Pola Roupa: On My Extraordinary Permit and Parody-Transfer

Since summer 2022 I have been released from prison every 2 months on ordinary leave during which I travel and stay at my family home in Kalamata, where my son lives. These leaves are without police escort and control. Since so far I have enjoyed a total of 5 regular permits and I move freely wherever I want in the prefecture of Messinia and while in 1 month I will have served the sentence required for conditional leave, I requested and received an extraordinary permit of 48 hours due to a serious health problem of a relative of mine.

I was informed that the leave would be with a police escort due to its extraordinary nature and I asked that it be discreet. But instead of discreet, my transfer was made with measures I had never had before and without prior notice. Naturally, the neighborhood was upset, as were my relatives who wondered why all this had happened as I had just been in Kalamata for 3 weeks. As for the local community, acquaintances and friends in town, some treated the event with astonishment and others with acid humor, speaking of its ridiculousness.

However, apart from any sense of humor, this story contains hidden and obvious dangers. Some of the media have not missed the opportunity to publicize the extreme measures of my transfer, giving the event an even greater dimension. Ultimately, whoever is responsible for the manner in which the transfer was carried out – and although it is clear that I could well have gone to Kalamata alone – this event, combined with provocative and uninformed articles in some media, clearly contributes to creating a negative atmosphere for me and my imminent release from prison, as well as for the release of my comrade Nikos Maziotis. It tends to create an atmosphere that “translates” as a political “line” to the judicial councils responsible for deciding on my parole. In particular, comrade Nikos Maziotis, after having served 10.5 years in prison – an excessive time for a 20-year sentence – and while enjoying regular furloughs for almost 1.5 years, the judicial councils have twice rejected his request for release based on disciplinary sentences from 6 years ago that expired more than 3 years ago. 4 and a half months ago, Comrade Masiotis filed a third request for parole and despite having a positive proposal from the prosecutor, the Lamia Magistrates Council shows cold indifference.

All this coordinated pressure exerted on us by the mechanisms of the State – which includes the kind of transfer they made to me with special permission – and every political attempt instigated from above to forward a political “line” to the sentencing councils that will decide on our release is revenge for having assumed political responsibility for Revolutionary Struggle, because we did not enter into collusion with any political regime of power, for having kept ourselves politically honest, despite the fact that some say these are “practices from another time”. This pressure not only does not diminish, but seems to increase in the face of the serious family problems we suffer, since for mere political revenge they do not even hesitate to put the lives of our loved ones at risk.

Pola Roupa, 3rd ward of Elaionas prison – Thebes
1/6/2023

Pola Roupa: Sobre mi permiso extraordinario y el traslado-parodia

Translated by Act for freedom now!