On Friday September 4, five political activists and members of the Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative, the Serbian branch of the International Workers Association, were arrested in Belgrade under fabricated charges. The arrests are supposedly linked to an action that took place at the greek embassy in Belgrade on August 25, in solidarity to the hunger striker at the time Thodoros Iliopoulos. During the action some minor damage occured.

The five arrested are charged for an action of “international terrorism”, despite the fact it was another group that claimed responsibility for the action (“Crni Ilija”, “Black Sun”) and although they have explicitly stated that this type of action does not fit with their political views and activity as anarcho-syndicalists. Following their arrests and torturing in police stations, the attorney general has ordered their detention for 30 days.

A call for two days of international solidarity actions (September 15-16) has been issued by ZSP in Poland (reposted below). ASI Solidarity is a good blog for updates in Greek and English.

P.S. Initial hesitation in posting the news of the arrests of our Belgrade comrades on this blog was only due to the fact that they themselves have refused any link to the action at the greek embassy and, given that this blog deals exclusively with the greek revolt, reposting the news here could create some unwanted connections. However, in exactly the same way that most of December’s prisoners were not “guilty” (not even by the state’s fake distinction of “innocent and “guilty”, “peaceful” and “violent”), so are the Belgrade anarchists. In this way, it is them who are now the last remaining prisoners of the greek revolt: Our solidarity need be as global as their repression…

Free the Belgrade Anarchists!

http://asi.zsp.net.pl/

On Saturday, Sept. 4, five* political activists were arrested in Belgrade on trumped up charges. The five, Tadej Kurep, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Dojkić, Ratibor Trivunac and Nikola Mitrovic, are activists in or associates of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, the Serbian section of the International Workers’ Association (IWA).

(* The sixth person sought by police, Ivan Savic, was also arrested some days later.)

The arrests are allegedly related to a direct action which took place at the Greek Embassy on Aug. 25. Negligible damage was done; a crack in one window, a tiny burn mark on the facade and a circled A graffiti on the embassy as a act of symbolic solidarity with Thodoros Iliopoulos. The prosecutor however imagines this as an act of “international terrorism” and would like to charge our comrades with such. If the state allows such charges to be pressed, they could be facing 3-15 years in prison.

As it is, the five were arrested, harrassed and are to be held in custody for at least one month while the case is organized.

Although one of the accused, General Secretary of the IWA Ratibor Trivunac clearly and publically declared that he knew nothing of the action, he was arrested. It is not the first time that authorities have come after him or his comrades for no other reason than the fact that they are radical critics of the state.

We are calling on people around the world to take action now!

If you can organize a protest at a Serbian Embassy, Consulate or other Diplomatic Mission, please do so ASAP. Rather than one day of action, we think actions can be spread out over a few days, but we think it’s best not to wait! Try to make an action by Sept. 15-16.

Also, send faxes and protest letters! We are including a list of addresses on this page. If you like, you can also send a letter to the government through this page. You can write your own text or use out sample text. Our page can keep a log of signatorees so we may pass them on to the comrades in Serbia so they know which organizations and people have sent protests.

Please send us information about your demos, protests or articles on the case!

FREE THE FIVE NOW!

ADDRESSES OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA:

http://www.mfa.gov.rs/Worldframe.htm

Yesterday’s demonstration in Athens, demanding his release, took place as planned, with a celebratory tone.

Thodoros is free; a great victory for him and his solidarity movement. Now we need to keep up this struggle, to demand that all his charges are dropped.

Until all are free!

This blog will be carrying first-hand reports from today’s solidarity actions in Athens and Patras. If you have reports from any of the other cities where solidarity gatherings will be taking place, please post them here or e-mail us.

They are provoking and teasing a man weighting 48 kilos, driving him around in an all-metal van in mid-summer, making him believe that he might be leaving prison – and then driving him straight back in.

The solidarity day on Monday the 24th becomes more important than ever. When they attack Thodoros, they attack all of us.

A few hours ago, Thodoros Iliopoulos was transferred from the Korydallos prison to the Attikon Hospital, in Athens. His lawyers have today submitted a fresh bail application. It is not yet known whether the application will be examined before the international solidarity day (24.8), which is going ahead as planned.

What follows is the medical report of the doctor who examined Thodoris in the Korydallos prison today, Wednesday August 19.

Today I examined Mr. Thodoros Iliopoulos in the Hospital of the Korydallos Prison in Athens, on the 41st day of his hunger strike. He has some significant (>20%)  weight loss, with a serious loss of muscular weight. As of today he weights 47.7 Kg.

He is visibly worn down, pale and with tachycardia, stepping imbalance and inability for prolonged standing. His examination records reveal he often suffers low blood pressure and orthostatic hypotension. He mentioned a pre-fainting episode on August 18, 2009.

The lab results show a prolonged condition of serious underfeeding, with low cholesterol, urea, creatinine – while his blood is generally affected (low level of white corpuscles, reversed type of whites, loss of platelets).

Due to an insufficience of vitamin A, it is recommended that he immediately starts receiving Caps Eviol A 1X1.

