thessaloniki.htm

Following a lengthy hunger strike, and an international solidarity campaign, the Thessaloniki prisoners were released from prison, but were still facing serious charges until Friday 13th Feb 2004, when most of the charges were downgraded from felonies to misdemeanours. All charges against Simon Chapman have been dropped. However, the others are facing trial in early 2005, and even the "minor crime" charges they'll be tried for carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The following texts are included for background information.

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE FACING CHARGES?

They were part of a large international demonstration in Thessaloniki, Greece which had gathered to counter the EU summit, whose leaders met to draw up the latest infringements over and attacks upon the free movement of people through the EU's fortress walls. While many demonstrators were indiscriminately arrested over the course of the weekend, 8 demonstrators were singled out for additional brutality: attacked, beaten, threatened and having "evidence" planted on them.

The result was that all were kept in prison until released on bail following a hungerstrike. They number 3 Greeks, 1 Syrian, 2 Spaniards, and UK activist, Simon Chapman.

Three charges have been made against them: Riot, Resisting Authority and Possession of Explosives. This carries a sentence of between 7-25 years if found guilty.
The "evidence" presented by the Police to justify this is outrageous. For example, they claim that Simon carried a BLACK bag full of weaponry including a hammer, a pick axe and Molotov Cocktails on the demonstration. Yet we have images - taken while Simon was being attacked by Police -which prove that he was, instead, wearing a BLUE AND PURPLE bag. The Police actually deny the existence of his own bag, which mysteriously disappeared while Simon was being beaten by the cops. It has not been recovered. Furthermore, while Simon was nursing his head injuries, Greek TV unwittingly filmed the cops collecting weapons and placing them inside this "new" BLACK bag further up the street. They introduced this new bag, placing it by Simon, beating him until he accepted it.

MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS
The footage is now available to be viewed for viewing at http://italy.indymedia.org/uploads/simon.avi

DONATIONS
Donations to support the prisoners can be sent to BM Automatic, London WC1N 3XX, UK. If sending cheques, please make them payable to "ABC".
All those charged are facing between 7 years and 25 years imprisonment!

CHARGES UPDATE

All 8 who were refused bail have had their charges equalised so that all are charged on the same level as simon i.e. Riot, resisting authority and possession of explosives (apparently this might be the same as if they had grenades on them!). All 8 will be tried
together. The lawyer thinks this is a good thing.

EXTERNAL SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY

Greece will be holding the Olympics in 2004, it does not want to be seen as a country which holds political prisoners or at least people who demonstrate against the fact that the police has fitted people up. This might be our best form of attack if the Greek stateknows that we will focus on its embassies, tourist boards and other greek companies involved in the Olympics. This provides us with an opportunity to use all our experiences in actions and so on to throw as much mud at the image of the Greek state as possiblein relation to these fit ups.
It will be also good if a the pictures of Simon - one wearing a blue/purple bag and one with the fitted-up black bags can be made into a poster and a leaflet. We done this for the Prague prisoner support and it was effective in terms of handing them out at the tourist board or at airports by the Greek airlines. Also if people can research into any Olympic delegations visiting from Greece then that might be useful.

It may also be useful to organise petitions and letter writing to Greek embassies around the world.

Write or email letters of protest to the Greek Ambassador to the UK:

Greek Ambassador to the UK
Embassy of Greece
1A Holland Park
London, W11 3TP
Tel: 020 7229 3850
Fax: 020 7229 7221
Emails: political@greekembassy.org.uk
commercial@greekembassy.org.uk
pressoffice@greekembassy.org.uk

Take action
It is vital that we continue the actions of international solidarity that have started in other European cities. We need to mobilise ourselves and continue to take action in our demand that all charges against the prisoners are dropped.

Keep up to date with events
To receive regular email updates and for info on the forthcoming solidarity actions in the UK email: thessalonikiprisoners@yahoo.co.uk

LETTERS FROM INSIDE

I. Letter from Kastro (Suleiman Dakduk, Syrian political refugee and
activist living in Greece for the last 18 years)

Comrades and friends,

I send you and convey you the militant greetings of all the arrested in the demonstration against the Summit of the inhuman capital, the professionals of war and the responsible for the misery of many peoples.

