Anarchist Prisoners – Page 10

Greece: Nikos Maziotis on his 4th rejection of parole

Posted on 2024/01/25 by darknights

Nikos Maziotis on his 4th rejection of parole

The last board of misdemeanors of Lamia (29/9/2023) rejected my request (for the 4th time) for parole on the same grounds as the 3 previous ones, i.e. the disciplinary records for which I have been punished in the past have been deleted and should not normally count under the penal code for parole. But this time the board of misdemeanors of Lamia, in the reasoning of the rejection, went a step further than the previous boards by proving that it has the same logic that the institutions of the bribe-taking state, the post-conflict state and the junta used to have, when they asked for statements of repentance and renunciation from fighters as it also proves to have the same logic of the Inquisition.

I am quoting the contested passage of the decision verbatim:

[…] “However, the repeated commission of serious misdemeanors that also constitute criminal offences demonstrates the applicant’s lack of self-discipline and compliance with the basic rules of the penal system, his constant tendency to commit criminal acts and therefore his insufficient imprisonment and the his lack of moral improvement, for the purpose of his conversion and the possibility of his smooth reintegration into society in the event of his release from the detention centre. In addition, during the applicant’s personal appearance at the council remotely, through technological means, the latter showed particularly aggressive behaviour towards the council, as well as complete disrespect for justice and the penal system, and stated that he considers himself a political prisoner, while at the same time, he did not show that he had realized particular disrespect for the criminal acts he had committed.

Moreover, according to his statement before the council, confinement is only a punishment and cannot serve any other purpose, such as the imprisonment of prisoners. From the above it follows that the conduct of the applicant during the serving of his sentence makes it necessary to continue his detention in order to prevent him from committing new criminal acts. In particular, the above-mentioned prisoner has repeatedly committed disciplinary offences which he does not seem to recognize as wrong, which suggests that any good behaviour he has been showing lately while serving his sentence is pretentious and only apparently good, apparently awaiting his conditional release, and it testifies to his inability to comply with the rules of the prison and, by extension, social coexistence, as an element of his character, but also a constant tendency towards delinquent behaviour.With this behaviour, the applicant demonstrated that the purpose of the legislator was not fulfilled in his case by introducing him to the institution of conditional release, which is nothing more than a strong psychological motivation for the convict for his intended moral improvement , because for the time of his stay in prison, he has an interest in living according to the law, expecting his conditional release, and during the time of probation, he also has an interest in living according to the law, fearing his re-incarceration in prison. This is how his moral conformity and improvement is achieved, as he becomes addicted to the philanthropic life and becomes the creator of his own honest life. All the above objectives were not fulfilled in the case of the present convict, that is to say, he proved, with his behaviour detailed above, that he has not been sufficiently punished, a fact that he himself admitted before the council, and does not present the guarantees that he will lead an honest life as a dismissed person and will not commit new criminal acts. The repeated commission of disciplinary offences during the time of his detention demonstrates a lack of penal improvement and a real desire for law-abiding living and his lack of integration, despite his many years of stay in detention facilities…”, concluding that for all these reasons the my request for parole to prevent the alleged commission of further criminal acts. What exactly does this “monument” of inquisitive argumentation say? I am not being released on parole because:

I declare – after their own question – that I am a political prisoner.
I do not perceive the particular iniquity of the criminal acts that I have committed, meaning of course the action of the Revolutionary Struggle, which I do not consider to be either criminal or “terrorism”.
I think as I stated to the board that imprisonment is purely a punishment and that it does not ‘rehabilitate’, adding something which they do not state in the reasoning of the decision, that they should be satisfied that I have served the greater part of my sentence and that I will not change character and be “imprisoned” not in a million years. Continue reading “Greece: Nikos Maziotis on his 4th rejection of parole” →

