Torture in Korinthos jail - Letters from Prisoners" (south-Greece)

"Over the past week situations of extremely fascistic behaviour have taken place in the "dukedom" of Korinthos' jails. We use the word Dukedom, because chairmen, sergeants, step-sergeants, employees are nearly all residents in the Corinthian area, some of them with the same surname, who obviously consider the jail their "privately-owned family manor". On 3rd January 2011 one of the persons who lives in our cell came back from outside (after the jail authorities' permission to meet his family for the Christmas vacation) and instead of coming back to our cell, - as always happens after permits -, where all his personal belongings are, the guards lock him in another cell where he sleeps on the floor. In his place (and bed) they bring a prisoner who has just arrived from another jail. We reacted intensely, demanding that they bring our cellmate back into our cell. Then, the chief-sergeant Mr. Sotirios Tziavikos (a member of the famous Tziavikos' people-guards Family) - in order to "show who is boss" and that he does not stand any protests or "demands" from the prisoners' side – also ordered that the other two of us leave the cell and be removed to the block. Of course we refused to move, saying that the only way to remove us is to take us to the punishment cells ... The chief- sear gent ordered us to pick up our personal stuff, while informing us that "he is boss". Because of Dignity - which the people-guards do not have and that's why they do not understand it - we refused to obey his orders again, contesting the self evident and basic: namely, the capacity to chose (as much as someone can talk about "choice" inside the wretched conditions of imprisonment) the people with whom we live, refusing to be treated like objects that are put on shelves anyway and whenever the people-guards want it. Two days later, on Wednesday 5th, during the afternoon, when the jail shuts down, the people-guards, after locking up the cells, took one of our cellmates into the corridor, put handcuffs on him and started beating him up then threw him into the punishment block. Of course, we all understood how different the results and situation would have been if the opposite had happened ... The report of these events is the result of what our dignity orders us to do because we do not expect anything, nor beg anything from any official "authority on duty". Moreover, the authorities have proved in action ... how "emotional" they are against prisoners - outcasts, poor devils, immigrants and those who doubt their authority."

The  prisoners from cell 2
in Corinthos' jails
Charalambos Avramidis
Petrov
Demetres Tsikrikis
Christoforos Kortesis

Letter from the prisoner Charalambos Avramidis

From the moment I stepped out of the cell, I was attacked without any reason by the people-guards Mr. Georgios Michos, Mr. Vasilios Kotsis and Mr. Marinos Stavrou. While they were beating me up and I saw the handcuffs they were holding, I understood at once what was to follow for me while I was in their hands. Because in the eyes of a people-guard prisoners are just body-sacks. While I was being attacked by the three people-guards, it was reasonable to resist to them. I know very well that other prisoners have also passed from here and been tortured on a higher level than me. Then they tied me up and beat me "carefully", namely on the body and legs and not on the face. After they put the handcuffs on me they trailed me along the floor for 3 - 4 metres like a sack of muck. Sometime I made it to sit up and then the second round started. Mr. Michos grasped me with a headlock and started punching me on my left ear - which is still humming and I have intense pain - and on my sides. They threw me in a punishment-cell-barrack full of dirt and waste water, with a wretched mattress on the dirty floor. The humidity was making my injuries more painful. During the night I did not sleep because I know, from other prisoners who have been in the same position, what can happen during the night ... The people-guards started laughing at me, saying "oh, come on Charalambos, what else could Michos do, he was only following orders" - orders obviously coming from the chief-torturer - chief-sergeant -, or "I should have been on duty that night, then you’d have seen what could happen to you", or they also told me "ehhhh, it's ok, you only got a few, you should have got more". The immediate reaction and solidarity from my cellmates and because the people-guards wanted "the event to remain inside the jail", made them start behaving "sweet" to the prisoners. But, no matter how much perfume they put on, they will always stink like pigs! After three days in the punishment cell they transferred me to a dormitory, where instead of 10, there are 26 persons, some of them sleeping two to a bed, telling me that in ten days I will be back in my cell ...

Yesterday it was the time of my brother
Today it's mine Tomorrow the time of us all.

STOP THE TORTURING OF PRISONERS INSIDE THE PLACES OF TORMENT CALLED JAILS

Charalambos Avramidis
Korinthos'
Jails

 7th January 2011

On Sunday, January 9 a solidarity demo was held outside the Corinth prison for Charalambos Avramidis, who was beaten by guards and for the Christoforos  Cortesis, his cell mates Petrov and D. Tsikrikas. Slogans were shouted from inside and outside the prison and written on the walls. The director and the guards got a strong message that bullying and beating does not pass and that we never leave our comrades alone. !!

Here are some photos of the slogans at the entrance of the prison.
(Note: Tziavikos is the chief-sergeant)

FIRE TO THE PRISONS SOLIDARITY TO ALL HOSTAGES OF THE STATE!

FIRE TO ALL PRISONS

A society that punishes/the condition of incarceration/the prison of the mind/the prison as punishment/the rage of the damned will sound on the ruins of prisons/those denying obedience and misery of our era even within its hellholes/will dance together on the ruins of every last prison/with the flame of rebellion avenging whatever creates prisons.

To the prisoners struggle already counting one dead and thousands in hunger strike across greece, we stand in solidarity and anger until the destruction of every last prison.