Today, in Diavata prison there is a gentle breeze. Last days it was very hot. If one doesn't take a shower at least three times a day it is impossible to stand it, especially after the doors lock. In each cell 10 people are huddled, in 5 bunk beds. Fortunately, before some time, prisoners made a hunger strike and managed to be let have small fridges inside the cells.

They have split us in three floors. Fernando Perez and Tsitsas are on the first floor, in different cells, me and Carlos Martin are on the second floor, again in different cells, Simon from England is on the ground floor. He is the only one with whom we have no contact. I hear his name when the lawyer comes to visit and I would like to know how he is doing, because he was badly injured from the beatings. Two others were taken to another prison - I would like to learn their news also.

The four of us, without Simon, we communicate with difficulties. And I inform you that your solidarity, your support and the struggle you are doing for our freedom gives us strength and patience, because solidarity is stronger than their weapons, stronger than the violence, repression, prisons against any struggle, any resistance.

As for those who are not stating their support to the imprisoned fighters with various excuses, eg. that they (the prisoners) were in some blocs of the demonstration with which there is disagreement in the form of action and the way they function, or that we told this person to
come to our bloc and he didn't come etc, for myself I say that I was in one bloc that is the whole demonstration, and the arrested are arrested of the whole
demonstration. This moment we are locked inside as an example of intimidation for every militant who wants to resist. Solidarity and support, when it is only for our political-party-comrades, or only for those who agree with us, or only for those that are doing what we want, then they lose all their meaning and importance.*

In a period where war is legitimized and resistance is criminalized, where a demonstration is considered as guilt and felony, the movement has to choose: either resistance or compromise. And when within such a period, that the war of the powerful is legitimized with the slaughters, the miseries and the humiliations of the entire humankind, while resistance of the powerless is criminalized, the movement compromises with the logic of the powerful, then we can kiss everything goodbye (...)

Solidarity must be shown to all hostages of the state, to all victims of any dictatorial expression of inhuman regimes. To all those who resist, to all those who dare. To all those who are ready to die for a moment of freedom and dignity, than living a life of humiliation, oppression and slavery.

And as one passer-by from the history of struggle used to say: "When the Nazis arrested one Jew, I said I'm not Jew, I don't care. When they arrested the neighbor for being a communist, I said I am no communist, I don't care. Now that I am arrested, there is nobody to care for me". The good thing with this example is that all "militants" remember it in various discussions and concentrations. Probably they like it as a nice text, as a good writing piece.

So, today there is a gentle breeze and we manage to take a breath - the last ten days the cell was hot as an oven.

THE STRUGGLE DOESN'T STOP WITH PRISON, OPPRESSION, VIOLENCE, REPRESSION AND
DICTATORSHIP. THESE ARE REASONS FOR THE STRUGGLE TO BECOME STRONGER.

FREEDOM FOR ALL THE SOCIETY, FREEDOM FOR ALL THE WORLD

July 6, 2003
Diavata Prison,
Kastro

(transl.* Referance to the absence of solidarity by the majority of Left, or to the "selective solidarity" shown for him by leftists, who talk about Kastro's imprisonment and don't say anything about the other demonstrators arrested. )

II. Letter from Carlos Martin (CNT militant from Spain)

To the Assembly of Thessaloniki

Dear comrades,

Thanks to your persistence and willfulness, you give us hope to continue with firmness and dignity for the case of our imprisonment. A big salute to all you comrades and especially Celina, Antonia, our lawyer Haris, my father Juan Carlos, my brother Ignaki and my girlfriend Nerea, who are probably with you these days. I am sending you one more letter if you want to read it at the manifestations. It is not anything important, but if I don't manage to take something outside of me I will explode. In the beginning I thought
to tell you by the phone, but I am sending it with post. I don't know if it will come in time.

We know your interest in us and the international cooperation that is realized this moment. For all these, and for many more, I thank you.

Here, in prison, or to say it better in this floor, since you can't see anything else, time passes very -but very- slow, and the color of the walls and of the ceiling is grey, pale and everywhere the same. Often, I see Kastro who is in the same floor with me but in a different cell. With Fernando I communicate some times in the yard that is full of people and there is sun all day long. For the others I have no idea, they separated us and scattered us. It is the most they could do to hurt us and they did it.

It would be good for us if you fight not only to get us out of this hole, but also to get us out all together.