In conclusion, Thodoros Iliopoulos is under imminent danger, not only of complications from his cardiovascular system but also the main nervous system – eyes, as well as an increased danger of infection.

His transfering to a state hospital is imperative, with the prospect of treatment by doctors of many different specialities and the ability for recovery if need be.

The solidarity initiative for Thodoris Iliopoulos has released the following call-out. Please translate it and repost it in as many languages as you can. So far, the call-out has been translated in:

DEUTSCH | POLSKIM | PORTUGUES | ESPANOL |  FRANCAIS | SVENSKA | ROMANA | HRVATSKOSRPSKI | ITALIANO | DANSK | SUOMALAINEN

If you make a translation, please post as a comment here or e-mail us.

You can find more posts on Thodoris here http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/tag/thodoros-iliopoulos/

On the day of action, Thodoris will be on the 45th day of his hunger strike; his situation is already critical. The last prisoner of December’s revolt must be freed – now!

————

SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE FOR THODORIS ILIOPOULOS

CALL-OUT FOR DAY OF ACTION FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THODORIS ILIOPOULOS, ON HUNGER STRIKE SINCE JULY 10

We call all groups in solidarity to co-ordinate their actions – propaganda, info-actions, meetings- aiming at the immediate release of Thodoris. For this reason, we have set Monday, the 24th of August at 8pm as the day and time when we will put together our voices and our power in demanding the immediate release of hunger striker Thodoris Iliopoulos.

As part of this action the Solidarity Initiative for Thodoris Iliopoulos is organising a solidarity concert at the Propylaea in Athens, on Monday 24 August at 8pm.

In the struggle for his defense and his release, our support is Thodoris’ breath.

Let’s get his voice heard across the world!

————

SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE: http://apofylakisithodoriiliopoulou.blogspot.com/

Published in Avgi on August 19, 2009 – reposted here from Athens IMC.

Thodoris Iliopoulos yesterday became 31 years old. He is the last prisoner of the December insurrection [Translator's note: that's wrong, according to postings on Athens Indymedia there are others as well, including Nikos Tsouvalakis who is also a hunger striker for more than a month in solidarity with Thodoris), but the most important number for his life right now is 41, since on the same day it was his 41st day in hunger strike, which he "celebrated" in the Koridalos prison's hospital, as he has not been transferred to a public hospital as yet even though his health is getting worse day after day and the medical doctors who monitor him recommend so!

After 41 days in hunger strike, the 31-year old Thodoris breathes and talks with difficulty, but his courage is still high. Here's some words he managed to send to "Avgi":

"Why bow your head? Maybe to see two legs that regularly lose their balance over the tomb they have prepared for you? Keep your courage and some day the Sun will rise for us as well."

Thodoris cannot stand anymore, or go alone to the loo, while today a new doctor's opinion is expected. The last doctor's opinion 9 days ago was talking about "18% weight loss with complications in multiple body organs and systems (cardiaovascular system, muscles, central neural system, electrolytic disturbances), and such weight loss puts his life in immediate risk!"

Meanwhile, the Solidarity Initiative for Thodoris Iliopoulos calls affinity groups from every city in Greece to co-ordinate their mobilisations with a common action plan, setting Monday 24 August and 8:00 PM "the moment when all over Greece [everyone] will unite their voices and their strength demanding the immediate release of hunger striker Thodoris Iliopoulos.”

In Athens, the 24 August rendezvous will be in Propylea, where there will be a solidarity music event, at 8:00 PM.

E.Z.

http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=1068966

http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/world-news/1855-young-and-innocent-last-political-prisoner-of-the-greek-intifada-on-37th-day-of-hunger-strike

Greece, August 16, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) – Last December Greece experienced its own teenager Intifada. On December 6th 2008 a policeman, in cold blood, shot dead a 15 year old child, Alexis Grigoropoulos. Almost immediately, spontaneous protests and riots were spread across the country. This time it wasn’t only the violent sectors of the Greek anarchist movement, but much broader sectors of Greek society, and mostly the vast majority of the teenagers that were expressing their wrath towards the police, the government, the institutions, whatever they feel is oppressing them. The generation that is supposed to be foolish, selfish, hypnotized by the TV and playstations, has proven to have ideals, sentiments of solidarity, courage to struggle. The Greek Intifada lasted almost a month, and if there weren’t the Christmas Holidays for sure it would have been longer.

The Greek government of the right-wing party “New Democracy” responded in its usual (and not very …democratic) way: cruel repression. In fact Greek Police used all its tear gas grenades and was later obliged to by more from Israel. Hundreds of people were detained and tortured, among them a lot of foreign immigrants and refugees and at least one Palestinian. (As a Gazan friend pointed out: “Why Palestinians have to be guilty for everything?”). Obviously the foreigners were an “easy target” for the policemen and this has proven to be the first part of an ongoing racist Police pogrom against immigrants that is rocking the country since then. Even Amnesty International has accused the Greek authorities and police of excessive use of force and firearms, torture or other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and denial of prompt access to lawyers. “Time and again police officers in Greece have been accused of using excessive force against demonstrators or denying them their rights when in detention,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International. “The police response to the recent unrest is the culmination of an entrenched pattern of serious human rights violations by law enforcement officials.”

