Athens – Revolutionary Struggle case: Five anarchists convicted in first instance

On April 3rd, 2013 the judgment on the Revolutionary Struggle case was a slight improvement of the prosecutor’s proposal. The court’s decision on the Revolutionary Struggle case:

Defendants who have denied participation in the organization

– Acquittal of Marie Beraha, Sarantos Nikitopoulos and Kostas Katsenos of all charges (on benefit of doubt).

– Conviction of Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis for alleged participation in the organization.

Admitted members of Revolutionary Struggle

– Acquittal of Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas of the accusation of ‘directing a terrorist organization.’

– Conviction of Nikos Maziotis, Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas for ‘simple synergy’ with the actions of Revolutionary Struggle (without a shred of evidence concerning their involvement in specific actions, but rather applying the Nazi principle of joint liability).

To sum up, Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis was sentenced to 86 years’ imprisonment; his sentence was merged into 50 years. Revolutionary Struggle members Pola Roupa and Kostas Gournas were both sentenced to 87 years; each sentence was merged into 50 years and 6 months. For all three of them, the maximum prison term is 25 years (which are typically served either as a full sentence or by day wages in prisons, or after the completion of 3/5 of the prison term, when a prisoner can be granted conditional release under specific conditions).

Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis were sentenced to 8 and 7 years’ imprisonment, respectively. The sentence against Vaggelis Stathopoulos was merged into 7 years and 6 months.

In addition, for all five convicted anarchists, the judges’ decision provided for deprivation of their political rights (5 years for the three admitted members of Revolutionary Struggle, and 3 years for the other two anarchists), as well as non-suspensive effect of appeal.

While Nikos Maziotis and Pola Roupa are on the run, Kostas Gournas, Vaggelis Stathopoulos and Christoforos Kortesis were immediately taken to prison. The militant slogans of the audience and the clenched fists of the three anarchist fighters were the last moments of the trial.

Solidarity with all anarchists imprisoned or persecuted by the Greek State! The battle for freedom is far from over.

Long live Revolutionary Struggle!