UK: Civilization is a cancer. Letter by imprisoned anarchist comrade Toby Shone

Posted on 2024/01/22 - 2024/01/22 by darknights

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Some matters should be denounced in the strongest terms, one of these is the way prisoners health is addressed. Neglect and mistreatment are endemic, if not malice, institutionalised. I was scheduled an MRI scan and blood tests for tumour markers in late October 2023 at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. I should have been put on medical hold and provided that treatment, but I was transferred to the long term High Security Estate where I did not receive the blood test by the prison medical team until late December. The results of those blood tests have never been disclosed to me by the prison medical authorities. In fact, I only got the results after a comrade called my Bristol NHS Oncology Unit. Twice the prison team have failed to facilitate a telephone consultation with my doctor to receive the blood test outcome. The prison medical system has totally failed in every way to provide continuity in my oncology pathway. My scheduled MRI scan, which I have not been given any information about, is not being declared to me for fear I will use the opportunity to make an escape. The last time, the despicable cowards of the prison service zip tied my hands before I was placed in the coffin of the MRI scanner, an indignity that I will not accept again even at risk of my health. Prisoners die each day chained to their hospice beds watched by bastards with keys and batons. Prison is an abomination and the only future we are fighting for is one in which it is destroyed forever. I will live and die in the way I choose.

Death to the state!

Toby, 18th of January 2024, HMP Garth

Santiago, Chile: Sabotage to padlocks and locks of commercial centers with the exploitation and death of animals and churches.

Posted on 2024/01/10 - 2024/01/10 by darknights

The last days of December in the midst of the consumerist frenzy for the end of the year celebrations, we, some anarchic individualities, decided to act in memory of our comrade Sebastian Oversluij, 10 years after his death, who was killed by the guard of a bank branch in Pudahuel, when he tried to expropriate it on December 11, 2013.

We grieve for your death Angry… we grieve for your last moments… but we are proud of the life you chose to live. We embrace your anarchic conviction, we embrace your kaos.

In your memory we seal padlocks of a center of profit and animal exploitation, as well as three butcher shops and two places of religious and authoritarian indoctrination, all this in Santiago, Chile.

Sebastián Oversluij presente!
Solidarity with the anti-speciesist and anarkist prisoners.
Nothing is settled.

Source: Contra Info

Santiago, Chile: What happens to non-human comrades when political imprisonment hits us?

Posted on 2024/01/10 by darknights

Note: After the raid carried out by the bastard PDI (investigative police) on November 4, 2022 at the home of comrade “Tortuga” for the Susaron Case, a cop beat his cat comrade who was paraplegic by birth, dying from internal injuries on November 12, 2022. We reproduce this reflection which was taken from a fanzine that was distributed in a solidarity activity with political prisoners held on November 20, 2022 in Villa Francia, Santiago de Chile.

To Tony, non-human comrade assassinated by the cops and the pain that prison produces.

Memory is not a single poetic act of narrative, it is the multiple and permanent vindictive actions that bring the living memory of what lies dead: those murdered by the state and capital. From the widest and existing revolutionary positions, we call from and to the anarcho-vegan positions in favor of total liberation, a slogan that is not synonymous with freak vegan fairs or getting happy for the vegan corner of the supermarket, or selling soy in the square, it seems necessary to problematize the situation of vulnerability that our non-human compañerxs live, who live together and share our daily lives; For us it is not a mere discourse to practice horizontality with the animals that live and suffer together with us the violence of capitalism and the patriarchal state.

In this case we want to encourage criticism and consideration of the situations presented by not few animals forcibly separated from their human compas, in raids, arbitrary detentions and political kidnappings, presenting various symptoms associated with loneliness, grief, stress and general health. We consider them as sentient beings, we witness and share their pain, many times they are left without the care, affection and containment that their human compañerxs used to give them, it is here where we must also be critical, support and show solidarity with the non-human compas, our attention and energy must consider them, never obviate or make them invisible, it is part of being consistent and conscious of our political stance.

We do not forget our non-human compañerxs, we will not abandon them, that solidarity transcends species, for a human, animal and earth liberation. We call to multiply the gestures of support and vindicate the memory of all non-human comrades fallen in this struggle, that our speech does not die in our mouths.