A photojournalist, Kostas Tsironis, that captured on photo (see above) policemen threatening to shoot protesters, instead of being awarded, he was fired from his right-wing newspaper…

Dozens of the arrested people were provisionally imprisoned (among them the Palestinian one and a 31 old Greek, Thodoris Iliopoulos). The following months everybody were released waiting for their trials outside of prison, except Iliopoulos. He was arrested on the 18th of December. He was walking in one of the most central streets of Athens, when he and his friends were attacked by the police. “Five squadrons of Policemen surrounded 10 people” he says. He tried to escaped but they captured him and started to kick him in the head.

According to the investigator, he was outside the Law School throwing rocks and Cocktail Molotov bombs to the policemen. Thodoris Iliopoulos rejected these accusations since the beginning. When everybody else was asking to speak in front of an investigator, he wasn’t afraid to testify to the policemen, declaring his innocence. There is no evidence at all apart from the testimonies of 2 special force policemen. And this testimonies are contradicting the accusations. According to the decision (25/6/2009) of the Jurists to extend his provisional imprisonment for another six months, “he was covering his head” while he was attacking the policemen. But no mask or other item to cover his head was found with him when he was arrested. And the most important: his imprisonment was based on the testimonies of 2 policemen who claim to have recognized him exactly because he wasn’t covering his face!

Furthermore, according to Iliopoulos, when the investigator asked the 2 policemen if they would recognize him walking in the street, and the policemen said “yes”, at that point, instead of asking them to point out and recognize who the defendant was, she, the investigator, pointed him out! After that, it wasn’t very difficult for the policemen to recognize him…

On the other hand, testimonies of citizens proving that Iliopoulos is innocent, have been completely ignored. There is also a revealing live radio report from a major radio station (SKAI Radio) and its journalist Dimitris Manis on the moment of the arrest of Iliopoulos. According to that live report, the Police attacked and arrested people that were just watching the incidents and weren’t participating in the riots. When the crowd opposed these arbitrary arrests, it was dispersed with tear gas which was targeting especially the journalists in order to prevent them from witnessing the arbitrary arrests.

After almost 7 months in jail, and after the decision of the Jurists to extend his provisional imprisonment (which is used more as an Administrative detention, like in the Occupied Palestinian Territories) Iliopoulos didn’t have any other means to struggle for his freedom, but his own body. He begun a hunger strike on the 10th of July.

According to the medical report of the 10th of August, after one month of hunger strike, Iliopoulos (who was of only 60 kg of weight when he begun the hunger strike), he had lost the 18% of his weight and has problems in several parts of his body (cardiovascular, muscular, central nervous system, electrolyte disorders) that pose an imminent risk for his life.

Only after this report and after 34 days of hunger strike, Iliopoulos was transferred to the Prison Hospital. But that’s not enough. He must be transferred to a regular hospital immediately. The fact that the Greek authorities are keeping Iliopoulos in prison and are refusing to transfer him to a hospital, reminds the numerous cases of medical negligence that a lot of Palestinian prisoners are suffering.

Whoever has met Thodoris Iliopoulos knows that he is a very delicate man, low profile, very polite, almost poetic. So why the authorities have chosen him as the scapegoat? First of all, Iliopoulos he didn’t remain silent while he was in prison. He denounced not only his unfair imprisonment but also he declared that he was in solidarity with the teenagers’ uprising. Furthermore his ideological background: although he doesn’t want to put labels to himself, such as “anarchist” he says openly that he has read and is influenced by anarchist ideas. Finally his age: young enough to be one of the “rebels”, old enough to be treated separately from the teenagers. So the authorities consider him a suitable case to be punished as an example (and threat) for others.

A lot of people are standing in solidarity with Iliopoulos. Another prisoner, Nikos Tsouvalakis begun a hunger strike in the same day, just in solidarity with his fellow prisoner Iliopoulos. Several MPs of the Coalition of Radical Left are standing in solidarity (among them Anastasios Kourakis who broke the siege on Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement, about a year ago), with press conferences and letters to the authorities, but also an MP from the Socialist Party was present at the most recent press conference. Although this is the period of vacations and all the Greeks are in the countryside or at the beach, small protests are organized in many places all over the country. But it’s true that this is a difficult time…

In 1937, while he was still in Britain, Alfred Hitchcock made a great thriller named “Young and Innocent” about a man falsely accused. The spectators know that the accused is innocent and that’s the reason they are thrilled to see if he will manage to prove his innocence. This summer we are witnessing the thriller of another Young and Innocent man, Thodoris Iliopoulos. But this is not a film. It’s real life. And Thodoris’ life is in danger.

Whoever wants to support can sign the on line petition:

http://petitiononline.com/tokeli41/

The photo of Thodoris Iliopoulos is from his personal archive

The photo of the policemen pointing the gun at the protesters is the one that cost photojournalist Kostas Tsironis his job…

G.K.

Sources: Solidarity Initiative with Thodoris Iliopoulos, Eleytherotypia news paper, Amnesty International