ARSON AND WILDFIRE FOR EVERY PRISON

On Tuesday 14 december at 5pm there is a solidarity gathering in “Eleutherias square” in Korydallos (Athens) and then a march towards the prison. Similar demonstrations will take place in other cities. So far the call has been made in Thessaloniki (Venizelos Statue at 4pm) and Larissa (3.30pm Neapoli Market)

FIRE TO THE PRISONS SOLIDARITY TO ALL HOSTAGES OF THE STATE!



December 10th 2010:Greek prisons: 1,200 prisoners on Hunger Strike

Seven Corfu prisoners sewed their mouths

Another prisoner died in Kassaveteia prison No doctor in most prisons

Prisoners across Greece in a new wave of struggle

Echoing the large mobilisations of November 2008, when prisoners went on meal abstaining/ hunger strikes across the country, a fresh wave of mobilisations in the Greek prisons has just begun.
Translation of the prisoners’ demands and call for solidarity
Since Monday 29th November the prisoners in Greek jails have begun an abstention from meals, which is to escalate into a hunger strike, as a protest against the political indifference that they are experiencing. The prisoners, with a press release of the coordinating bodies of all the prisons-hellholes in the country, submit their demands (analytically in the enclosed list) for de-congestion of the prisons, improvement in the conditions, real justice, less imprisonment:
Demands:
1. To stop the abuse of pre-trial detention.
2. Reduction of the statutory upper limits to continuous imprisonment
3. Abolition of devastating sentences and wider application of the measure of probation/remission and conditional release
4. Legislation setting the upper time limit of the statute of limitation for disciplinary sentences at 6 months – for these not to be used as restraining factor for conditional release.
5. The abolition of the anti-terrorism law and the special terms of detention for political prisoners
6. Abolition of under age prisons and the establishment of structures of protection for underage offenders [translators' note: we are unsure of the meaning 'ανοιχτών δομών προστασίας']
7. Immediate release of prisoners with special needs and those who suffer from chronic serious illnesses
8. Immigrant prisoners: (a)immediate and unconditional practice of their right to serve their sentence in their country of origin (b) immediate release of all those who are held for judicial or administrative deportation, c) immediate trying of all trials of greeks and immigrants in all degrees
9. Leave of absence: (a) granting of leaves of absence with the same preconditions for all, no to the unequal and discriminatory treatment, no to arbitrary rejections of applications. (b) increase in the duration of leave in all cases. c) granting of leaves at the 1/5th [of the sentence] for all offences and for all prisoners, including those who are serving sentences for drugs.
10. Improvement in conditions of imprisonment: (a) the right to dignity, health, education, communication, development of personality, free speech, exercise (b) the right to work, immediate opportunity of employment for those who wish to do so, without restrictions due to disciplinary measures c) increase of jobs and increase in the percentage accounted for the days worked [which is subtracted from the sentence] (d) application of measures alternative to imprisonment – expansion of the institution of rural prisons to include female prisoners (e) banning of physical examinations, especially vaginal and anal, (f) improvement of the conditions within holding areas, of transfers and of means of transport.
11. Abolition of monetary sentences (fines).
The Initiative for the Rights of Prisoners stands in solidarity with the just struggle of the prisoners and makes a call for individuals, collectives and organizations to an open meeting to coordinate our actions for the organisation of acts of solidarity for the prisoners’ struggle.

Saturday 4th December, 8 pm, Social Center – Meeting-place of Immigrants
Ermou 23 & Venizelou, Thessaloniki
Initiative for the Rights of Prisoners, Thessaloniki

http://www.keli.gr

Let the slow death of Savas Ksiros stop from Action for Liberty

PRESS RELEASE

Let the slow death of Savas Ksiros stop

Let the appeal for ceasing his penalty be accepted so that he may be treated in hospital

                                                Athens, 30th November 2010

Savas Ksiros has appealed to the Magistrate’s Court of Piraeus asking for the cessation of his penalty, so that he may be treated in the ACHEPA Hospital of Thessaloniki, which accepts to treat him. He pleads a number of doctors’ opinions (in their majority from public hospitals), as well as the decision published on 9th September 2010 by the European Court of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece for “inhuman behaviour” in violation of article 3 in the Human Rights declaration.

The evidence of the doctors’ records included in the appeal creates the image of a prisoner condemned to slow death:

a)    Total blindness on one eye and minimal sight on the other, which is also at risk of blindness.

b)    Vein deficiency and its effect on the limbs, which creates the risk of mutilation.

c)    Hearing problems with the risk of total loss of hearing.

d)    Neurological and blood vessel problems.

e)    Chronic asthma.

f)      67% disability established by the Qualified State Committee.

Bearing in mind all the above problems, the European Court of Human Rights charges the Magistrate’s Court of Piraeus that it deliberately adopted only one of the four doctors’ records, so as to reject the previous appeal for ceasing the penalty (the other three doctors, two of whom forensic surgeons, had expressed the opinion that only in a specialized hospital under constant care and treatment would there be a hope of stopping the continuous deterioration of Savas Ksiros’ health).

In fact, the European Court of Human Rights condemned the Greek state for it applies on Savas Ksiros revengeful methods of detention, refusing to give him the opportunity of having the multiple health problems he faces treated. They judged that “his being accepted to a specialized medical centre for the period demanded by the nature of his medical treatment could prove crucial for the improvement of his health”.

The doctors’ opinions show that particularly his eye situation continually deteriorates. Thanks to the cruelty of the Greek state he has total blindness on one eye and the other is at risk of losing sight too. Unless there is immediate treatment in a specialized hospital, the situation will become irretrievable.

