On the night of December 2nd, 2014, it was confirmed that the request of anarchist prisoner Nikos Romanos – who has now entered the 24th day of hunger strike – was denied a second time. In particular, he had filed an appeal against the denial of special judge Eftichis Nikopoulos to grant him educational furloughs, whose decision was eagerly approved by the Koridallos prison board. The comrade’s appeal was dismissed in Piraeus courts by the competent judicial council.
On December 3rd, Nikos released an open letter from the hospital stating he will fight till the end. The comrade dismissed a proposal to attend distance learning classes, or worse yet video conference courses inside prison walls, and persisted in his demand for a few breaths of freedom.
Contrary to allegations made by the justice minister Charalambos Athanasiou, who did not hesitate to spread through the mass media that the anarchist hunger striker is fed a liquid diet(!), Nikos Romanos made it very clear that he has strictly refused to be put on any sort of intravenous drip (according to physician Pantelia Vergopoulou, he only drinks water mixed with sugar).
Below is a short excerpt from the comrade’s text titled “Dancing with death for 24 days”:
I for my part go on, I walk past any probability of backing down, and I respond with STRUGGLE UNTIL VICTORY, OR STRUGGLE UNTIL DEATH.
In any event, if the State murders me by its stance, mister Athanasiou and his associates will go down in history as a gang of murderers, instigators to the torture and killing of a political prisoner. Let’s just hope free spirits turn up and judge the justness of their justice system in their own way.
In closing this text, I would like to send out my complicity and my friendship to all those who stand by me with any means at their disposal.
Finally, a couple of words for Yannis, who is also hospitalized, Andreas, Dimitris and several other brothers and sisters of mine.
The struggle may also bring about losses; in pathways towards a dignified life, we need to take death by the hand, running the risk of losing everything in order to gain everything. The struggle continues with bare hands and clenched fists against the knife, over and over again.
All for everything!
For as long as we live and breathe, long live anarchy!
To the streets of wrath on the 6th of December!
My thoughts will be wandering through the familiar streets.
It’s worth it to live for a dream, even if its fire is to burn you.
And as we often say: Strength.
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