For Mutual Aid & Solidarity
On 24.02.22, anarchists in Glasgow dropped a banner in solidarity with the 3 comrades who were arrested in Greece on 08/02, and are now being charged under the anti-terrorism law for the constitution of the armed group “Organisation Anarchist Action” following an attack on the Foundation for National and Religious Reflection (IETF).
POWER TO THE 3 ARRESTED COMRADES IN GREECE – KEEP THE FIRES BURNING
On October 29th, 2018 two anarchist comrades from Madrid were arrested accused of a fire sabotage to a Bankia ATM on April 13th of the same year. They have recently received the news that their trial has been dated for April 7, 2022.
The Prosecutor’s Office together with Bankia and Mapfre (the bank’s insurer) are asking for 3 years for Damages and 17,000 euros in Civil Liability. In the police statement, the fact is related to a statement uploaded to counterinformation websites in which the action was vindicated in solidarity with Lisa, sentenced to 7 years (now in third degree) for a bank robbery in Aachen (Germany). They also say that the comrades are recognized anarchists, mentioning identifications at rallies, poster-attachments or arrests in evictions. All this rhetoric is used to justify the ideological aggravant since the comrades, being anarchists, hate the banks, and Bankia in this case would be a victim of this “ideological hatred”. Continue reading “Spain: Solidarity with the repressed comrades, accused of burning a Bankia ATM EN/ES”
Letter of Panos Kalaitzis
On Tuesday 08/02 at 19.00 I was arrested by the anti-terrorist squad outside my comrade’s house in Ano Polis. The reason for my indictment was the arrest that same morning of Thanos Xatziagkelou and Georgia Voulgari accused of placing an incendiary device in the Foundation for National and Religious Reflection. I was taken to the General Police Directorate of Thessaloniki, where hours later I was informed of my arrest on felony charges and membership of the Anarchist Action organization. I remained in custody for two days in the basements of the GADTH, on Friday 11/02 I passed through the interrogator and the prosecutor where I was notified of my pre-trial detention.
Being now in the throes of a comic process that is taking place against me, I declare myself unequivocally and categorically innocent of all the charges against me. I am currently in custody without a shred of evidence linking me to any participation in the charges against me, without a single mention of my name in the statements of the anti-terrorist police in connection with the activities of the organisation. The only attempted connection is through the house I rented next to the shop I ran with my associates as well as next to my comrade’s house (where I actually lived), which I reserved as a quarantine and recovery space from covid-19.
I am making an effort to stand up to this conspiracy that has been set up to deprive me of my freedom. I am trying to keep my mind alert and clear so that I can resist this injustice that wants to strangle me. I am trying to stand up to this arbitrariness that sees my life as a pawn on an invisible chessboard.
Against those who take human relationships and use them as they want and as it suits them to compose whatever puzzle they design.
I’m going to make it.
Solidarity to my friend, colleague and comrade Thanos Hatziangelou and to comrade Georgia whom I met a few days ago in the basements of the ΓΑΔΘ (Thessaloniki Police HQ cells)
Panos Kalaitzis
Korydallos Prison
15/02/2022
————-
Source: athens.indymedia.
Via & Translated by Act for freedom now!
When the state of exception is legitimized around you, then you stand up, you take deep breaths because they are even timing the air, to go on to the end. Until victory.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday 8/2, armed forces of the SWAT (EKAM) and anti-terrorist squads storm a house at 12 Alkinoou Street in the Upper City (Άνω Πόλη) and arrest us. This was preceded by the arson of the IETP (Foundation for National and Religious Reflection), an action for which we have not abdicated responsibility from the first moment to the extent that each of us is responsible. With hoods on our faces and chains on our hands we were kept for 28 hours in isolation in the offices of the anti-terrorist police and then we met the first comradely glances in the courts. Chained between people with no faces, with our heads held high and smiles brimming with pride for what we are, for what they are persecuting us for.
