Trial – Page 6 – Dark Nights

Italy: Update on Operation Sibilla: hearing set for Alfredo Cospito and other comrades under investigation at Perugia review court

Posted on 2023/02/21 by darknights

On Feb. 13, the setting of the review hearing on precautionary measures was notified for comrades targeted for measures in the November 11, 2021 Sibilla repressive operation (including Alfredo Cospito, who has been on hunger strike for more than 120 days, and Gianluca, who is currently under house arrest in the Diamante investigation by the Genoa prosecutor’s office). The hearing is set for March 14 at the court in Perugia.

This second re-examination stemmed from the hearing held on June 22 in Rome at the court of cassation, which concluded by granting prosecutor Manuela Comodi’s request, thus annulling the previous order of the review court (which on Dec. 16, 2021 had resulted in the revocation of the precautionary measures). The court of cassation, in spite of what had been expressed by the attorney general (who had called for the rejection of the Perugian prosecutor’s appeal), had thus “exhumed” the investigation by annulling the revocation of the measures and ordering a new review hearing.

Operation Sibilla, carried out by the Carabinieri’s Special Operational Group and the Perugia prosecutor’s office under the coordination of the National Anti-Mafia and Counterterrorism Directorate, played a key role in the genesis and application of the 41 bis detention order for comrade Alfredo Cospito.

Eight comrades (including Alfredo himself), previously investigated by the ROS and the Milan Prosecutor’s Office in another case for 270 bis c. p. (subversive association for the purpose of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order) and 414 c. p. (incitement to commit a crime, with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism) in connection with the editing, publication and distribution of the anarchist newspaper “Vetriolo,” had been the subject in September 2021, by the Perugia prosecutor’s office, of a request for precautionary measures in prison on the same charges, plus other charges for various reasons relating to additional articles, leaflets and documents, as well as wall writings and for one comrade to a damage to some Poste Italiane cars (Foligno, June 6, 2019) in solidarity with anarchist comrades on hunger strike over the closure of the High Security 2 section of the L’Aquila prison.

At the same time as this request for arrest, a three-month censure order on correspondence was ordered for comrade Alfredo Cospito, which was subsequently renewed several times. The reasons for this censure became clear only a couple of months later, when – with the November 11 operation – the Sibilla investigation “emerged” and PM Comodi’s original request was downgraded by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations. Thus, a new order established no longer eight arrests in prison but six precautionary measures in relation only to the charge of incitement to commit crimes with the aggravating factor of the purpose of terrorism: an arrest warrant for Alfredo Cospito (at the time imprisoned in Terni Prison); house arrest with all restrictions for a comrade from Spoleto; and an obligation to stay in the municipality of residence jointly with the obligation to sign three days a week for four comrades. In addition, other comrades turned out to be under investigation at large, countless searches were carried out, and two websites (roundrobin.info and malacoda.noblogs.org) were subjected to preventive seizure and blacked out (a practically unprecedented fact as far as the Italian-speaking anarchist movement is concerned), remaining unreachable to this day with conventional search engines. Continue reading “Italy: Update on Operation Sibilla: hearing set for Alfredo Cospito and other comrades under investigation at Perugia review court” →

Athens, Greece: Acquittal of comrade Kostas K

Posted on 2023/02/16 by darknights

With a significant presence of comrades continued and was completed today the trial of our comrade Kostas K, for the 2007 attack on the vehicles of Minister Voulgarakis (until recently the Minister of Public Protection and with a recent transfer to the Ministry of Culture) and his entourage.

Despite the prosecution’s conviction, the comrade was acquitted by a vote of 5-2 (with the acquittal votes of the four jurors and the president).

Another episode of this ill-conceived hoax of dna excuses ended up in the trash bin, not even convincing those who fabricate them: the monkeys of state security and anti-terrorism.

No comrade is ever alone in the face of the state’s methods.

Solidarity is our weapon

Antifascist Network in the South

Source: athens.indymedia

Athens, Greece: On the first day of the trial of comrade Kostas K. Second hearing today 14th February

Posted on 2023/02/14 by darknights

The trial of Kostas K for the attack on the vehicles of Minister Voulgarakis and his police escort in July 2007 started on 18 January at the Mixed Jury, with the significant presence of comrades and women.

( https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1622704/ )

The proceedings started with the testimonies of cops (state security, Voulgarakis’ guard, the ministerial guard). Despite the fact that one of the subpoenaed cops (Voulgarakis’ personal bodyguard who had opened fire on the comrades who had carried out the attack) was not present, the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were completed in an orderly manner, more deconstructing the indictment than adding anything to it.

