Greek prisons: The 8 anarchists from the Network of Imprisoned Fighters (DAK) terminated their hunger strike

On April 18th 2015, the eight anarchist prisoners of DAK Antonis Stamboulos, Giorgos Karagiannidis, Fivos Harisis, Argyris Ntalios, Grigoris Sarafoudis, Andreas-Dimitris Bourzoukos, Dimitris Politis and Yannis Michailidis announced the end of their hunger strike, considering that a significant portion of their demands were partially fulfilled after the new prison reform bill was passed by parliament:

– The legal framework that determines the operation of type C prisons was repealed. (However, article 187 regarding criminal organisations and article 187A regarding terrorist organisations still stand.)

– The aggravating feature relating to acts committed with concealed/altered physical characteristics was abolished for cases of arrests in demonstrations. However, the anti-hoodie law still applies to cases of (armed) robberies. According to the hunger strike termination statement of the participants in DAK, the minimum sentence for robbery with concealed/altered physical characteristics was dropped from 10 to 5 years, leaving the matter to the discretion of the judge.

– It was determined that an independent expert witness may be present from the early stage of collection of genetic material/samples. However, the prosecutorial provision of forcible taking of DNA samples still stands.

– It was determined that inmates sentenced to life imprisonment who have served 10 years in prison, and their degree of disability exceeds an 80%, may be granted release to serve the remainder of their sentence under house arrest (with an electronic bracelet). So, the convicted 17N member Savvas Xiros may be granted the possibility to be placed under house arrest, as his degree of disability has reached a 98%.

We wish all rebellious prisoners who conducted hunger strikes a complete and speedy recovery.

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