The regime of exclusion has continued inside the detention cells of the ΓΑΔΘ (Thessaloniki Police HQ ) , where every time we have attempted to intervene in the public sphere of movement we find ourselves locked in our cells, a condition that the anti-terrorist police have tried to dress up under arbitrary orders for general detention of all. A condition that must be cut at the root, as our accounts with the hooded anti-terrorist squads are our own. War has rules and an act of revolutionary violence is part of our war. However, we must from now on highlight the entire moves of the anti-terrorist police who, when they attempt to crush people and ideas, frantically look for three people to uphold and set up the criminal case of Article 187A, which deals with the establishment of a terrorist organisation. We are taking our own firm steps at the same time as the anti-terrorist police are rushing ahead in delirious optimism. On the morning of Monday 14/2, the launch of the mandatory DNA collection began, with comrade Thanos being the first to undergo this humiliating condition. Continue reading “Thessaloniki, Greece: Text of the two hostages comrades from the Thessaloniki Police HQ cells”
With this communiqué we want to inform about the current legal situation that continues to prevent the release of our anarchist comrade, despite the fact that 2 years have passed since his arrest (we remember illegal). It is evident the will of the executioners in robes to continue kidnapping Gabriel. With any means that their (almost) unlimited powers allow them, they abuse demonstrating their will to continue turning time into a weapon.
The sadness of the legal message (which we use in a synthetic and cold way) becomes strength knowing that our comrade is in very good health and spirits, despite this situation, and despite the discriminatory treatment he has been suffering for months after having refused the anti-Covid “vaccine” (he is not allowed to have vis-a-vis and can only receive visits by telephone). As always, he is investing his time (in his hands, as in ours, time can also become a weapon) reading books, receiving and writing letters, dedicating himself to translations and physical exercises and to freedom projects that we hope will materialize as soon as possible. The communication interception has been retroactively annulled (before last summer the Provincial Court, with a firm sentence, established the “non-dangerousness of the inmate”). In response, the prison took revenge by denying the second permit for “belonging to armed gangs” (the appeal has been dismissed with the excuse of the “remoteness of the date of compliance” -November 2030-, without going into the matter of the unjustified and false accusation of “armed gangs”… note the plural! Until this date of compliance is not modified, it is not possible to ask for another permit – the answer of the supreme court regarding the possibility of recasting to 20 years should have arrived last autumn, but the solicitor responsible for the processing of the appeal did not process it, making us lose 6 months (legal sewers of state part 1). The same court reinstated the appeal and we had to wait another 5 or 6 months at least. Continue reading “Spain: Legal developments since last public statement on Gabriel Pomba Da Silva (April 2021)”
Three anarchist comrades have been arrested in a large repressive operation by the anti-terrorist unit in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. Four houses were raided, the cops are claiming that they found at the addresses, a significant amount of materials to create explosives, pistols, ammunition, fake police and ambulance uniforms, ID’s, a transceiver and a manual for information on the creation of incendiary explosive devices entitled ‘Manual for Direct Action’.
The comrades are accused for the formation and membership of ‘Anarchist Action Organization‘, regarding acts that took place in Thessaloniki, at least since 2016, as well as for ‘terrorist acts’: Explosion, jointly using explosives, the manafacture, supply and possession, jointly, of explosives, including being accused of endangering human life. Other charges include arson, possession of guns and damage to property.
The raid on the houses was initially to investigate the incendiary explosive attack upon the ‘Foundation for National and Religous Reflection’ in Thessaloniki, that occured in the early hours of yesterday.
The three comrades have already passed in front of the prosecuter in Thessaloniki & will be detained awaiting trial.
We will post more info as we receive it.
Solidarity & Complicity with the 3 anarchist comrades arrested in Thessaloniki!
Let us not leave them on their own, not just in word but also in deed!