The enforced stay in prison of a man with the problems of Savas Ksiros is in itself inhuman behaviour. It could only be explained  as a means of revenge on the part of the Greek state to a prisoner of “special nature”.

Savas Ksiros must be immediately released from prison.

As a first step his appeal to have his penalty ceased should be accepted so that he may be treated in the state hospital that accepts him.

Any delay in satisfying this appeal will mean the continuation of a crime.

                                                          Action for Liberty 

http://actionforliberty.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/english/

Massive Administration of Substances in Greek prisons

CLIK ON THE BOOK AND READ....

Korydallos Prisons
Savvas Xiros
1st May 2009 

Prosecutors ALERT has been asked by kastanidis(minister of justice in Greece)

The minister of justice during his brief salute to the 26th annual meeting of the assosiation of judges and prosecutors, ( the real criminal terrorist union) asked the prosecutors to be on HIGH ALERT in the next hours , without to giving reason for his decision.

However according to information as of tomorow(today)29 November will been mobilizations in all prisons of Greece with mass food denial which will become a hunger strike.
The information was confirmed by the initiative for the rights of prisoners in Greece.
The main problems of the prisoners is the overpopulation of the prisons, the living conditions , medical care, the regime of granting day leaves , the reduction of sentences and the application of an alternative way of serving the sentences.
The prisoners mention that the prisons have a capacity of 9.700 places while the total number of prisoners is 12.600 (7.300 foreigners 5.100 locals and 180 foreigners waiting to be deported)






.

LETER FROM GERASIMOS TSAKALOS PANAGIOTIS ARGIROU.

WHOEVER DOES NOT ARM HIS DENIALS, DIES IN HIS CONTRACTS
On 01/11/2010, after we have already delivered two incendiary packages to Suisse Mail on Astidamantos street and to ACS on spirou merkouri street, in Pangrati, send to the Mexican embassy in Athens and the address of Eurojust in the Hague, we are surrounded by police officers of the DIAS group and arrested. In our possession were found two more packages of incendiary packages destined for the presidential residence of Nicolas Sarkozy in France and the Belgian Embassy in Athens.

As revolutionaries we do not recognize any interrogating authority. So, we were bound to refuse to apologize to cops and investigators, since our revolutionary position only before the public and comrades we feel as a duty to promote.
We declare ourselves, therefore, hostages of the revolutionary war, proud members of the revolutionary organization Conspiracy Cells of Fire. We do not regret anything and we support all commniques and actions of our organization, as well as those that will happen from now on, which made us and will make us proud.
We Support with all our soul the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, because it is also a part of our soul. We pride ourselves in our selection to find ourselves in a position of attack against the system.

Even through the difficult conditions of detention we will not stop showing never or clear views and positions on armed violence, urban guerilla warfare and the revolution.
Comrades, let us not allow them to take from us even a drop of land.
Comrades, lets break the apathy and social stupefaction.

Lets blow up the regularity of society once and for all.

P.S. There is no more beautiful way to show solidarity and the widening of the revolutionary consciousness than the continuation and intensification of diverse guerrilla action.

So we send our most sincere comrade greetings to the Guerillas, which in spite of the times continue to shine with fires of hate the miserable nights of the metroplois.

In the campaign for international solidarity to foreign organizations and imprisoned fighters, a communique of the organization will follow. 
NOTHING IS OVER

THE WAR CONTINUES

Conspiracy of Cells of Fire -Commando Practical Theory

Gerasimos Tsakalos Panagiotis Argirou

boubourAs translation actforfreedomnow. 

Solidarity to Panagiotis Giannou

Comrade P.Giannou has been imprisoned in korridalos prisons since the 17^th of November.

On the 7^th of October after a chase for about a kilometre he was stopped with his motorbike and taken to Bournazi police station in peristeri area in Athens where after searching him they found a small incendiary device in his bag. After the usual “friendly talks”, he was taken to a room and asked to snitch on other comrades to secure his own freedom. They obviously got the answer they deserved.

He was taken to the prosecutor the next day, where after a disagreement between the prosecutor and district attorney he was released until the trial. A few days later the court decided: detained as too dangerous for public safety. On the 17^th of November he was imprisoned in korridalos prisons.

