LETTER by GIORGOS PETRAKAKOS – (corect) -Greece

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Two months after my arrest and since the police and journalists
exhausted the monologue against me, I believe I should publicly clarify
a few things. On September 24th and about 9 years after I had to violate
my probation, I was arrested outside my house in Volos together with my
wife Maria Theofilou right before the eyes of our two infant children.
Because the lies of the police and the journalists began two years
before my arrest and because among them they add as much truth as
necessary in order for them to become believable I feel the need to
publicly explain a few things.  .

It is true that I have participated in some bank robberies, however I
have not participated in all the ones I am accused of, or I will be
accused of. The robberies I participated in were always well organized
and demanded many months of planning therefore even if I wanted to, I
could not be involved in so many. Despite all this, by choice I limited
myself to those which were sufficient in order for me survive and secure
my safety in the tough, demanding and for practical reasons expensive
life some who is wanted lives.
My initial choice to follow this path was an instinctive decision made
at a young age against the injustice and the oppression the banks
represent. At an early age I was acquainted with the life of violence
and the chase by authority in many forms. I know that I worsen my
position right now but I cannot but say that no matter how many years
they lock me in their dungeons I will not understand why it is bad when
someone steals from banks which are responsible for all the sufferings
of humanity. I have never hurt a citizen, I have never stolen from the
poor, and the robberies in which participated were always planned in a
way so that no blood of a citizen or police officer was spilled.
The police and journalists present me as someone who finds it very
amusing to shoot against the police, cultivating a profile that is far
from reality. The ability of a robber is to know and be able to avoid
all the possible clashes, and in this sense I consider myself a capable
robber. The fact that for about a decade now that I have been hunted, no
blood was spilled because of me not even one shot in the air, is
something I am proud of since it was not by accident. It happened
because I always took all the necessary measures, in which are included
also some seemingly “extreme choices” such as the “provocatively” heavy
arsenal which acts like a deterrent to aspiring “heroes”.
The incomprehensible desire of the police and specifically of the
anti-terrorist force to express, in my face, the infamous connection
between “criminals and terrorists” and their attempt to present the two
sides like bloodthirsty monsters, also costed me some unwanted publicity
in the summer of 2014, when I together with the rest of the viewers was
informed that I am Maziotis’ “right hand” and that I have participated
in a robbery in Holargos in 2008 during which a police officer lost his
life. And those are only two of the dozens of lies they have said.
I have met anarchist fighters in my two previous prison terms and I
befriended some of them. I admire the anarchists, I respect their
struggle, I consider them the most sensitive part of society and I
believe that they have the just on their side. But I do not bother with
politics, I chose my own lonely path and my only relation with
revolutionary organizations is that like all people I am glad when they
carry out an attack. As for the court taking place this period
concerning the actions of the Revolutionary Struggle, the only “charge”
I accept despite the lack of credible evidence, is that of participation
in the robbery of Eurobank in Akrata, which of course has nothing to do
with Nikos Maziotis and the Revolutionary Struggle in general.
They accuse me of being a criminal because I robbed banks which are
responsible for all things evil in the world. But if I am a criminal
then what are they who in order to arrest me turned their guns against
my children and aimed at them? If I am a criminal then what are they,
who in order to avenge me imprisoned my life partner Maria Theofilou
-without her doing anything- depriving our children of both of their
parents at the most sensitive and tender age?
At the same time, my family friend Th.A. is up against an unfair
detainment in the frames of our friendship rented a house for me,
actually “harboring” me, but without knowing anything about the weapons
I had hid in the yard and which were so well buried even the police were
digging for a week to find them.
Before I close this public letter I want to express my grief for the
loss of my brotherly friend Spiros Dravilas who had made the decision to
never fall into their hands again, proving once more and with the most
shocking way that he always meant what he said. Spiros will live in the
hearts of all of us who were lucky enough to be honored with his
friendship.
Giorgos Petrakakos,
7/12/2015,
Special wing of the female prisons of Koridallos.

LETTER by GIORGOS PETRAKAKOS – (corect) -Greece