On Saturday, December 29th, 2012 solidarians spread a text of comrade Vaggelis Koutsibelas on the occasion of his upcoming trial. He has been on remand since the 5th of April 2012, accused of committing a series of incendiary attacks with gas canisters in the city of Trikala. Below is his short letter from the D2 wing of the Trikala closed prison.
The trial date has been set for the 6th of March 2013, in a mixed criminal court in the city of Larissa.
Cops and judges in all their glory: they will call eight witnesses to the stand, including two undercover cops and one of the DIAS police motorcycle team. Among the prosecuting witnesses is the snitch Giorgos Zafiris (a cops’ minion, who has snitched on the half population of Trikala just to get his dose of heroin; he could sell his own mother for drugs). He wasn’t ashamed of calling me “HIS FRIEND”! I will be waiting in the courtroom for him as well, just to see how exactly will he deal with me there, because he’s got a lot of nerve.
Another two witnesses for the prosecution who claim they were eye-witnesses and had come face to face with the perpetrator, were never called to testify before this moment. Especially the second witness told the cops she had come face to face with the suspect, and described the man as follows: ‘He had average height, and he had a motorbike’. For starters, my motorbike was confiscated by cops a few days before the investigated incidents, because I didn’t have the necessary license documents on me during traffic police identification. When I managed to get my motorbike from the police headquarters, it had several damages and it was impossible to drive it for a while. Until now, this particular witness was never called to testify in my presence, during cross-examination.
I was found guilty by both cops and judges, who ordered my pretrial detention by an accelerated procedure. During the first days of my captivity, they didn’t even let me go to the hospital or send me to a coroner to examine my bleeding wounds, caused by the repeated beatings I received while under custody. My torturers in plainclothes had the complete assistance of the preliminary judges. I still laugh at the words that the female prosecutor said to my face back then: “He is 42-years-old, and now you remembered to bring him before me? Lock him up, lock him up!”
From my part, I have denied all charges pressed against me and the arsons which are attributed to me; the only thing I’ve accepted was the texts which were posted on the internet. I supposedly incited (through my texts) the people of Trikala to rise up and set fire to the prefecture and the municipality —as if we are forcing anyone to read such communiqués and assimilate to them!
Never mind; it will all be clarified in court. I also called six defense witnesses, and of course the youths from my village to support me. Unfortunately Ι have no income, and if the ‘merciful’ Greek State does not provide for a court-appointed lawyer, then Ι will be forced to defend my case on my own. That’s all I had to say about the upcoming trial.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES…
Vaggelis Koutsibelas
D2 Wing, Trikala prison