IF THE INNOCENT DESERVE OUR SOLIDARITY ONCE

THE GUILTY DESERVE IT A HUNDRED TIMES OVER…  

New letter from Panayiotis Masouras

New letter from Panayiotis Masouras

24 10 2010  http://thisisourjob.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/new-letter-from-panayiotis-masouras/ From Presxs A La Kalle! (September/October 2010):
On August 31, the final appeal hearing for comrades Panayiotis “Takis” Masouras and Harilaos “Haris” Hatzimichelakis was held in Athens. Their lawyers’ request that our comrades be released on probation was unanimously rejected. About 50 people gathered in front of the courthouse to show solidarity. According to the lawyers’ estimates, the trial of both comrades (imprisoned since September 2009), as well as that of Konstantina Karakatsani (at large since September 2009 and arrested in April 2010), will take place in November. All three are accused of participating in the Fire Cells Conspiracy.
Silence will be a thing of the past.
Prison, as an institution of correction and conformity, aims to set straight and bring reason to the stressed social group found within.
The goal of the systemic rule of the regime’s prison policy is to subjugate each individual’s spiritual, psychological, and physical desires and capabilities—individuals who, in accordance with the law, are isolated and marginalized by the regime’s machinery like so many cancerous tumors awaiting therapy. In the cells of democracy, jailers who are an extension of the disciplinary mechanism devote themselves to a shameless war against human decency and dignity. The disciplinary structures of Authority want us on our knees, cut off from all social contact, and mentally stagnant. Their objective is to defuse the struggle for freedom by attempting to confine the fight against power.
The imprisoned subject experiences a long-term internal war. It is a war of disciplinary punishments (which constitute a punishment within a punishment), new sentences received while one is already inside, suspended leave, bigmouth prosecutors, the permanent degradation of human integrity itself, and miserable and inhumane prison conditions (regarding water, food, heat, overcrowding, and a lack of medical care and medicine). It doesn’t require complex deduction to realize that someone who finally leaves the regime’s crematoriums in one piece would mistake the misery on the outside for opulence.
The subject herself rejects the idea that the act of individual self-realization can bring about change. Each prisoner has to escape the one-dimensional viewpoint generated by the System’s channels of information and realize that the possibilities of restraining the jailer of her soul are infinite. She has to reflect on the possibility that the bottomless abyss of misery engulfing the human beings around her might pose the fundamental question on insurrectional terms, through the search for and discovery of the limitless potentialities within each one of us.
In the world of the powerful, in the world of global capitalism, nothing is ever given away. The duty of the capitalist elite is to propagate acceptance and fatalism, which in turn breed inertia.
The duty of prisoners is to see themselves essentially as prisoners of war, with all the responsibilities, obligations, and expectations entailed by that step toward direct confrontation with Authority.
We ourselves must be the change we want to see. Everything we’ve achieved has been claimed with blood, struggle, and armed desire.
Our plans to oppose the politics of annihilation must consist of disciplined, combative structures formed by the captives themselves. Those of us “inside” and “outside” the walls will fight Authority’s information system, which classifies us as “long-term criminals.” We will thus establish an authentic connection between the discourse and practice of struggle—the struggle of dignity against submission.
With our heads high and our necks straight, we will claim freedom.
The act of continuing to live with pride despite being “behind” bars makes the concrete walls invisible. It makes them invisible because we are transparent. It makes them invisible because we are Fighters and we dare. And when the walls are nonexistent, our strength sings the songs of victory.
“Inside” and “outside,” we’ll form a fist to break their teeth.
Long live human dignity and the passion for freedom.
Our struggle is the fertile terrain of the past, the blank pages of the present, and the promises of the future.
Fire to the prisons.
Solidarity with Captive Fighter Vangelis Pallis.
The blood each Fighter sheds is our blood too.
—Panayiotis Masouras, Avlona Special Detention Center for Minors, September 2010

  http://thisisourjob.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/new-arrests-in-greece/


Thodoris Delis 
Last summer, two people from the Athens anti-authoritarian milieu were arrested on the island of Rhodes and charged with a bank robbery. One of them recently wrote a letter explaining what happened.
Comrades:
On August 16, 2010, I was arrested in Rhodes and charged with robbing an ATEbank. Because I am not limited by the perceived duality of “innocence/guilt,” and because I refused to cooperate with the authorities, the prosecutor and judge unanimously decided to imprison me. Before that, I was subjected to a number of draining interrogations by the uniformed servants of Power, both local and from Athens. The investigators were apparently under the control of the National Intelligence Service and sent specially from the Exarcheia police station to identify me and share information. They also tried, in vain, to implicate some of my personal friends and comrades in the case. They then locked me up in the Rhodes police dungeons, which is unusual. I was “visited” there by two psychologists, who examined me and put together what’s known as a “psychological profile.” Suddenly, they decided to move me to the transfer office on Petrou Ralli Street in Athens, where the people in charge refused to let me know which prison they would be taking me to. After an exhausting stay, they told me I’d be going to Alikarnassos, and it was only at the last minute that I was able to notify my family and friends about my destination. All the transfers have taken place in the manner we know all about, crushing every last bit of human dignity, while the prison was certainly not chosen by chance. It’s due to these reasons that I haven’t had time to state my position regarding the case. The judicial report still hasn’t been finalized, and they are continuing to collect evidence. Therefore, when I am able, I will write more extensively about my stance on several matters, generally and with regard to the movement.
I send comradely regards to everyone who stood by me and helped me in various ways. Additionally, I salute everyone participating in the very important initiative to create a prisoner solidarity fund, which I also took part in from the beginning.

Free everyone inside

Solidarity with all persecuted comrades

Solidarity with fighting prisoner Vangelis Pallis

—Thodoris Delis, Alikarnassos prison 

http://actforfreedomnow.blogspot.com/2010/08/sofoklis-nigdelis-roommate-of-vaggelis.html
http://actforfreedomnow.blogspot.com/2010/08/vangelis-pallis-49-years-old-aka-apache.html

Korkoneas receives life sentence plus 15 months; Saraliotis receives 10 years and asks for suspension to his sentence

History has, time and time again, shown us that people suffer from lack of memory. History repeats its self tragically and I am sure that history it self is sick of repeating. We stand by incapable of relieving it of its martyrdom .

Now more than ever, we must lift it from its miserable stagnancy. It is impossible to forget. We cannot forget. We have no right to forget. We have a duty to move here, there, anywhere but not return to our couches as mere viewers of the fate of the above-mentioned “lady” (history). We can show history round the world we trust. A world devoid of inequality. A world where our sweat will at last matter. A world where our life will not depend on meaningless conflict and negotiations nor of course depend on any sort of ostracism or any metaphysical phenomenon.