Next came the defence witnesses: a biologist who thoroughly demonstrated the inconsistencies and inadequacy of the prosecution’s case, which has dna as its sole “evidence”, and a comrade-sister of Kostas K.

And while the comrade was preparing to apologize, the prosecutor practically interrupted the proceedings, calling for the forcible bringing in of the last cop witness to testify, hoping that in him the last lifeline could be found, in order to save the deconstructed indictment.

The next hearing set for February 14 (9am) will begin with the cop’s testimony, if he eventually attends. This will be followed by the “apology” of comrade Kostas K

To break the codes of repression

Solidarity with comrade Kostas K

Tuesday 14 February – 9am, MOD Degleri Street

Source: athens.indymedia

Athens, Greece: Anarchist comrade Charis Mantzouridis found not guilty

Posted on 2023/01/21 by darknights

Athens: today 16/1/23, at the appeal trial court found not guilty.

Anarchist comrade Charis Mantzouridis was found not guilty today after being held in pre-trial incarceration for 14 months.

Another rigged trial by the state prosecution machinery, based on a dna sample, has been foiled.

Another trial has become a conviction of the state!

STRENGTH TO ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

FREEDOM TO THOSE IN THE CELLS

UNTIL THE TERMINAL PRISON IS TORN DOWN

Source: athens.indymedia

Via & translated by Act For Freedom Now!

Greece: We are all comrades: Support the 4 persecuted anarchists EN/GR/FR/ES/DE

Posted on 2023/01/08 - 2023/01/08 by darknights

Support economically and politically the 4 persecuted comrades, who are under trial at 6 February 2023. The 4 anarchists are being persecuted, under “anti-terrorist” law, for participating in an allegedelly “terrorist” organization named “comrades”. No one alone against the state! International revolutionary solidarity!

The first solidarity banner for the 4 comrades, Exarcheia 10th March 2020. Banner, “In a world that human relationships are being criminalized, we are all comrades”

Chronicle of the prosecution

On March 8th and 9th 2020, after a state security operation three male and one female comrade are arrested. Τhe authorities’ sole piece of evidence was two cops having ‘visually’ identified the first arrested person on a video of the attack against the Mitsotakis* Foundation. The other three were arrested due to their friendly and comrade relationships. They now find themselves charged with an enormous case file which includes 55 attacks.

Based on the anti-terrorist Act 187A, they are charged with setting up and participating in an alleged terrorist organization under the name of “comrades” . The authorities are prosecuting the comrades based on attacks, actions and public addresses uploaded on counter-information platforms which had been signed using the term “comrades”. In this way, the police are attempting to bring any political action signed by “comrades” together under the umbrella of a collective terrorist organization.

A few words on the construct of the organization “comrades”, from the statement of the prosecuted female comrade in May 2020: /… / Behold then, the State, in its attempt to sell the ideological construct of “war against terrorism” fabricating organizations. They claim the terrorist organization they created by the name “comrades” to be a group that has acted since 2016 up to the present carrying out attacks in Athens. This reasoning goes beyond normality or reality in a way that can only be called ridiculous. In fact, the name of this infamous organization is but a sign-off used by the broader spectrum of anarchist/ antiauthoritarian groups for many years now. It was used, it is still being used and it will continue to be used. Anyone who searches can find hundreds of texts bearing the said signature all over Greece, most probably even abroad. This new stratagem, the use, that is, of a broader signature and its conversion into the name of a terrorist organization, is unprecedented and its only aim can be to “lump” together a wide, diverse and multi-faceted range of action on the part of the broader antiauthoritarian movement, as well as to terrorize all who belong there. It´s now the turn of the “solidary”, the “anarchists”, the “communists” to be called terrorist organizations and there’s no end to the lumping /…/ Continue reading “Greece: We are all comrades: Support the 4 persecuted anarchists EN/GR/FR/ES/DE” →

Greece: ‘To break the codes of repression’, Financial support for court expenses of comrade Kostas K. EN/GR

Posted on 2023/01/08 by darknights

Back in the distant 2007, at a time of underlying and subtle social processes that would culminate in the December 2008 uprising, the authorities were looking after one of their favourite children. George Voulgarakis, a member of the deepest party-apparatus of New Democracy and Minister of Public Order, is caught up in the maelstrom of phone tapping scandals and ‘disappearances’ of Pakistani migrants and refugees. The state, however, always takes care of its children and Voulgarakis goes on “vacation”, away from the “hot potato” of the Ministry of Public Order, taking over the “loose” Ministry of Culture.

