December 7th, 2012
On December 18th, 2012 the Piraeus court will examine the appeal/motion which was filed by Savvas Xiros, who requests anew his release from prison on health grounds and home hospitalization.
His health condition presents multifactorial symptoms, from his eyes (he is practically blind), ears (he is almost deaf), circulatory system (he suffers leg swelling caused by venous insufficiency), nervous system (he suffers dizziness, unsteadiness, cerebral vascular accident, and the beginning of multiple sclerosis), to the amputation of his right hand.
In other words, we are practically dealing with a man on the verge of survival. After several denials by prison administration boards, Savvas received a positive court order which enabled him to be admitted in the AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki, in the summer of 2012, and be hospitalized there for five months (needless to say he was constantly guarded). The antiterrorist unit intervened in the proceeding and interrupted the treatment within nine days. Savvas was thus transferred back to the (chicken-coop called) hospital for prisoners in Koridallos. In this case—as is always the case with guerrillas who were caught wounded—the medical and nursing staff left the field clear for the police forces; in fact, the staff openly collaborated with cops who imposed their own terms on hospitalization.
This repressive approach is in accordance with the ongoing physical and political isolation that the establishment enforced after the 2002 arrests in the case of the revolutionary organization 17 November (17N).
Especially as far as Savvas is concerned the establishment is taking a step further, aiming at his physical extermination. The authorities wait for the moment when his medical condition will have become irreversible (which is already the case in most aspects) to release him from prison; and even then they would free him only to avoid that the annihilating policy of the prison system is linked to his death.
This is no innovation of the Greek State in particular, since the slow death of heavily injured or gravely ill guerrillas/fighters is an international line of action of the democratic totalitarianism —e.g. Joëlle Aubron in France (Action directe member; born in 1959; died in 2006, two years after she was finally granted release from prison on health grounds).
What stands for Savvas’ case is not just about him. It also reminds and warns us of what fate is reserved for those who choose to respond with violence to the violence of the regime.
For this reason, we consider Savvas’ case one which must be claimed, not in some humanitarian way, but in terms of revolutionary solidarity.
We must claim his release from prison as him being a fighter and injured guerrilla, and leave no ground for oblivion.
Don’t forget the fight; don’t just stand and watch its hostages sink into oblivion.
Anarchist prisoners of war:
Alexandros Mitroussias
Giorgos Karagiannidis
Kostas Sakkas
Babis Tsilianidis
Dimitris Dimtsiadis
Sokratis Tzifkas
PS. This text was shaped through collective processes in the past week, and was given for publication while the latter two comrades were still in prison.