So, I am afraid we’ll forget and we’ll go back home to the warmth that freezes our conscience. I fear we’ll end up watching the news once again without our action in it. We‘ve started something which we have a duty to bring to a conclusion not to an end. It’s time to awaken history and even on crutches. Lead it under our banner to the country, so much talked-about, the country to which we suddenly got tickets for. Let’s make the journey and let’s leave our entire luggage behind. Let us create everything from a beginning whose thread will look stable and inelastic. What we need is within us. It would be pathetic to let it remain within. It would be to egoistical to digest it. It would be destructive not to share it.

Repeating doesn’t make it perfect, it destroys evolution. I entreat you then not to forget to go out in the streets. History has always slept in the streets anyway.

As it has just been announced: Korkoneas, the murderer of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, has received a life sentence for the murder, plus 15 months for illegal weapon possession. His co-defendant and accomplice to the murder, Saraliotis, has received 10 years. Saraliotis has asked for his sentence to be suspended until the court of appeals; his demand is being considered now (14.30 GMT+2) by the court – this caused a reaction by Alexandros’ grandmother and the atmosphere in the courtroom is now tense.

Film footage of the incident in which 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police in the Exarchia area of Athens.

o, so u wanna no what happened in greece ??
A cop killed a 15 year old boy in a 50 meters distance. not enough... the country has to pay back like 500 Billions to the EU or I guess we're fucked. Still want more. The politicians and the prime minister, do not attempt to save the country, but steal as much money as they can ! they're ripping us apart.. the financial problem is all over us. So what is going on in greece ? We just do not stand here silent. We only desire a better future...

INSURRECTION IN ALIKARNASSOS PRISONS (CRETE) AGAINST THE NEW VENGEFUL PRISON REGIME

16th september

 The prisoners denied to go back to their cells until their demands were met. They ask for the abolishment of the undignified and humiliating searches that happen everyday in their personal space that sometimes lead to the same people being searched 3-4 times a week after the first ones found nothing. The insufficient meals which are served at the same times but with much smaller portions (half a plate of spaghetti), the revolting sanitary conditions with cockroaches jumping out of everywhere, the unjustified set up disciplinaries as oppressive measures that for a month now have been imposed by the new sergeant Teggas have as the only target the physical and ethical extermination of those imprisoned in them.


 The enslaved prison guards who execute vengeful orders themselves, with the justification of searching the cell they throw everything on the floor (sheets, personal belongings and food and coffees) create their own responsibility and will answer for that.



A motorbike demo of about 50 people arrived outside the prisons in solidarity shortly after to support the prisoners however they can.



THE DAYS OF INSURRECTION ARE NEAR

The criminalization of poverty and the resistance in the case of the Tsouvalaki brothers.

Tuesday 1st of September 2010. For the theft of two laptops and a few mobile phone batteries of small value, from shops of a large company, “repeated thefts, occupation thieve and by habit”, the court of appeals of athens gave a sentence of 6 years to Nikolaos Tsouvalakis, who according to defence witnesses has the responsibility of taking care of his sick brother and his other three brothers that are locked in psychiatric clinics, and 4 years To Theodoros Tsouvalakis, who has 67% disability from a stroke he had in 2000 and can barely take care of himself, with the mitigation of “good behaviour after the action”. According to the decision the two brothers have to serve the sentences given to them. Nikolaos Tsouvalakis returned to Trikala prisons were he has been kept for 20 months now, while disabled Theodoros was taken to Hania prisons despite the decision of the first court to postpone his sentence of 7 years until the second court. Since friday august 20th N.ikos Tsouvalakis is on hunger strike in Trikala prisons protesting the justice procedures and for the granting of his demand to be moved to Agia prisons in Hania, to be near his brother. Note that his organism is worn down he has high blood pressure and suffers from respiratory problems and the decision to absent from food is dangerous for his life. Nikos Tsouvalakis belongs in the category of citizens that resist. On 22/4/2009 he wrote to the superior of the prosecutors of appeals of athens, a year ago: -Society is not in danger from me, its in danger from the governing parties, who as you can see, the social decadence, corruption and the jungle of violence that have become the regime and the theft and criminal self interest and repeated fraud by the political and economical mafia of the country remain in the penal unaffected, despite the fact that they wasted and looted, with their quarrels and the vicious “pimps”, all the budgets and public money-. During his imprisonment in korridalos he did three hunger strikes: two for the barbaric prison conditions and one in solidarity with the imprisoned (from the december 2008 events) Thodori Iliopoulos. The initiative for the rights of prisoners supports the demand of the brothers to serve their sentence in the same prison and near their family environment. It is self evident, just like its self evident the state will restore the injustices against the poor and unprotected people. The case of the Tsouvalaki brothers comes to confirm the passage from the state of welfare to a state of punishment as well as the position of prison in the new directory of disgust for the intensification of detention for socially outcast workers. The hunger strike is the ultimate resistance to a system that criminalizes poverty and leads the prisoners to annihilation.

