Arrest, trial, and action updates from Greece

From Culmine (February 18, 2011) via Klinamen (February 17, 2011):

In the early morning of Friday, February 11, 38-year-old comrade D.H. was arrested in Athens. The main charge was weapons possession. According to the police, a pair of handguns were also found during a search of D.H.’s home. On Monday, February 14, D.H. was brought before the hearing judge and prosecutor, who applied the antiterrorist law in deciding to place him in pretrial detention. A small solidarity demonstration was held at the courthouse. Because police and mass media sources contain several contradictions regarding the arrest (including the area where it took place), but above all out of respect for D.H., we are going to refrain from further commentary until he releases a statement about the events.
_____

On September 17, 2010, three comrades were arrested on a country road on the island of Euboea (150 km north of Athens) and charged with a bank robbery that took place that same day in the town of Psachna. Michalis Traikapis and Alexandros Kosivas are currently in pretrial detention at Korydallos Prison, while Maria Ikonomou is out on probation pending trial. A letter from the three can be read here.

Six months later, the court of Chalcis (the capital of Euboea) has named another anarchist comrade, V.P., as an accomplice in the bank robbery. V.P. is well-known for his years of antiauthoritarian political struggle, and there is no evidence connecting him to the bank robbery other than his being an anarchist. A call has been made for a demonstration in front of the Chalcis courthouse on Friday, February 18.
_____

Simos Seisidis faces the first of his many trials on February 24. You’ll recall that he had been on the run since January 2006 after an arrest warrant was issued charging him with the same National Bank robbery that led to the arrest of Yiannis Dimitrakis. Seisidis was finally arrested on May 3, 2010 after being shot by the pigs. His wounds caused him to lose a significant amount of blood, and one of his legs had to be amputated due the intentionally substandard care he received. Since last summer, he has been in Agios Pavlos prison hospital, located just outside the Korydallos Prison complex. His February 24 trial is ridiculous, but it still poses a danger to his future since it will represent a line drawn in the sand by the state. At issue is a Rage Against The Machine concert in Athens in 2000, after which police were attacked outside the venue and a few small riots flared up. Months later, a police officer blamed several well-known anarchists for causing the disturbances. After a number of years, our comrades were eventually tried and found not guilty—except for Seisidis, who was in hiding at the time and therefore couldn’t just show up to stand trial. Now that he’s in their clutches, the state is going ahead with trying him for this post-concert fracas. In March, Seisidis’ trial for the January 16, 2006 National Bank robbery will begin. Of course, there is no actual evidence against him other than the assumption that he was one of Dimitrakis’ accomplices.
_____

The trial of Aris Seirinidis, another comrade imprisoned since May 2010, begins on March 9. It will be the very first Greek political trial in which the only evidence is DNA. Comrades in solidarity with Seirinidis, apart from their constant propaganda efforts regarding his case, are preparing a public campaign with demonstrations, etc., while the trial is going on. A letter from Seirinidis can be read here.
_____

Just over a week ago, the side entrance to the Gerakas (north of the Athens metro area) police station was torched using two incendiary devices made from 16 camping gas canisters and many liters of gasoline. The arson was dedicated to the hunger striking comrades on trial in the Fire Cells Conspiracy case and claimed by the Severino di Giovanni Commando of the International Revolutionary Front’s Terrorist Complicity/Warriors from the Abyss group.