s news from Athens IMC:

The hunger strike by Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas ended a few hours ago, along with the abstaining from meals by approximately 90 prisoners across the country; they were abstaining in support of the demand of Nikos Maziotis to visit his newly-born child.

Nikos Maziotis was transferred this morning to the Alexandra hospital in Athens and visited his comrade and partner Pola Roupa, who gave birth to their son yesterday with good care and without the presence of the anti-terrorist unit at any stage of the procedure. It is almost certain that Nikos’ second demand, to be visiting Pola in Korydalos prison, will also be met.

Greece: Excerpts from Pola Roupa’s July 9 letter

From Lxs Niñxs Salvajes translated This Is Our Job.

Note from TIOJ: For background on this story, see Nikos Maziotis’ letter from Korydallos Prison. Maziotis is Roupa’s partner, as well as the father of her child.

“Since my political opponents know that no ‘special’ treatment or pressure will break me, their vengeance is being directed at my unborn son, who is suffering the consequences of that ‘special’ treatment by the repressive mechanisms, and who is now a political prisoner.”

She goes on to condemn her frequent, intentionally delayed transfers between prison and hospital—which take place while she is handcuffed and heavily guarded—as well as her total isolation in cells and hospital rooms.

“A key issue for me is that, due to these ‘special’ security measures, my son’s health and life is endangered each time they transfer me to the hospital.

“Every hospital examination has been conducted under the supervision of abusive police officers, and without any semblance of medical confidentiality. The police at the hospital know all the details of my medical history.

“I am guarded during every exam and every discussion with my doctors and nurses, which flagrantly interferes with their work, but they are considered another possible ‘threat’ to security.”

Pola here recalls the experience of her comrade Simos Seisidis, who was harassed to such a degree by the police that he was even kept under heavy guard during the surgery to amputate his leg.

“Despite the regime’s attempts to politically discredit Revolutionary Struggle and its activities, our organization is winning the acceptance of a large segment of society, which has ultimately chosen practical rupture and violent conflict with representative democracy, capitalism, and the market economy.

“In these hostile, vengeful conditions, any turn for the worse in my pregnancy or any new threat to the life of my son would constitute a brazen political assassination attempt by [Citizen Protection Minister] Chrysohoidis himself, which means that my unborn son is a prisoner of war.

“However, blame also lies with the politicians and businessmen, [Prime Minister] Papandreou, and the entire government.”

Greece: Statement from the Revolutionary Struggle 3

Translated by This Is Our Job

From Liberación Total (June 17, 2010):

On April 10, 2010, the Anti-terrorist Department of the Greek Police arrested six people in Athens: Nikos Maziotis, Panagiota “Pola” Roupa, Kostas Gournas, Vaggelis Stathopoulos, Sarandos Nikitopoulos, and Christoforos Kortesis. All were known for their long presence in the anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement. Two weeks later, Maziotis, Roupa, and Gournas admitted to participating in the organization known as Revolutionary Struggle (Epanastatikos Agonas). Stathopoulos, Nikitopoulos, and Kortesis denied the charges and stated that they were being persecuted for their years of anarchist activity and their comradely political relationships with the others.

Greece: A letter from Christoforos Kortesis, an imprisoned comrade

On Thursday, 3 of the 6 imprisoned anarchists claimed “political responsibility” for participation in “Revolutionary Struggle,” and identified the fallen comrade Lambros Fountas as also having been a participant.  The letter that follows was written in the prison of Corinth by Christoforos Kortesis (one of the 6):

Greece: Updates on the 6 and solidarity with Marios Zervas

Friday: All 6 anarchists that have been arrested as alleged members of the “Revolutionay Sruggle” are now imprisoned (held in pretrial detention). The last two appeared before the prosecutor today. The police “bring to light revealing evidence”  non-stop  (which then prove to be either baseless or manufactured), the media steadily present the case in an action-film way, and society seems hypnotised. So let’s see if the IMF will… wake them up for good!

Thursday: More than 4,000 people demonstrate now in Athens in solidarity with Marios Zervas who was arrested without any reason one month ago during the big strike and he still in jail since then, without a trial. Marios was arrested and accused without any evidence during the demonstration of the strikers. Marios has…dreadlocks which looked very suspicious to the riot cops who decided to arrest him out of the blue and accuse him for rioting, while there is no other evidence apart from the cops’ testimony.