We eat two times a day, even if I force myself to eat, and only to prepare for the possibility of an indefinite hunger strike. This prison is full of immigrants, the majority is from Albania, Russia, Turkey. It is obvious from this example what the greek state is preparing for the immigrants. Until now, all I know and can tell to my comrades is that the more excluded are those who have the best attitude towards us. The first day, the guards have beaten Kastro, the moment he got in prison, because he refused to cut his
beard and his hair, while they were threatening him at the same time. Also, I know that none of us has received the things we asked for. Kastro hasn't got the money you sent him and many other things didn't reach their destination.

Without any other words, I send you my revolutionary greetings.

Carlos.

published on thessaloniki.indymedia.org, July 10.

Letter received from Simon Chapman from Thessaloniki's prison

Letter from Simon:

I am sitting in my cell - shared with 9 others (Greeks and Albanians). The other people arrested for the EU Summit are on the floor above so I only see them when the lawyers visit - as far as I know they are well, well as well as can be expected.

I'm not sure if people know what happened before/after my arrest so I'll quickly outline it here. The march set off in militant style and soon the air was filled with the sound of breaking glass. The first gas came in and in the crowd surge I lost sight of X. Me A and B continued on to a square where the gas started raining down - so far my goggles and half-face gas mask were working fine. The crowd surged again and I lost A and B, so I headed over to the rest of my affinity group. We ended up all squashed together with maybe 600 people, with clouds of gas coming from front and back, and my skin was starting to burn, my eyes were streaming. The crowd was all crushed together, people wailing for water for their eyes, pushing this way and that. Though I knew the safest place in that type of situation was in the middle of the crowd, I decided to go to the edge to see if I could see X, A & B. Then a huge cloud of gas enveloped me and I couldn't see a thing. So I'm at the edge choking, blind, on the edge of panic - a voice inside me is saying "be cool, be cool" and I kept it together. And then CRUNCH - everything went black and sparks of light shone in the darkness. At first I thought a badly aimed brick had hit me, but only a second later there was another bone-crunching blow to my head and I knew it was cops. I go to run but I'm already falling, scrabbling
along the wall through broken glass, still blinded by gas; as I move the batons are raining down, sometimes 3 or 4 hitting simultaneously across my body. I feel boots kicking me aswell. I thought I could crawl back to the crowd, but when I look up all I see is an empty smoky street and cop boots coming towards my face. BANG goes my goggles and glasses, and I realise I am in deep, deep shit. I try to get up but at that moment a hand comes down and pulls my cap and gas mask off and a final blow smacks me where my hair meets my forehead; I feel a splash of blood run down my face and everything goes black. I was only unconscious for a few seconds I think. I'm dragged to my feet, and boots and batons are still coming, mainly at my shoulders and legs. 5 cops have hold of me, dragging my rucksack off my back. They hold me and search it, then take me to the side of the road and sit me down. A cop comes up behind me and smacks me across the back with his baton, then kicks me at the base of the spine. This STILL hurts! My face is a sea of blood - I can feel it leaking from several places, running down my neck. C and D would have seen what happens next, the cops bringing the bags of molotovs to me. I can feel a fit-up coming on!

The next 2 hours are truly terrifying - I am cuffed with 2 bags of molotovs strapped to me. Some are leaking. The cops lead me into the road where rocks and molotovs are landing among us and present me to the rioters like I am a trophy. If one of these molotovs lands too close to me I would be a ball of flames faster than you could say "human rights". Over the next 2 hours I am beaten with batons, fists, a hammer; wacked across the head twice with a length of wood, headbutted, kicked, slapped and constantly exposed to teargas. I could hardly walk or breathe. The whole left side of my back was purple, yellow, black, blue and I was covered in cuts, bruises and lumps. So it was quite rough! I never thought I would be so glad to finally get stuffed - well kicked - in a cell where 10 other demonstrators were languishing! Oh thanks be to God -
I'm in jail! Safe from the psycho cops!

The rest of the story can wait, but I must say the solidarity of the prisoners kept me going. As far as I know, 5 of the 7 prisoners now on remand were in that cell with me, and we all supported each other. All things, food, water, cigarettes, phone cards - were held in common. I would not have kept my head together without them.

THANKS TO EVERYONE - GLOBAL SOLIDARITY - NO PRISONERS!
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