For all our compañerxs fallen at the hands of the cops, the dogs, and their harmful consequences.

Compañero Tony, your pain and blows that provided your permanent absence remain in our hearts and memory.

May the earth be kind to you.

Source: Informativo Anarquista

$hile: Faced with life imprisonment in disguise, action is always worthwhile. Statement by Francisco Solar.

Posted on 2024/01/10 - 2024/01/10 by darknights

Faced with life imprisonment in disguise, action is always worthwhile

Was anything else expected from Power? Although the sentence of 86 years in prison has provoked surprise and some consternation, the Power acted accordingly. It has punished forceful actions directed against its defenders and representatives, the audacity of the open rebellion that hit their spaces that they believed impregnable and also the unabashed and unambiguous vindication of such attacks, demonstrating that they perceive the danger implicit in the dissemination of ideas and actions.

The State has acted as it is and that should not surprise us.

It proceeded as it has historically done when it has been directly attacked, when they have really felt the threat of seeing their lives at risk and when, moreover, it has not found submission or repentance.

Along with seeking to bury me for life in this place, this sentence clearly constitutes an intimidating signal for all anarchist spaces and individualities that openly position themselves for combat insofar as it intends to put an end to offensive practices that refuse to disappear and that demonstrated their scope and potential in the October revolt. It is, in short, a blow to anarchism of action as a whole that reflects the threat it poses to Power, which, although it may sound paradoxical, shows that the insurrectional path fulfills part of its purposes. The fact that we are being persecuted, that years ago they created a specialized anti-anarchist unit which they have now replicated to fight organized crime, and that we are given 86-year sentences, are indicators that the path of action worries and worries the powerful.

The insistence and, at times, the intensification of anarchic action has led to a forceful condemnation that clearly has a demobilizing pretension and a sense of political revenge.

However, it is undeniable that lately there has not been an advance in the anarchic offensive, presenting, rather, a stagnation and even a decrease in the development and multiplication of transgressive practices. I think this is due to multiple aspects among which are the repressive variable as well as a post revolt effect that, apparently, has led to demobilization in several environments and individualities. I believe that a deeper analysis of this issue deserves a more detailed analysis, which is not the case here.

And if you ask me if it was worth it. I answer not only that it was worth it, but that it is and will be absolutely worth it. That taking the individual decision to rebel, to take revenge and to put an end, even for an instant, to the impunity of the powerful is one of the most beautiful moments that can be experienced. That linking word and action, going beyond mere slogans emptied of content, strengthens and gives meaning to an individual and collective position of conflict. That taking ideas to the realm of the possible is always necessary and indispensable if one freely decides to confront Power, even if it costs decades of imprisonment and even life. Action is always worthwhile.

This concealed life sentence, which is one of the highest international sentences against an anarchist, is obviously intended to pacify, but it is up to us to ensure that this signal achieves its goal. It is in our will and decision to make these sentences completely lose their meaning and even constitute one more motive to attack, as the “Grupo de acción 6 de julio – Nueva Subversión” rightly exposed after the recent explosive attack against a bank branch.

Here inside, understanding, as I pointed out a few years ago, that anarchists in prison are active comrades who are temporarily locked up, in opposition and avoiding the limiting pigeonholing of the figure of “prisoner”, is that I intend to continue contributing to the different initiatives of the anarchic struggle. To insist on the permanent struggle for the annulment of the sentences of the military justice and with the campaign for the liberation of comrade Marcelo Villarroel, the freedom of anarchist and subversive prisoners and the destruction of the prison society.

Anarchist and subversive prisoners to the streets!

Let the prisons explode!

Long live anarchy!

Francisco Solar Dominguez

La Gonzalina Prison – Rancagua.

December 2023

Source: Informativo Anarquista

Belarus: Igor Olinevich turned 40 years old!

Posted on 2024/01/09 by darknights

Missed from 24th September 2023:

Today, September 24, is the 40th anniversary of our dear comrade, revolutionary and political prisoner Igor Olinevich. 40 years is the age of deep maturity. A maturity that Igor was not lacking in his 20s and that was strengthened during his struggle both on the outside and in prison.