Thursday: Last night, during the evening news, 70 anarchists occupied the TV station ‘Creta TV’ in Heraclion, Crete. Actions of solidarity spread across the country. Yesterday anarchists occupied a local newspaper in Volos, Central Greece. The photo above reads ‘The police talks to you through the TV. Scums, Snitches, Journalists. Your hands off our comrades’.  At the time of writing the post, comrades have occupied the offices of the ruling party (PASOK) in Heraclion. The photo above reads ‘State-Capital-Media are the terrorists, not the fighters and the revolutinaries’.  Also, in Thessaloniki a banner has been placed, reading ‘The state is the only terrorist. Freedom to the 6′

Meanwhile, the corporate press reports explosives were found in the militants’ hideout:

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek police found 195 kg (429 lb) of explosives on Saturday at the hideout of a suspected member of the country’s most militant guerrilla group, Revolutionary Struggle, who was detained earlier this week.

Police said they had found the stash of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in a garage registered to a name found on a false identification card seized in raids last week that led to the arrest of six suspected members of the group.

“It is a quite big quantity,” police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis told Reuters. “It could have brought down a 6-storey apartment block.”

Police said the explosive was the same type used in a bomb claimed by Revolutionary Struggle that seriously damaged the Athens Stock Exchange last year.

Prosecutors have charged the six with participating in bomb attacks, participating in a terrorist group, attempted murder, and other crimes. The accused have denied any wrongdoing.

Greece: Reactions to the arrest of the 6 anarchists, and other updates

Journalist Union headquarters in Athens occupied by anarchists, as “police evidence” are proved to be utter lies.

On Tuesday noon 200 anarchists moved into the high-rise headquarters of the Journalists’ Union in down-town Athens and after allowing all workers to exit the building declared it occupied, dropping a banner on its front in solidarity to the 6 arrested anarchists accused by the police as members of the urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle. The anarchist held the building for several hours before forming a demo and marching to Exarcheia.

Read more.

Related items on the arrests in Greece:

• “Response to my targeting by the police and the media”, by 60 year old antiauthoritarian in Athens

• Greek police madness: boys with easter firecrackers arrested as Nuclei of Fire guerrillas

• 3 to be kept in pretrial detention; the other 3 to appear before the prosecutor tomorrow

Greece: Charges against the 6, other updates

Update 14:40 (local time): According to the media the 6 arrestees are charged with 4 felonies (participation in terrorist organization, attempted homicides in common, supplying, manufacturing and possessing incendiary materials/bombs in common, explosion in common and attempt to provoke explosion)  and 4 misdemeanors (distinct damage due to explosion, illegal possession and use of guns) related to the organization “Revolutionary Struggle”, on actions dating back to 2003.

See also: (all this in the past day)

#241 | 70 people detained in Athens

#239 | Nikos Maziotis’ statement to court 11 years ago (Nikos is one of the six anarchists arrested on Saturday in Athens)

#238 | Latest statement from the Occupied Polytechnic

#237| Update on the 6

Update from Greece: All 6 Arrested Persons are Anarchists

from Occupied London:

UPDATE 23:20 GMT+2 Despite the time, more that 300 people gathered chanting solidarity and anti-police slogans in front of the house of a comrade while the police was raiding it searching for ‘evidence’, in the Athens’ down-town quarter of Kypseli.

——

Information ‘leaked’ from the police suggest that the so called ‘Anti-Terrorist units’ are searching for ten more people to arrest.

At this moment (20:15 GMT+2) more than 500 people are holding an open assembly in the occupied Athens’ Polytechnic and they are deciding about the immediate solidarity actions.
Earlier during the day two solidarity gatherings took place outside two of the raided houses in Exarcheia and in Petralona, Athens, while the police was in ’searching for evidence’, minor clashes with the riot police took place in front of the two sites…

….Today, the news about the arrest of these people and the raids of their houses by the police dominate a great proportion of the Greek media…today, Sunday evening, the Greek government agreed to take a loan from IMF.

New wave of “terror” arrests in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (April 11) — Greek police said Sunday they were hot on the trails of a homegrown terror network operating with impunity as part of a new vintage of far-left extremists borne from the breakup of Greece’s most deadly urban guerilla group, November 17, eight years ago.

Senior police officials and counter-terrorism experts contacted Sunday said at least six terror suspects, including a young woman, had been detained during a spree of raids launched over the weekend as part of the biggest anti-terror crackdown in recent years.

“We are very close to unraveling this band of criminals [who have] terror links,” said police spokesman Athanasios Kokalakis. “The investigation is ongoing.”

All suspects, held at the country’s national police headquarters in central Athens, have refused to divulge details of their alleged terror links. Scores of state prosecutors, however, have been called in, reviewing documents and evidence collected during the raids to establish grounds for the suspects’ arrest.