GATHERING-SOLIDARITY MARCH
SATURDAY 9 APRIL 8PM ΕXΑRCHIA SQUARE
FREEDOM TO ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS
STRUGGLE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
Anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis has been imprisoned for more than 8 and a half years in the cells of democracy and 3 years in fugitive status in two different periods. His consistent commitment to the anarchist struggle, his unrepentant stance in front of the executioners of bourgeois justice, his practical questioning of the world of power and bourgeois legitimacy has put him in the crosshairs of the repressive and judicial mechanisms for years.
Giannis was prosecuted on the basis of a trumped-up charge of the mass revolt of the prisoners of Korydallos prison against the violent seizure of the then hunger-striking anarchist prisoner Dinos Giagtzoglou.
A persecution that targeted, without any evidence beyond solidarity texts, all the political prisoners of that period in order to put them in a new regime of hostage-taking, discontinued leaves, transfer from rural prisons, etc. Faced with the risk of prolonging his imprisonment and being transferred from the rural prisons where he was being held Giannis chose freedom, making an escape that allowed him to walk the paths of freedom for which he has fought consistently and at great cost throughout his life.
Following an operation by the anti-terrorist police, he was arrested along with two other comrades and taken into custody again, while in court for this case he was convicted of a bank expropriation that he committed during the time he was wanted.
As the law states can occur after committing an escape, the comrade merged the sentences imposed while serving the escape sentence in its entirety.
So while under their laws he is entitled to be released after having served his entire sentence, the Amfissa Judicial Council through a series of arbitrary interpretations and revanchism not only rejected Gianni’s request for release, but overemphasized the fact that he has shown no remorse for his political choices.
This is not the first time that repentance has been the main issue for the state and its mechanisms for releasing an unrepentant anarchist or communist from the shackles of imprisonment. It is not the first time we see the class bias of bourgeois justice unfolding in all its glory with the provocative releases of the neo-Nazis of The golden-down , the breaking of the life sentences of the unrepentant murderer Korkoneas, ( the cop kill A.Grigoropolos) the provocative exonerations of all the corrupt officials of the rotten system accused of all kinds of scandals.
We have experienced it on our own skin and we know it well. Civil justice is not neutral. As a mechanism of class domination, it sees the world through the same optic as politicians, industrialists, shipowners, publishers, multinational CEOs and bankers. Through the optic of class exploitation, of state violence against those who are left over from the ranks of capitalist production, of revenge for those who have stood up against their wealth and power.
We also know that only through the strengthening and development of a mass movement of solidarity with political prisoners can we hope to achieve the vindication of the struggles of political prisoners. Their liberation so that we can all walk together on the streets of resistance and struggle.
The Immediate Release of the anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis is a milestone on this path of struggle and we will make sure that we will stop the indefinite captivity regime imposed on him by the seal of the Amfissa Judicial Council.
AGAINST ANY EXCEPTIONAL REGIME
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF THE ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS
SOLIDARITY TO ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Solidarity Assembly to the imprisoned, fugitive and persecuted militants
