Aktionsdag for fængslet græsk aktivist

Thodoros Iliopoulos har været fængslet siden december-oprøret i Grækenland sidste år. I 8 måneder har han været indespærret i Athens Koridalos-fængsel, alene på basis af udokumenterede beskyldninger fra politiets side.

Thodoros blev fængslet under den store oprørsbølge, der fulgte i forbindelse med politiets nedskydnig  af den 15-årige Alexandros Grigoropoulos den 18. december 2008.


Thodoros Iliopoulos er nu på anden måned i sultestrejke for at protestere imod sin varetægtsfængsling. Den græske oprørsbevægelse kalder til global solidaritets - og aktionsdag for deres sultestrejkende kammerat, den 24. august 2009.

Thodoros blev anholdt den 18. december 2008 i forbindelse med de store protester mod politiets nedskydning af den 15-årige Alexandros Grigoropoulos. (1)

Politiets anklagemyndighed beskylder Thodoris for at have kastet sten og molotov-cocktails mod dem. Han har lige fra starten afvist denne beskyldning, som politiet indtil nu ikke har fremført nogen som helst beviser for. I juli i år blev hans varetægtsfængsling forlænget på ny. Derpå gik Thodoros i sultestrejke.

Foruden Thodoros er to andre fanger fra december-oprøret stadig væk i fængsel. De har ligeledes været fængslet siden december 2008. Anklagen lyder på tyveri af en laptop fra en af de mange smadrede forretninger. En af dem, Nikos Tsouvalakis har tilsluttet sig sin kammerats sultestrejke. Også flere sociale fanger fra Koridalos-fængslet i Athen har tilsluttet sig sultestrejken for at kræve Thodoros Iliopoulos løsladt.

Thodoros Iliopoulos er idag alvorligt svækket og hans situation er blevet livstruende. Hans advokat Marouska Spiraki blev i sidste uge anholdt, da hun sprayede en solidaritetsparole samt klisterde solidaritetsplakater for hendes sultestrejkende klient op på fængselsmuren i Athen.

  • Der findes en international PETITION til det græske justitsministerium med krav om omgående løsladelse af  Thodoros Iliopoulos  ( se nederst i artiklen).


__________________________________

Et interview med Thodoros Iliopoulos (15. august 2009):

( The interview that follows was conducted by Ntina Daskalopoulou and published in Athens daily 15.august 2009).


After 36 days on hunger strike, Thodoros' words are crystal clear. In his face, the State has found an enemy to unleash all its revanchist rage, some rage in reality directed against an ever-growing current of disobedience, resistance and solidarity. As long as there are people like Thodoros standing up to the wrath of the State, the next December will always be close. In the struggle against their order, Thodoros is not alone.

  • The state prosecutes you for legal offenses, felonies and misdemeanors, and considers you so dangerous that will not release you under restrictive terms. How do you feel about this?

Thodoros Iliopoulos: From December 18 I found myself being a protagonist in this theatre of the absurd. They arrested me together with others en mass, as I was walking down Akadimias Street with some friends. Five riot police units surrounded around ten of us. I started running and two of them caught up with me, they threw me on the pavement and started kicking me in the head, screaming "now you'll see what will happen to you".

- I had no idea what would happen to me. Finally, what happened was that I found myself charged with three felonies. According to the inquisitor, at the moment of my arrest I was outside the Law School throwing molotov cocktails. The only witness account existing of this is that of the two riot police who arrested me.

When the inquisitor asked them if they would recognise me on the street and they responded positively, she put up her finger, showed me and said, "is it him?" She exposed me herself! Of course, the riot police... recognised me.

- From that point on they won't release me because in reality they need me as hostage. From the arrested only a few took a stance for December. I'm not saying they were obliged to. I took a stance and I am faced with the State's reprisal.

  • Læs hele interviewet her

(geronimo/autonom infoservice)

 _____________________________________

(1) Se også vores artikler på indymedia.dk:

 
Links
* Anholdelse af forsvareren Marouska Spiraki, hos indymedia.athens

* Article about Thodoris & Greek Riots ("The Palestine Telegraph", 16. August 2009): 
* Greek Site for Thodoros Iliopoulos


PETITION

Ministry of justice, Athens
For the release of Thodoris Iliopoulos


 Thodoris Iliopoulos was arrested on the 18th of December 2008 in Academia Street in Athens after a blind hit of the police special-forces, according to witnesses and journalists who were on the spot. 
He has been held in custody since the 22nd of December in Korydallos remand prisons being charged for 3 crimes and 2 misdemeanors. The charges are based exclusively on the testimonies of two special-forces policemen. Thodoris has been denying all charges from the very beginning and he has been protesting for his innocence by writing letters and giving interviews to the media.

All his requests for being released are rejected so far. On the 8th of July the Magistrates' Council ordered the continuation of his custody for 6 months by adding arbitrarily more incriminating evidence in the original indictment, while all the other people who have been in custody, charged with similar or other accusations for the December events, have been released. After all legal procedures for his release have been rejected he started a hunger strike in prison on Friday, the 10th of July.
________________
"I am going on a hunger strike. This is the only means I was left with as a prisoner in order to protest for the truth and denounce the enormous injustice, the hate and the empathy of the mechanisms of the ‘criminal law', the arbitrariness and the violence of a blind ‘justice' and of its servants who are even more ‘blind'".  ( Thodoris Iliopoulos)

 
For this reason, we, the people who sign this text, demand the direct release of Thodoris Iliopoulos so that there will be an end to this outrageous injustice against him. 
Thodoris Iliopoulos must be released now!
Sincerely

_________________________