The third world prisons of Korridalos Athens

Garbage everywhere, unbearable stink, conditions of asphyxiation and abandonment transform the cells into warehouses for souls. Prisoners sleep on the floor, patients... travel so a doctor can see them, toilets without doors or light... The living and medical conditions in the country's prisons remain third world and inhuman. The photos are revealing images of the shame that exists in the prisons: overpopulation, conditions of asphyxiation and abandonment transform cells into warehouses of souls... In the only hospital inside of Koridallos, 12 patients are treated in one room, without the basic hygiene, medical care and... space to move around. The photos were taken at the end of August, with the help of ex prisoner Panagiotis Gewrgiadis and the support of the Initiative for the Rights of the Prisoners, that for years now has fought for decent conditions of living in the prisons. “The third world conditions that are documented in the photos are a small example”, the ex prisoner said. Panagiwotis found himself imprisoned with 100 warrants, decisions and charges about car theft. Later on, 96 of them were dropped, since it was proven that they were about some other people with the same first and last name, but with different father and mother name! He managed to get released about four months ago. The four warrants, which are still not gone, are delaying the examination of the application for the identity mistake which has not yet been determined. Sleeping on the floor during his 9 years of imprisonment, mr.Gewrgiadis suffered more than 100 transfers, so he has seen the situation in most prisons of the country. Most prisoners, he describes, sleep on the floor because the mattresses are dirty and have bugs and other... insects. The conditions are dramatic, especially in the summer months. “You know how many times I thought I wont survive the heat in prison? The atmosphere is suffocating. No brooms or mops or cleaning products were given to us to clean. In the hospital even if your dying, a doctor wont come near you. You have to walk a long hallway for a doctor to see you. They don't come in not out of fear but out of disgust...”. He said. The long hallway is seen clearly in the photos, just as the overpopulation in the hospital. The patients with wheelchairs are obligated to move from bed to bed to get to a point where they can get into the wheelchair... The lack of medical and nurse staff complete the scene of shame. “Garbage everywhere, toilets that are only... a hole, that cannot be cleaned and dont even have a door!”, describes Ioanna Drosou from the Initiative for the Rights of the Prisoners. “A main demand of the prisoners is that the Saint Pauls hospital of Koridallos prison should be part of the National Health System. Despite the fact that two years ago, it was decided that the hospital will become part of this system, in reality this is still not happened”, she explains. Leave days An institution that is slowly disappearing After the attempt of known prisoner Vaggelis Pallis last saturday to end his life because he received another negative answer to the application he had made for leave days, the topic of the prisoners leave days comes back to the spot light. “The institution of leave days is the most important channel of contact the prisoners have with the outside world and it helps with social rehabilitation. With the excuse of “bad use of leave days” the rise of the exceptions to the rule, this institution seems to becoming extinct. Although, from its beginning until today only a small percentage of prisoners, less than 4%, use their leave days wrongly” the Initiative sais. Recent legislation changes, like law number N.3772/09 that was voted while Dendias was minister, restricts the practice of leave days relevantly defines the criteria, resulting, as the members of the “Iniative” say, to the cutting without reason or even with the usual reasons. It also remains the problem of the convicted of the drug law, since with the legislation N.3811/09 they still are not eligible for benefits such as leave days or transfer to a farm prison after they serve 1/5 of their sentence.  boubourAs translation for actforfreedomnow!

small news from greek media...

Armed raids
A lone armed robber made off with around 8,000 euros after holding up a branch of Piraeus Bank in the town of Sparta in the Peloponnese yesterday morning. Later in the day, unidentified burglars broke into a house in the small town of Eleousa in the northwestern prefecture of Ioannina and stole a safe believed to contain 20,000 euros in cash and 15,000 euros' worth of jewelry.
Doctors onlyPrison staff will no longer be permitted to subject female inmates to vaginal examinations in jail, according to a decision by Deputy Justice Minister Apostolos Katsifaras that was made public yesterday. From now on, an internal examination can only be conducted on a female inmate if there is a special judicial order and must be carried out by a doctor, not by prison staff. Katsifaras's decision came after years of lobbying by female prisoners and by human rights organizations.

About Vangelis Pallis.

After Friday, when Vangelis Pallis was found in his cell in TRIKALA jail, with his neck cut from a piece of glass, he is still hospitalized, unable to communicate yet.
On Sunday, in Grevena jail, a riot started because Sophocles Nigdelis was self-injured in an action of solidarity to Vaggelis Palis, as they used to be in the same cell for many years.
Sophocles Nigdelis wrote a letter where among others  he says that Vangelis Pallis is in a critical condition but stable. here is the letter:

Monday, August 30, 2010

Sofoklis Nigdelis, roommate of Vaggelis Pallis for many years, answers to the monstrosity of the regimes information from the greek prison.

Sofoklis Nigdelis, roommate of Vaggelis Pallis for many years, answers to the monstrosity of the regimes information

The situation of the great fighter Vaggelis Pallis remains crucial but steady.


As for the slaves of the system that have as a profession journalism, I have a message for some of them:
Fascists and servants of the rotten state mechanism that you recycle and like goats re-chew false and forged news, stop the unofficial, unconfirmed, provocative announcements that you put out against Vaggelis Pallis, because don't forget that human-wolves are hungry and one morning while your going to work, which is no other than to promote imaginary stories to fit the mold of your snitching boss.. than a wolf will jump on you and will start eating you starting from the tongue. You the specific snitches remember that wolves are always hungry.


My warm hello to your colleague Sokratis Giolias and his family.


Solidarity and comrade collectiveness are some of our destructive weapons.


Regards and strength to the comrades in solidarity of Vaggelis Pallis, inside and outside the walls.


Sofoklis Nigdelis
30/8/10
Grevena prisons.

