Greece – Athens -REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE TRIAL UPDATE,Session 16, Wednesday 14/3/12

Act for freedom now!/boubourAs

Session 16, Wednesday 14/3/12                                             

The session began with a statement by P.Roupa concerning the failed attack of the R.S. against the Citibank headquarters in Kifissia. Citibank, shesaid, is a criminal organization of the international elite, whichexpresses the interests of the richest families in the USA.

It isresponsible for war crimes, the destruction of whole countries, and thedeath of thousands of people. She gave examples from Peru, where povertyand destruction caused a cholera epidemic, from Mozambique, where by 2020 it is expected that a quarter of the farming population will have died and others. She spoke of the strategy of the international capital after WW2 to surpass some obstacles in the movement of capitals, which had been imposed with the struggle and blood of the people, in which Citibank led. And we, concluded P.Roupa, are called to be tried as terrorists and criminals!   They are the criminals.

Evgenia Drosou, a witness for the attack on N.Ionias police station, is another example of where terror-hysteria can lead. This lady, before the attack, had seen a tall man wearing clothes resembling Navy clothes, but with no stripes, walking back and forth outside her house for quite a while. She thought this was suspicious, spoke to a friend of hers “who is with the police” and she told her to go and testify this. When she saw the photos of the arrested on the TV, many years later, she kind of…. recognized Kortesis. Even though she had described someone almost a head taller than Kortesis, about 15 years older (she mentioned a man around 40-45 years old) and without a beard. Even in the court she didn’t hesitate to turn around, point at Kortesis and say: “he kind of looks like that gentleman”. The chairman politely disdained her: “I am afraid that your testimony is not valid”. Followed two cops from the Voulgarakis case, who were called to testify thanks to the insistence of accused members of the R.S. From their testimonies it was proven first of all that Voulgarakis is a major liar and second that the decision consciously created incidents, in order to support the attempted homicide charge.

Kanellopoulos, a cop of the antiterrorist force testified that he got the order to search the whole area which had visual contact with the spotwhere the explosive mechanism was placed, because the superiors were convinced that the explosion was carried out with a remote control,considering no leftovers of a clock mechanism were found. And, in a bush, he found a remote control with an antenna from a model vehicle, which was investigated, found that it belonged to a specific company and themanagers of the company explained, as is shown in the trial brief as well,that it is a precision remote, with a security against interference on itsfrequency. As soon as the remote was found, officials of the DAEEB showedup at the spot, amongst which his own superior, the infamous FotisPapageorgiou. He clarified, also, that the specific bush offered cover anda possibility for a getaway to whoever would detonate the mechanism.G.Ananias, handler of dogs who detect explosives, was also very clear. Hewas in charge of checking the area, before Voulgarakis comes out. His wifehad left before, but he never left before the area was checked by the dog. He therefore disputed Voulgarakis fairy-tale, that he had left, came back because he forgot something and that’s how he barely made it. “My opinionis”, testified the cop, “that the mechanism was completely controlled.

Because I was moving towards the bomb, it is sure that I would have found it; the dog would have smelled it. That’s why they detonated it, before I got there. If they wanted to hit me, then they would have detonated it five seconds later when I would be right above the mechanism. I am saying that they didn’t want to kill me”. With the interventions made immediately after by P.Roupa and N.Maziotis pointed out that from the testimonies of those two witnesses, two cops, is confirmed totally what R.S. in its communique. That is that the action was cancelled and the mechanism was detonated at the right moment so to not fall into the hands of the antiterrorist and with complete control so no one gets hurt. Not even the cop with the dog, who was not a target of the organization. But, the trial order speaks of a clock mechanism! For what reason? So that there is an attempted homicide charge. P.Roupa asked that the examination continues and that the head of the Antiterrorist H.Balakos and the department head F.Papageorgiou are called to testify, who have full knowledge of the real incidents. It is proven that we were right all along to suggest witnesses, noted N.Maziotis. what was written in the communique was confirmed. That if the organization wanted to “get” the cop with the dog it would have “got” him. There was complete carefulness by the comrades, Noted P.Roupa, so that no one except Voulgarakis got hurt. Advocate D.Vagianou, after noting Voulgarakis lie, upon which the charge was structured, she dealt with an important legal issue. The validity or not of an attempt.

This in legal terms means that from the moment the committer, with his/hers deliberate intervention, disrupted the act, the attempt is non-valid, so there’s no homicide attempt. P.Roupa, in a new intervention, stated that R.S. always took into consideration the area and the intensity of the hit class struggle dictates. The people who carried out an action had full knowledge of the radius as well as the dangers for pedestrians and drivers. In this specific case, the cop with the dog would have got to the mechanism. You would either hit them or you would cancel the action. The organization did not want the mechanism to fall into the hands of the cops; it did not want to hit Ananias, that’s why the mechanism was destroyed. The prosecutor, considering that the matter is over (neither were these two witnesses necessary, he said!) proposed to not call Baltakos and Papageorgiou.