But some people do not forget and do not forgive. At 10:00am on July 3, 2007, a few hours after Voulgarakis and his police escort arrived at the ministry on Bouboulinas Street, they were attacked by a group of twenty comrades, with Molotov cocktails and a bag full of gasoline canisters and camping gas canisters, that fell into Voulgarakis’ own vehicle. The policemen open fire on the comrades, only thus managing to make them retreat.

In the text in which they claimed responsibility, they state:

“The attack on Culture Minister G. Voulgarakis was carried out as a sign of solidarity with the imprisoned militants. The Minister of Culture was chosen because a representative of the government is always a target of militants, let alone when he has served as Minister of Public Order and his term of office has remained unforgettable. He was the political head of the Ministry of Order when he intercepted and monitored the conversations of hundreds of citizens through vodafone. He was the political head of the Ministry of Order and responsible for the abduction and interrogation of dozens of Pakistani migrants. Finally, under the orders of Voulgarakis and on the occasion of the robbery of the National Bank in January 2006, for which Yannis Dimitrakis is on trial on 6 July, the anti-authoritarian movement was subjected to one of the most furious assaults of recent years with pogroms, kidnappings, slander, smears and finally prosecutions of anarchists. Freedom to those imprisoned in the cells. Solidarity to all persecuted comrades. As for their shooting, deliberately at point blank range and not in the air, the cops had better be careful because such moves can be met with the same price.”
Continue reading “Greece: ‘To break the codes of repression’, Financial support for court expenses of comrade Kostas K. EN/GR” →

Bristol, UK: Anarchist comrade Toby Shone’s SCPO was rejected by the court!

Posted on 2022/05/06 - 2022/05/09 by darknights

To the wild celebrations in the public gallery, the presiding judge rejected the application for anarchist comrade Toby Shone’s Serious Crime Prevention Order, declaring there were no grounds for it to be applied under the circumstances. Shouts of ‘Not one step back!’ were responded to with Toby shouting ‘The Revolution is inevitable!’

The result of the court means that comrade Toby will now be released at the earliest in August of this year, if his application for electronic tag is permitted. It is highly likely that it will be refused. If refused, he will be released on December 28th 2022 on automatic halfway release. The extreme conditions of surveillance and control, that would have led to him not only being cut off from his comrades, but his family, friends and partner. It would have restricted his way of living, his ability to fuction as an anarchist, with many conditions that have been listed before, such as his use of electronic devices through to him having to declare who visits his residence. It would have lasted 5 years and could have been renewed. If it had been broken by Toby it would have led to him serving 5 years in the hellholes of the UK prison system.

The SCPO was a direct attack on Toby as an anarchist, his alternative way of living and his connections to those he is close to. It was clearly linked to the anti-terrorist cops attempting to apply repressive measures on him after the terrorist charges in his previous original trial were dropped.

The move by the anti-terrorist cops sets a new repressive environment on this prison island, that now just like in other European countries such as we have seen with the many repressive operations against comrades in Italy and Greece, that anarchists are deemed as terrorists by the state, that anyone daring to fight back against authority will be subject to such repression. Also it is clear that the British state wants to attack the connections, the affinities, the friendships, even love, of those they want to punish. This a similar vindictive tactic we have seen been used in other countries as well, such as the targetting of partners and family members of revolutionary organisation Conspiracy Cells of Fire members in Greece.

‘Operation Adream’, the repressive attack on Toby, on 325, is also an attack on the anarchist circles and alternative lifestyles as a whole. The years of imprisonment are piling up for those who dared to rebel during the Kill The Bill protest last year, that was attacked by cops and led to a riot. Those who live ‘off-grid’, from Roma/Gypsies/Irish travellers through to van or carvan or boat dwellers, along with squatters are also feeling the full force of British state’s, the Tories, Boris Johnson’s and Priti Patel’s repressive shaping of racist right wing ‘Build Back Better’ UK.

There is indeed a ‘storm coming on the horizon’ as comrade Toby mentioned, it is time for all of us who feel it to move towards it, to revolt against the destruction of our lives, our very existence.

This is only the beginning, ‘Nothing Is Over, The Conflict Continues!’

Some anarchists in solidarity with anarchist comrade Toby Shone

[Chilean Prisons] Taking responsibility. Excerpt from the declaration of anarchist comrade Francisco Solar

Posted on 2021/12/29 by darknights

Source & Translated by Act For Freedom Now!