There is a demonstration call from meny groups of pepole and anarchist on Saturday 4 september outside the hospital where Vaggelis Palis is in Trikala.
vaggelis pallis is in jail couse he accused that he murder 2 persons as he was executing a ” death contract” .
as I wrote before Vangelis Pallis has many times in the past participated in riots inside the jail as he was fighting againts the contitions in the greek jails .
sam information for our friend Pallis:


Prison militant Vaggelis Palis at Larissa court (Greece)

On 16 / 3 /2009, Vaggelis Palis, long time prison rebel, was presented in front of the court in Larissa, known for its conservative and hard convictions (still quite a lot of the prisoners of the December insurrection are being kept there, a lot of them minors, 15, 16 years old, under the anti terrorist law, and facing a possible 20/25 years…). He is accused of participation in a prison revolt in 2006, for destruction, riot and attempted outbreak/escape.

A group of about 80 people gathered outside the court in solidarity, with banners, sticks (with flags i believe?) and a lot of hard and confronting slogans. A big convoy of MAT (Greek riot police) was awaiting the group on the other side of the street. At the end of the day, the group decided to make a small demonstration, through the shopping street around the court, and came back on the other side of the building. This made the cops a bit more nervous, and once back at the initiated point, they attacked quite unexpected and mostly relentless. Immediately 4 people were arrested and heavily beaten. The rest was chased to the square behind; in front of the university. There for some time the cops shot (a sickening amount of) gas (not the type that makes you cry, but the type that makes your skin burn like hell, and that makes you throw up and choke), and the anarchists hid, then attacked with all the stones, tables, chairs, ashtrays to find, back and forth.

Eventually half of the group hid inside the university, the other half was chased down the city for some time and managed to hide later in another university building. The cops had surrounded the first building and threatened to break the asylum and arrest everyone inside. In the meantime they were still arresting people on the streets; the number of arrestees increasing to 9.

Because of the poilitical situation at the moment, as well as the Dean of the uni did not allow the arrest, everybody came out, about 3/4 hours later, and returned home, bruised, burnt, swollen casted and stitched.

Vaggelis Palis got 3 years extra imprisonment that day, on top of the already 16 years he had. The man is in his 50’s and promised the judge once, as an answer to the question if he plead guilty to the charges of another prison revolt, that he would make sure that he would set fire to all prisons he would enter, he would destroy every bit of it and try to escape from all of them, until there are none left.

He has nothing to lose, after tens of years behind bars and with an ever increasing amount of years likewise in the future, but a lot to gain: the air.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Prison Struggle.

Sofoklis Nigdelis, roommate of Vaggelis Pallis for many years, answers to the monstrosity of the regimes information from the greek prison.

Sofoklis Nigdelis, roommate of Vaggelis Pallis for many years, answers to the monstrosity of the regimes information

The situation of the great fighter Vaggelis Pallis remains crucial but steady.


As for the slaves of the system that have as a profession journalism, I have a message for some of them:
Fascists and servants of the rotten state mechanism that you recycle and like goats re-chew false and forged news, stop the unofficial, unconfirmed, provocative announcements that you put out against Vaggelis Pallis, because don't forget that human-wolves are hungry and one morning while your going to work, which is no other than to promote imaginary stories to fit the mold of your snitching boss.. than a wolf will jump on you and will start eating you starting from the tongue. You the specific snitches remember that wolves are always hungry.


My warm hello to your colleague Sokratis Giolias and his family.


Solidarity and comrade collectiveness are some of our destructive weapons.


Regards and strength to the comrades in solidarity of Vaggelis Pallis, inside and outside the walls.


Sofoklis Nigdelis
30/8/10
Grevena prisons.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Vangelis Pallis (49 years old), aka ‘Apache’, seriously injured inside Trikala’s jail Saturday, August 28, 2010

This morning, at 9 o’ clock, Vangelis Pallis was found in his cell seriously injured in the neck by a piece of glass. The headquarters of the jail said that he did it by himself. The advocate ordered his cell to be sealed for further investigation. Vangelis Pallis is now in the intensive care, hospitalized in a very serious situation.
Vangelis Pallis has many times in the past participated in riots inside the jail. In the big riot in the jails in November 2008, as he was a member of the steering committee, he was on a hunger strike for a long time. People that know him say that there is not even one chance in a million that he injured himself with his own will. As you understand, he is fighting against the cruel conditions of the jail. Therefore, our suspicions about what really happened are not unrealistic. Updates soon.
On 4th of September a gathering and demonstration towards the hospital were he is held is organised by comrades in the city of Trikala. GREECE.

ANOTHER PRISONER INJURY IN GREECE

The injury of another prisoner in Grevena prisons has caused riot today. Prisoners burnt their mattresses demanding better living conditions, more leave days etc. The conditions in most of democracy s hell holes are inhuman.

