Daphne Vayanou for us you will always be here

Throughout her legal career Daphne Vayanou has been a fighter for her own cause. From a young age she was a lawyer for important political cases. With a deep political culture, political stature and a fighting soul she took on heavy political cases, prosecutions and trials. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was the lawyer of the struggle. She defended many anarchists in numerous trials and political persecutions. Without a trace of conservatism, without making political compromises, she did not alter the political values of the fighters she defended, she did not miss out the political points in the name of any political expediency. And yet she was extremely effective, uniquely combining the political dimensions of the trials with an excellent criminal defence.

Our beloved lawyer Daphne Vayanou was our irreplaceable fellow traveller in our political journey. Many trials, countless meetings, long, meaningful and unforgettable discussions on legal and political issues. She knew it herself, we told her constantly, even after she retired, until a few days before her death, that she was our ADVOCATE.

We were together at the Polytechnic trial in ’95 which is where we met each other. We were together at the trial and imprisonment of Nikos Maziotis for planting a bomb at the Ministry of Development in 1998. We were together in all our (big and ”small”) trials and prosecutions. We were together in the imprisonments and trials of Revolutionary Struggle, she was with us in hospitals and in the maternity hospital where our son was born.

At the trials of Revolutionary Struggle she was a valuable defender. She made it seem easy – not that it is, really – to bring out all the criminal dimensions in our trials (which were not a few), along with the political stakes, without allowing the political elements to be distorted by the criminal context in which they had to be placed. She conducted legal and political defence in her own unique way. We do not believe that her deep political education and culture fully interpret the unique – in our humble opinion – lawyer and jurist Daphne Vayanou. It was her fighting soul, her political sensitivity and her deep political empathy of character that made her experience the struggle we were fighting.

For all the years we shared together, for her valuable presence, for the fact that she was always there, we thank her. Daphne for us you will always be here.

Pola Roupa, 3rd wing of Eleonas prison in Thebes.

Nikos Maziotis, 4th wing of Domokos prison.

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via: athens.indymedia