Anarchists of the Dark Nights & 325 Collectives
Update: From comrades of Tameio/Solidarity Fund for Imprisoned, Persecuted Revolutionaries of Thessaloniki
At dawn on Tuesday 8/2, two people were arrested after an operation by the anti-terrorist police, due to the placement of an explosive – incendiary device at the entrance of the “Foundation for National and Religious Reflection” at 37 Mouson Street in Thessaloniki, according to the media. Later in the afternoon another person is brought in, which turns into an arrest. On Wednesday 9/2 the arrested comrades were passed by a public prosecutor and a criminal case was filed against them, which attributes them to the formation and membership of the organization “Anarchist Action”. The charges against them are: joint explosion, manufacture, supply and possession of explosives and bombs that can cause danger to people, arson, manufacture, supply and possession of pistols, as well as explosives and explosive devices in order to supply organizations and groups and damage to foreign property using explosives. In the morning of 9/2 a solidarity meeting was held outside the Thessaloniki courthouse with a strong pulse and the comrades managed to hear us. The comrades and the comrade were given a deadline for their apology to the interrogator for Friday 11/2.
A more extensive update will follow.
SOLIDARITY MEETING AT THE COURTS OF THESSALONIKI FRIDAY 11/2 9:00
OPEN MEETING OF SOLIDARITY IN ΣΘΕ (School of Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) SATURDAY 12/2 17:00
NO ONE ALONE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE
STRENGTH AND SOLIDARITY TO THE ARRESTED COMRADES OF 8/2
Solidarity fund for prisoners and persecuted militants (Thessaloniki assembly)
Source: athens.indymedia
In December, we received information that Aleksandr Zaitsev, who declared his commitment to the anarchist movement, was in pre-trial detention in Volodarka. It took us quite a while to verify this man’s story and get to the bottom of it.
In 2020, Zaitsev actively participated in protests against the regime and was detained at least once in November under “people’s” article 23.34. While in detention, Zaitsev met a man who introduced himself as Dmitry Sergeenko. Comrades from the Pramen team found the real name of this man – Dmitry Akulich, who had been working for many years with the Interior Ministry as a provocateur and prison agent. Akulich actively begins “developing” Zaitsev and by summer both are already planning a radical action: they want to set fire to Sukalo’s dacha. To paint a pretty picture of the investigation, Akulich says that he got in touch with the group “Stork fly” and they paid for him to buy two five-liter bottles of gasoline.
Not far from the dacha both are taken by Almaz. Zaitsev confesses to everything and is now under terrorist article 289 part 3 (punishment up to the death penalty). We do not know Akulich’s status in this case, but he most likely passes as a witness with the false name of Sergeenko. It is noteworthy that Akulich was given a real passport with a fake name to work with Zaitsev.
Now Aliaksandr Zaitsev continues to be held in the pre-trial detention center, awaiting trial. We have almost no information about the anarchist himself, as none of the activists know him.
Remember, if you want to carry out any radical action, you should do it only with trusted people, not with acquaintances. This story also shows that cops actively engage in provocations to continue repression and spin the myth of terrorism.
Now it is extremely important to remember to have a safety culture and take the time to familiarize yourself with texts on countering repression!
Source: ABC Belarus
DEMOCRACY IS THE OTHER FACE OF FASCISM
Since two years we live in a state of emergency without end, following the advance of a virus that has become a global pandemic. Sooner or later it had to happen in a globalized and capitalist world that for mere profit destroys the natural environment, where goods and people move in a short time from one end of the planet to another (and only the poor are rejected at the borders) and where more than half of the world’s population lives crowded in mega-urbanized cities.
The emergency proclaimed, however, has been used by the state not to put hand to the health sector, decimated by continuous cuts that governments have made over the years and that have caused so many preventable deaths (not only because of the virus), but in order to accelerate all those authoritarian and coercive mechanisms of which the democratic regime is capable.
We are not only talking about the compulsory vaccination for certain categories (health workers, teachers, over 50) about which there would be much to discuss, but especially about the social control put in place, not least the instrument of the Green Passport, which is still only a step towards the race to forced digitization of all the data that concern us. Controlling and trading digital data, as we know, is the new frontier of “surveillance capitalism,” which through emergency management is gaining momentum.