Received 12/21/2021:

Extract from the judicial declaration of anarchist comrade Francisco Solar taking responsibility for sending explosive packages to the 54th station of the carabineros [Federal Police of Chile] and against the former Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter in July 2019, action claimed by “Cómplices sediciosos/Fracción por la Venganza” [Seditious Accomplices/ Vengeance Faction] and for the double attack on the Tánica building on February 27, 2020, in the midst of the revolt, action claimed by “Afinidades Armadas en Revuelta” [Armed Affinities in Revolt].

(…) In November 2017, our idea was to move away from the big cities, mainly Santiago, because of its frenetic way of life, and to start a self-sustaining project. Although I opted for that way of life, I did not stop thinking that the most appropriate way to fight against an overpowering system based on authority and predation is through violent revolutionary action. Only from this is it possible to achieve moments of destabilization that, even if they are fleeting instants, reveal the vulnerability of power

In the middle of 2018 I decided to start pursuing that kind of action (…) Once I made that decision I started to think about some target, being clear that if I was going to take a great risk, the action had to be powerful. I thought of carrying out an action as a response, as revenge against people linked to repression and business power. Both criteria were fully met by Rodrigo Hinzpeter, who in 2019 was manager of the Quiñenco group, whose president is Andronico Luksc. Hinzpeter had also been Minister of the Interior under the first government of Piñera, leaving a trail of repression that will be difficult to forget. He harshly repressed social and student mobilizations, trying to pass a law marked by prohibitions of all kinds, known as the Hinzpeter Law. As Minister of the Interior he was politically responsible for the murder of young Manuel Gutiérrez, harshly repressed the social mobilizations in Aysén and Freirina, militarized the Mapuche territory, resulting in hundreds being wounded, many of them children, and countless prisoners.

Continue reading “[Chilean Prisons] Taking responsibility. Excerpt from the declaration of anarchist comrade Francisco Solar” →

Berlin, Germany: Start of trial of Adel

Posted on 2021/10/22 by darknights

Dear friends, dear comrades, today in exactly one month, on Friday, 19.11.2021, the trial against our friend and comrade Adel begins in front of the district court Tiergarten. In the sense of antifascist self-protection, we call for supraregional and solidary trial observation! Persons are expected, who are to be assigned to the violent right-wing radical spectrum and numerous cops among them also scene-knowing officials are loaded as witnesses. No Nazis in the courtroom! Let’s not leave Adel alone and show a clear edge against fascists and class justice! In front of the court building in Moabit there will be an antifascist rally. Afterwards we will move together into the court to attend the first day of the trial critically and to set a sign against the criminalization of legitimate antifascist interventions! We will announce the time of the start of the trial and the antifascist rally in time. A detailed call will follow soon.

FREEDOM FOR ADEL AND ALL ANTIFASCISTS

Chile: Text of Mónica, Marcelo, Juan, Joaquin, Francisco and Juan before the trial against comrade Pablo Bahamondes: Let’s multiply the gestures of solidarity and insurrectionary complicity

Posted on 2021/10/12 - 2021/10/12 by darknights

Our comrade Pablo Bahamones Ortiz was arrested along with Herny Mendez (today imprisoned in the former penitentiary of stgo) and Hugo Moraga (in the street after an abbreviated trial that sentenced him to 3 years) while they were being transported in a vehicle on September 8, 2018 under an investigation regarding an explosive attack occurred in April 2017 in the Corporation of Judicial Assistance of Melipilla for which the prosecution asks him 13 years in prison. In addition in said vehicle are found various handmade weapons for which Pablo is accused of manufacturing, transporting and carrying weapons and ammunition, specifically 6 shotguns, 1 box of cartridges, 1 revolver and 12 shots, asking the prosecution 23 years, totaling a total of 36 years of prosecutorial request.

His option and positioning for the permanent confrontation that led him to prison has been maintained and deepened inside the prison being an undeniable contribution both in the intra-prison struggles and in those that take place outside these walls uninterruptedly and without pause. This way of understanding and carrying out life in prison breaks with the passive figure of the victim prisoner that places him as a mere recipient of solidarity aid, positioning the comrade as an active subject in the uprising of varied and confrontational initiatives such as the hunger strike that we carried out together for 50 days demanding the repeal of the amendment to Law 321 and for the release of our comrade Marcelo Villarroel.

It is from this combative stance that as anarchist and subversive prisoners we call for solidarity with Pablo during the trial that will begin on September 27th using all the means at our disposal and all our imagination that allows us to generate constant complicit initiatives as well as to strike hard blows to power. Continue reading “Chile: Text of Mónica, Marcelo, Juan, Joaquin, Francisco and Juan before the trial against comrade Pablo Bahamondes: Let’s multiply the gestures of solidarity and insurrectionary complicity” →