As a 27-year-old anarchist activist in 2010, he was imprisoned for his beliefs and spent 5 years in prison. Prison is not a place for development, it is a place of personal destruction. But for revolutionaries who are firm in their convictions, there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome in the pursuit of freedom, if not universal, at least personal freedom. That is why Igor and his comrades from the Black Banner group illegally returned to Belarus in 2020 and took part in the uprising with exceptional courage and selflessness. The group was captured in the border forest while trying to escape. Igor and three other comrades received up to 20 years of strict regime. At the same time, the comrades bravely admitted their participation in the rebellion, denying guilt despite the consequences.

Paradoxically, it is those people who dream of freedom more than others who are often condemned to a life of absolute captivity because they did not agree to live in semi-freedom. For anarchist-revolutionaries, half-measures are unacceptable. It is thanks to such dedicated people that we are content with more and more freedoms that we take for granted. It is worth remembering that we owe all the freedoms we have to the brave who spent their lives behind bars or laid them on the altar of revolution. Continue reading “Belarus: Igor Olinevich turned 40 years old!” →

Italy: Cassation for Juan Sorroche set for Jan. 26 for the attack on Villorba’s Lega headquarters

Posted on 2024/01/04 - 2024/01/04 by darknights

On Friday, January 26, at 10 a.m. in Rome, the Cassation hearing against our comrade Juan for the attack on the Lega headquarters in Villorba (TV) will be held [see: https://ilrovescio.info/2021/12/15/manifesto-per-juan-e-aggiornamenti-sul-processo/ ].

Having already withdrawn the charge of massacre during the hearing, the prosecution is asking the Supreme Court to again recognize the endangering of people’s lives as had happened in the first instance. On appeal, the attack had been considered potentially dangerous to “safety” but not to people’s lives, which led to a significant reduction in the sentence (from 28 years to 14 years and 10 months in prison: https://ilrovescio.info/2023/03/31/venezia-sentenza-dappello-per-juan/).

Solidarity with Juan and all imprisoned comrades! Everyone free, everyone free!

Source: Il Rovescio

UK: Letter from anarchist prisoner Toby Shone for comrade Alfredo M. Bonanno

Posted on 2023/12/17 by darknights

Farewell, Alfredo

I heard today by telephone as the morning winter sun shone through grey clouds into the confines of my cell that our comrade Alfredo Bonanno passed away during sleep surrounded by the love of his close ones. I too send my incendiary embrace to all those who feel his loss and assert that a combative memory will remain. Alfredo’s contributions to the anarchist movement are undeniable, critical, insightful, and prescient. One of Alfredo’s texts, ‘What are Anarchists?‘ had appeared in an investigation file against me for which I was accused of distributing. His booklet published under the title ‘Locked Up‘ by Elephant Editions is one of the most important documents on the topic of imprisonment in my opinion. Alfredo’s writings for which he was investigated and incarcerated are never mere collections of words but emerge directly from lived experiences, his own and that of the comrades that participate in our struggle for freedom. Affinity groups, informal organization, direct action and the critique of technology and systems: these concepts form the most potent section of today’s Anarchy, let’s put them into practice!

“Hurry Comrade”

Toby Shone

12-12-2023 HMP Garth

Russia: The anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui is charged with railway sabotage and attacking a military airfield

Posted on 2023/12/17 by darknights

At the end of November, the anarchist Ruslan Siddiqui was arrested on suspicion of organising the derailment of a goods train in Ryazan province. On 2 December, the Dorogomilovsky district court in Moscow sent Ruslan to pre-trial detention.

Acts of railway sabotage are now quite common in Russia. Partisans use these to block the delivery of military supplies to the armed forces operating on Ukrainian territory.

