Letter from I.G. on remand for the Nadir Case in thessaloniki

Early in the afternoon of 4th December an organized raid by 50 cops took place against the anarchist centre of Nadir, on the ground-floor of the B section of the students’ block of buildings, in this way violating the university asylum. The cops raided the place, arresting 9 people, 3 girls and 6 boys, injuring several of them. Later we were taken to ΓΑΔΘ (General Police Headquarters of Thessaloniki), where I am still being held.

On the first day of our arrest, until we were brought behind the bars of these squalid cells, something that lasted about 12 hours, I was the only person who was handcuffed, with my hands going numb because of the pain, with the excuse that the guards did not have the keys or orders to take the handcuffs off. At the same time the cops tried to get statements from us and pushed us to sign confessions. At that time the translator tried to mislead me (she was authorized as translator by the cops and probably works in their interests) to sign a confession telling me that in reality it was a legal document, stating that during the body check on me by the cops no mobile phone was found on me.

Of course, like the rest of my comrades, I did not sign anything, but I was close to being trapped and sinking into deep shit, as has probably already happened with other Bulgarians with the same translator.

So started the racist discrimination against me, because I come from Bulgaria, discrimination that still exists today.

After almost 12 hours we were led to the detention cells of  Γ.Α.Δ.Θ .  (General Police Headquarters of Thessaloniki),  where the conditions of detention for prisoners are deadly, since for the first days they did not give us any blankets and many of us were sleeping on the floor.

Two days later and accompanied by a whole army of cops, we were taken to the prosecutor who announced the ridiculous accusations blaming us as responsible for all the damage that has happened on the University Campus over recent years. Three days later we appeared before the investigator who decided about my pre-trial custody. Once again my home country became serious evidence for my imprisonment, despite the fact that I had the same accusations as the rest of my comrades who were released.

My opinion is that this whole cop action that reminds me of a Hollywood movie took place just because it was two days before the 6th of December, the date when Alexandros Grigoropoulos was murdered, event that led to the revolt of 2008 breaking out.

The cops’ action obviously took place in order to create a climate of terror before December 6, just like what happened last year against Resalto anarchist centre in Athens.

With this action, the cops also succeeded in stopping the self-organized radio station Radio-Revolt 88.7 FM from transmitting because among the objects they seized was the server of the radio station. The wagon of Radio-Revolt was attacked one month before by the Para-State and after this the server was transferred to the anarchist centre of Nadir.

The anarchist centre of Nadir is an open social space with a sound studio, cafeteria, library, gym, and also a place for people to sleep. The centre was visited every day by many people who wanted to develop socio-political action, events that I do not consider negative.

In conclusion, for almost 40 days now I am a hostage in the squalid conditions of detention offered by the cells of democracy. Despite all the above, they will not make

it to break me because I know that it’s not me who is the victim, but the cops themselves because their rotten minds cannot even understand what freedom means.

Solidarity to all those people who, like me, stay in the squalid cells behind bars because I know and believe that all together we are powerful and there are no prisons or authority that can scare us or knock us down.

15th January 2011

Γ.Α.Δ.Θ.

(General Police Headquarters of Thessaloniki),

On remand for Nadir case.