From tracking apps to facial recognition cameras, from the internet of things to artificial intelligence, technology at the service of masters and states, which was not born to simplify our existence but to monitor us, will be increasingly present in our lives, but it is only with the digitization of data and their transmission (5G, ultra-wideband) and interconnection (home automation, smart-city) that this will be possible. It is no coincidence that the PNRR of the Draghi government, the Italian Recovery Fund financed with European money, for a large part serves to channel astronomical sums towards surveillance technologies and the digital modernization of all essential sectors: school, work, telecommunications networks, mobility and health (with telemedicine). It is also not by chance that the Draghi government has made it easier for public administration bodies and institutions to collect and process personal data, through an article of the Capienze Decree that last October abrogated article 2 of the Privacy Code, also reducing the role of the Guarantor in charge of data protection.
For many people perhaps it is not a problem that their data are used by private companies, multinationals and state institutions, through massive surveillance. People still think that because they do nothing wrong, their data is not a secret. But social control is never something that concerns only the sphere of personal freedoms and privacy; there are several reasons to oppose the digitalization of data and invasive tools such as the Green pass, among the most immediate: from the ease of the employer in monitoring his own employee (and riders and Amazon employees know something about it!) to those living in a situation of forced illegality (see undocumented migrants) who see their lives continuously threatened by the increase of increasingly sophisticated monitoring devices. Let’s not forget then the discrimination of those who already today do not have access to new technologies, that is often the poorest people in society, who see their access to rights and social services undermined, conquered years ago at the cost of hard struggles. Continue reading “Italy: Democracy is the other face of fascism”
January 2022
As we approach the end of the trial of Operation Bialystok, it seems to us to be the right moment to spread some considerations on its progress. Although we are not interested in following the pace dictated by repression, nor in taking a victimistic or alarmist stance in the face of the activities of police institutions, we believe it is important to share information and impressions about what is happening at the court level. By conscious choice, we will summarize aspects and moments that we consider noteworthy, at the expense of a detailed and chronological description of the trial in which we are involved.
As far as the framework of the investigation is concerned, we refer to the texts “Sull’operazione Bialystok” (On the Bialystok operation) already published and circulated on the web and “Testo e contesto” (Text and context).
At the time of writing all defendants in this proceeding are at large. On January 27th a positive response was received to a request for the end of the precautionary measures to which 4 defendants were still subject (3 obligations to stay and one obligation to present themselves for weekly signatures), so that at the moment only one person remains under obligations to stay. The differences in conditions are mainly due to the different timing in the presentation of the appeals which brought the same before different courts, and to the specificity of the individual positions regarding the crimes charged.
Broadly speaking, up to now the process has been marked by hours and hours of endless hearings for the delineation of the anarchist context both nationally and internationally, hearings where we defendants have almost never been nominated. Only after many hearings did we begin to talk about the so-called specific facts. There was a certain interest and prominence in the moments in which the international relations of the defendants were exposed; this was not because the prosecution brought who knows what elements, on the contrary, we witnessed a real climbing on mirrors, but more because of the play of roles within the institution of justice. It is evident that an assize court, used to dealing with crimes of a certain gravity, sees in the international dimension of the investigation the possibility of its own raison d’être. And this, we say, on the level of the actual courtroom show; behind the scenes, that is, on the level of the investigation, and therefore of the repressive strategy, we also see something else, that is, a direction that looks like it wants to be taken in the future. These, like others in the past, are attempts, sometimes successful and sometimes less so, to structure on a concrete level the collaboration of police and prosecutors’ offices on an international level regarding investigations. Continue reading “Italy: Measure and process updates for Operation Bialystok”
After the repression of a Mapuche march in August 2020 in the city of Temuco, skirmishes spread throughout the city. It was just at that moment that a lone policeman received a well-deserved beating, leaving him with a fractured jaw and collarbone, leaving a beautiful image that went viral.
Following surveillance cameras and eyewitnesses, OS-9 personnel managed to arrest three people who had participated in the attack.
At the end of January 2022 they faced trial accused of serious injuries, being considered guilty. The prosecution is requesting 7 years in prison for the two adults and 3 years and a day in semi-closed regime for the teenager.
Sometimes it is costly to defend the order of the rich?
Solidarity with those who attack the police!
Source: Publicacion Refractario