From June 18th, 2014, prisoners in all Greek prisons have abstained from prison meals as a way of protest against the fascist bill for type C prisons, and in defense of the right to furlough and release on parole.
Continue reading Greek prisons: Prisoners in struggle announce mass hunger strike
Vaggelis Koutsibelas was sentenced to 15 years in prison at first instance, accused of a string of arsons in the city of Trikala. The heavy indictment against him was based largely on statements of a police informant.
On the 17th of June 2014, the comrade’s case was tried in the second instance at the Court of Appeals in Larissa. There was a lively presence of people in solidarity at the hearing, including members of the SVEOD, Athens base union of motorcyclist workers (Vaggelis himself used to work as motorcycle delivery driver for many years).
The appeal court reduced his prison sentence to 8 years and 3 months.
Vaggelis is held in Trikala prison since April 2012, having completed 250 days of prison labor by now. Comrades from Trikala estimate that if all goes well, he will be released on parole this time next year, or if he gets transferred to rural prisons he will be able to walk out of prison sooner, at the end of this year.
http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2014/06/19/greece-update-on-the-case-of-imprisoned-comrade-vaggelis-koutsibelas/
On the 6th of June 2014, nearly 40 comrades attended the second day of appeals hearing in the courthouse of Thessaloniki. Meanwhile, comrade Babis Tsilianidis —who has always refused to attend court proceedings— was in Koridallos prison (Athens) waiting for the outcome.
To cut a long story short, the prosecutor asked for the comrade’s acquittal, stating that the scarf(/handkerchief) was found too far from the scene of the robbery, and a DNA sample alone (in this case a mixture) is not sufficient evidence to convict anybody.
Finally the court acquitted Babis Tsilianidis ‘because of doubts’. After almost 3.5 years of captivity, the comrade is able to walk out to the street again.
There are still many anarchists behind prison walls. Freedom for all!
source: athens indymedia (1, 2)