The derailment occurred on 11 November, 190 kilometres out from the Moscow terminal. Kommersant newspaper reported the details as follows: “Due to the detonation of improvised explosive devices (two bombs, each equivalent to 3kg of TNT, were placed 10 metres from each other on a bypass used by goods trains), a 300 metre stretch of track was damaged. A crater opened up, and the first 19 carriages of goods train no. 2018 fell into a ditch. The explosion broke the window of the train driver’s cabin, and the driver sustained non-serious injuries”.

The security services have also stated that Ruslan Siddiqui was involved in an attack on the military airport in Ryazan on 20 July. Four quadrocopters, loaded with explosives, were flown on to the Dyagilevo base.

Ruslan has now been charged with a “terrorist act” (Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, parts 2.a and 2.v) and “possession of explosive material” (Article 222.1, part 3.a). He is threatened with between 12 and 30 years’ imprisonment.

Ruslan’s comrades have contacted the anti-war human rights initiative “Solidarity Zone“. This is how they described him:
“As one mutual comrade said, ‘Ruslan is a person of action’. And that’s really it: Ruslan undertakes difficult tasks, without wasting words. He grasps the essence of any situation quickly and works out how to respond. As a friend he is always responsive, always ready to help. He loves adventure sports such as trekking and cycling marathons. He has travelled many times to the Chernobyl and Belarussian Exclusion Zones [established after the nuclear explosion in 1986, now uninhabited, richly forested areas].

Ruslan is a proponent of anarchist ideas, and the Russian military aggression against Ukraine distressed him greatly. All the more so because some of his friends and comrades died in that conflict, and people continue to die there. And now he himself has become a victim of state violence, and our support is important to him”.

Address for letters: Russia, 109382 Moscow, ul. Verkhnie Polya 57, SIZO-7, Siddiqui Ruslan Kasemovich (d.o.b. 1988). You can send letters through the on-line service PrisonMail.online.

How to write a letter to a prisoner if you are not in Russia?

Details for money transfers to the Solidarity Zone:

PayPal: solidarity_zone@riseup.net

Monero: 4B1tm6boA5ST6hLdfnPRG2Np9XMHCTiyhE6QaFo46QXp6tZ7Y6nJjE43xBBTwHM84bWwexR8nS4KH36JHujjc1kC8j2Mx5e

Bitcoin: bc1qn404lrshp3q9gd7852d7w85sa09aq0ch28s3v4

USDT (TRC20): TRcCUHKSMY7iLJPvbDxLc6ZnvAud72jTgj

Other donations: write by mail solidarity_zone@riseup.net

Source: Avtonom

USA: Anarchist Prisoner Eric King Released to Halfway House After Ten Years

Posted on 2023/12/17 by darknights

Source: It’s Going Down

Following nearly ten years of incarceration and numerous attempts by the State to frame, murder, and break him – anarchist prisoner Eric King has now been released and is headed to a half-way house “for several weeks,” reports supporters.

Imprisoned for taking direct action in solidarity with the Ferguson uprising, Eric King survived everything from COVID, to attacks by neo-Nazi prisoners, and years of abuse from guards. In a statement from 2016, King stated:

I stand by my actions. After seeing what happened in Ferguson, so close down the road, I was disgusted by the lack of mobilization in my city. Three hours away people were fighting for their lives and we weren’t even taking to the streets. We were doing nothing. My act as a very personal display of my anger and rage toward the state as well as an act of solidarity to everyone in Ferguson. We never know our own strength until we are tested and even with my ridiculous sentence I feel at least proud to have been able to stand strong and refuse to cooperate with the state.

In 2022, Eric King was victorious in court against a frame-up attempt by guards, after they attacked him in a supply closet and attempted to slap him with an additional 20 years in prison.

Currently there is a fundraiser set-up for Eric to help him with his post release. Eric is also one of the co-editors of the new book, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, published by AK Press, sales of which benefits the Anarchist Black Cross warchest program and Eric King’s family.

Eric’s bravery and courage in the face of years of torture and abuse is a testament of our collective ability to resist and weather the horrors of state repression. For future updates, be sure to check out the Support Eric King page, here.