Greece: Update on the case of anarchist André Mazurek, prisoner of the December ’08 uprising

Three years later…

Three years after his arrest, the anarchist André Mazurek [of Polish origin] continues to be held in the prisons of the Greek State. The comrade was arrested on December 9th, 2008, in Canningos Square [downtown Athens] during the clashes that followed the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the cops-assassins Korkoneas and Saraliotis.

In a subsequent trial, André was sentenced to 7 years’ incarceration and 4,5 years’ imprisonment for various offenses [misdemeanors and felonies], of which the most serious were possession and use of explosives (Molotov cocktails) and serial attempted homicide of police officers, although nothing incriminating was found on him during his arrest.

What played important role in this turn of events was the fact that the comrade knew no Greek except the fine slogan ‘batsi, gourounia, dolofoni (cops, pigs, murderers)’, so he was convicted without even being aware of the charges or able to defend himself properly. The interpreters from the embassy of Poland, who came in the police headquarters in Athens only after André was beaten and interrogated, were in full alignment with the Greek authorities; thus, knowing in advance the political identity of André, they translated other than what they heard. The same exact practice was repeated in his trial too.

At the moment, André is the only one captive by the state from the revolt of December 2008, while the murderer Vasilis Saraliotis was recently released from prison with the blessings of the Greek justice.

Once again it’s proven that anyone who does not bow his/her head, and fights against the state brutality, is tortured and imprisoned, either with or without evidence. At the moment, André Mazurek is held in the 2nd wing of Larissa prison (in central Greece). The June 11th, 2012, has been set as the day that the Court of Appeals will review his application. There, he will have to face ten cops as prosecution witnesses instead of the two cops who appeared in the first trial. André is also facing possible extradition after serving his prison sentence, as the Polish authorities have already made him their target.

PS. This text was written because we wish to inform comrades on André’s situation and, from inside of prison, make his case one more bet of the fighters inside and outside the walls.

The fellow inmates of André Mazurek
Spyros Stratoulis
Dan Carabulea
Giorgos Karagiannidis
Yannis Gelitsas
Olivio Tzetzeskou
Tasos Boyannis
Elias Karadouman

source: athens.indymedia.org