No cover-up for the torturers of Vassilis Manggos
On October 21 the trial against three police officers for the beating of the comrade Vassilis Manggos (which took place two and a half years ago) will take place in the court Volos. Vassilis was beaten and arrested by the MAT (anti-riot police) and the OPKE (anti-terrorism unit) during the attack on the demonstration in solidarity with the arrested of the long march the previous day, against the construction of a new plant designed to convert commercial waste into fuel.
Taken to Volos police station he was insulted, humiliated, beaten and tortured by the guardians of the law, who late at night released him in a semi-conscious state with six broken ribs. Three days later he denounced in a text the torture and beatings he suffered that scarred him for life and led to his death a month later.
After two and a half years the local judiciary finally decided to send three accused police officers to trial, but for one minor offence, that of grievous bodily harm. In addition, it took no account whatsoever of the request submitted by Vassilis’s parents, and the testimonies of dozens of people present at the scene of the arrest. This shows that this trial is a farce, whose only purpose is to unmask a few of those responsible for the beating of Vassilis, and cover up the torture he suffered. This is yet another case of judicial mafia, hatched by the judiciary against its own people, a judiciary that supports LaFarge’s colonialist plans – AGET and at the same tinme has declared war on the inhabitants of Volos.
At the local level, the imposition of commercial activities at the expense of people and the environment is evident, with the municipal authority of Beos, and their respective governments, completely subservient to the dictates of capital. The privatisation of public social elements, such as water in Stagiatis, is one of the great scourges of our region. Officials chosen from the ranks of cops and businessmen, with the support of the judiciary, undermine with every means and downgrade the region’s water to sell it to unscrupulous private entrepreneurs and monopoly giants. Through the use of mafia practices, the municipal authority is seeking to suppress the local community’s struggle against privatisation. A thorn in the side of their plans is the organised resistance of residents.
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