FIRE TO THE PRISONS

Vangelis Pallis (49 years old), aka ‘Apache’, seriously injured inside Trikala’s jail Saturday, August 28, 2010

This morning, at 9 o’ clock, Vangelis Pallis was found in his cell seriously injured in the neck by a piece of glass. The headquarters of the jail said that he did it by himself. The advocate ordered his cell to be sealed for further investigation. Vangelis Pallis is now in the intensive care, hospitalized in a very serious situation.
Vangelis Pallis has many times in the past participated in riots inside the jail. In the big riot in the jails in November 2008, as he was a member of thesteering committee, he was on a hunger strike for a long time. People that know him say that there is not even one chance in a million that he injured himself with his own will. As you understand, he is fighting against the cruel conditions of the jail. Therefore, our suspicions about what really happened are not unrealistic. Updates soon.
picture from athens.indymedia.org outside trikala jail aug 2010

Vangelis Pallis (49 years old), aka ‘Apache’, seriously injured inside Trikala’s jail Saturday, August 28, 2010

greece

28 Αυγούστου 2010

This morning, at 9 o’ clock, Vangelis Pallis was found in his cell seriously injured in the neck by a piece of glass. The headquarters of the jail said that he did it by himself. The advocate ordered his cell to be sealed for further investigation. Vangelis Pallis is now in the intensive care, hospitalized in a very serious situation.
Vangelis Pallis has many times in the past participated in riots inside the jail. In the big riot in the jails in November 2008, as he was a member of the steering committee, he was on a hunger strike for a long time. People that know him say that there is not even one chance in a million that he injured himself with his own will. As you understand, he is fighting against the cruel conditions of the jail. Therefore, our suspicions about what really happened are not unrealistic. Updates soon.

CHRISTOS FILOS: will continue until FINAL HUNGER STRIKE FROM A MALANDRINOY PRISON IN GREECE

"We believe that the authorization will not even work positively for the reintegration of the prisoner because of the large balance of the sentence (!)

It is an unacceptable decision of the carbon-who continue to issue the judicial council that the prominent reason has been the Deputy Prosecutors, in series to dismiss the claims of prisoners license. It is no coincidence that the phenomenon of cutting permits, which is a big system to all prisons in the country, is one of the key demands of the prisoners' protests and calls for a solution here and now.

This decision relates to the Malandrino prisoners and hunger strike for 29th day, chistos filos who has, since early 2010 two requests for a regular license, collecting as many negative responses for the same reason. What if a small percentage of inclusions, which do not exceed 4%, misuse of the right to leave, prosecutors continue to curtail without justification or, at best, lip service and a formal justification. "We will continue till you drop on a hunger strike to assert their legitimate right for me to arbitrarily cut me, though I qualify," warns C. Filos mail privileges of the Attorney General and the Director of Prisons, and denounces the Public servants on the Malandrino inhuman behavior and ridicule. "Knowingly violate any kind of human dignity (we're in a hurry), thinking the morbid imagination you how to curb and stop fighting for our just demands that you arbitrarily deprives us.

In his report to H. Kastanidis [minister of justice] after calls to "resolve in our ordeal," says that: the dentist prison remains unpaid for a long time and still only on humanitarian grounds to be available to 450 prisoners, looking up 20-30 patients, the prison's water supply is shared with coupon as before 50 years of bread in the Soviet Union, toiletries such as toilet paper, shampoo and cleaning items public areas are non-existent, while the phone to the ward where they kept does not work for a year.

Prisons in Greece. Stories of shame and horror.

1 of august 2010

After good morning, take of your underwear, sit down, turn around, bend, cough, the ultimate humiliation.
Prisoner D. Proestos describes how they search for the smuggling of drugs into Greek prisons.
Shame and horror ...
He first went to prison in 1984, came out in 1994 and returned in 1995, where he has been held until now with a life sentence. Overall,

this man has served nine years in the diciplinary section: "Diciplinary, pissed dirty mattress, you don't eat, you don't get to drink water, no smoking. They have you in a concrete cage,
handcuffed", he recalls.
"They tore out my soul"
Diavata Prison. Thessaloniki
There "I was tied up in the diciplinary for six weeks. I got beat up a lot. I pissed and I shat on the mattress I slept on. It was so bad I got

sick with hepatitis.
Sergeant Mitsios and Director Eftihidou, after they had severely beaten me, I remember them begging me to leave the diciplinary cell and go to the Infection hospital in Thessaloniki, so I don't die."
For Proestos there are incidents that have "torn" his soul, as he says. "Extreme events only with some staff are in my mind and
occurred where there was no "third eye"... solitary cells, dungeons, tie-downs, cross, torture and humiliation "...

Another prisoner, G. Makis, reveals: "Faced with eight members of the prison staff I had been asked to lean over and cough (naked). I

refused to because I felt that my dignity was being insulted and undermined. Based on the penal code it's any inmate's right to refuse

anything that lowers and undermines his dignity. " Small print for some ...

Many are the letters we've received from prisoners in prisons all over the country. Human stories scattered on four sheets of paper
with a blue pen.
People who for whatever reason were sentenced and today are in custody. But it seems that the blaming stops with the sound of the
iron prison door opening.
Then there is no blaming but on the prisoner.
And when the balance is not kept, given that many social services are broken down, the game becomes dangerous and he comes

back seeking revenge on society itself.
So this is why the issue of prisons should concern us all. Several of our prisoners complain that even the benefit of wages provided is

only "to serve some particular balance within the prison."
Indeed, in some cases, the internal mechanism of each prison goes beyond even the power of the appropriate ministry. "The

Secretariat of the prison affects even the Appeal Council in the manner that they present the cases and all this creates a strange and often lawless behaviour and relationship," he says. It seems that
even a transfer to a prison farm is considered a "buyable benefit". Literally an impossible dream for some. While most prisons are

overcrowded, there are prison farms that are 'empty' and
could accept prisoners.
"And this situation continues because no Minister of Justice until now, even if he has the will - which is rare - has had the power to go

against the establishment of prisons" says a prisoner, whose data is available to the newspaper.


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