The court had a small meeting and decided to refuse the demand to call them. Is pending the general demand of calling witnesses, which we will look at in the future, said the chairman. After that, began the examination of witnesses from the attack on the stock exchange. Security guard G.Mavroidatos, a young man with a degree, who speaks many foreign languages, was working in the company Prince Security and was on the night shift at the stock exchange reception. The security guards in the control room saw a van on the cameras and told him to go and check it, he thought it was suspicious but before the guards got a chance to inform, the cops showed up and told them to evacuate the building.

They kicked out the cleaning lady, they also saw the cops leaving, but they got an order from their superior Kokkini to remain inside! And they didn’t send them to the data room, an internal refuge where all the electronic data from the stock exchange is held, but in the camera room, which was external, on the side where the explosion took place! The organization, said N.Maziotis, put 150 kilos of dynamite to hit the stock exchange, warned of a heavy explosion by giving 40minutes and asked that the neighbouring buildings are also evacuated.

These people got an order not to leave. And the charge speaks of danger to human lives. Who put human lives in danger? As an organization there is no way we would put security guards in danger. The bosses however, consider them disposable. It is a lie and hypocritical to accuse us that we put human lives in danger. Others put lives in danger. And still, the charging authorities did not call the other three security guards and their superior Kokkini to testify. N.Maziotis submitted a demand to call them to testify. When I was in prison and got the testimonies of these people I was speechless, said P.Roupa.

The R.S. knew that there would be security guards and cleaning personnel, that’s why it asked for the evacuation of the nearby buildings. And they still left those people inside! Why? For the stock exchange. It is shameful that we are tried for endangering human lives, when others are the guilty ones. Seeing the reality, the prosecutor tried to make a manoeuvre. Maybe many people have responsibilities, he said, but this trial does not care about responsibilities of third parties, but only of the accused.

And then he threw his caustic remark: if R.S., by putting 150 kilos in a residential area thought there would be no danger! “It is not a residential area”, N.Maziotis corrected him calmly, and the prosecutor did not continue, but did not take back his “reflection” either. D.Vagianou noted that legally the prosecutor goes into the theory of equivalent terms. Which means that independently of the responsibilities of third parties, the action of RS created equivalent danger. However, the attitude of the security officials and cops who did not carry out the evacuation of the buildings is vital for the penal law. The “no matter what, people were endangered”, besides the legal matter, raises a heavier political matter, commented P.Roupa.

That is to say, no matter how many measures you take, you create dangers. No, the action of the RS has shown that it does not create such dangers. Armed action exists in greece before the RS and the revolutionaries always made sure there is no danger for people. The responsibility is on the cops who had been warned and had the time to evacuate all the buildings, where there were very few people. Aristidis Darlis was the janitor of ‘Eleftheortypia’ newspaper, who happened to receive the warning call.

He confirmed that they told of a strong explosion that will happen, about a van loaded with explosives, while they even gave him the exact location of the van. Because of his clear testimony, P.Roupa commented again that the location and time was given, therefore the responsibility lies exclusively with the cops, who put simply put some ribbons to isolate the area and did not evacuate the neighbouring buildings.

“Honestly”, she asked, “why have witnesses from only actions of the organization have been called? Are you trying to imply that on other actions there was no warning call? There was always enough time given for the cops to isolate the area and evacuate the buildings”. She concluded with the submission of a demand to call as witnesses all the phone operators of ‘Eleftherotypia’ who have received warning calls in all the actions of the organization, so every shadow can leave and it can be proven that in all actions there was providence so that people were not endangered.

Then came the turn of the capitalists. Eleftherios Politaridis, manager of human resources of the stock exchange, having heard the testimony of the security guard Mavroidatos, tried to make him out to be a liar. Constantly repeating that human life above all, he claimed that the guards had an order from the company to leave, but… they didn’t leave! “They stayed inside under the state of panic and maybe there was some misunderstanding”. However, Mavroidatos –who was fired a year after the incident- had testified that the rules forbid them to leave and that after the incident the rules changed.

When confronted by D.Vagianou and M.Daliani, the manager tried to avoid it with a desperate defence, but at the end when he was asked if he investigated, after the incident, why the guards remained inside, he… remained silent! Politaridis should be ashamed, commented P.Roupa. Behind this rule, which made the security guards stay inside, is an aim: to not disrupt the function of the stock exchange.

That’s why they mortgaged the lives of three people. A significant executive of the system consented to a crime. And instead of saying “we made a mistake”, he’s trying to make a liar out of the employee. This shows the kind of these executives. In the beginning they didn’t care and then, faced with it would cost their company with this revelation, they come and lie. Followed the leading consultant of STAKOR SA Michael Kortesis. STAKOR is right across the stock exchange and as the boss said they had damages of about 3,5 million euro.

And while the guard of the building has testified that he was miraculously saved, because he saw the cops and went and asked them what’s going on and they told him to leave, Kortesis blatantly tried to make the cops look good, by saying that the guard came out and saw the cops coming towards him to inform him. He was immediately disputed by Ioannis Skrekas, employee of AKRITAS SECURITY, who was a guard that night a STAKOR.

He described what happened in detail. No one told him to go. Fifteen minutes before the explosion, he saw lights from flashlights lighting up the trees. He came out to see what’s going on, saw the cops looking for the bomb in the trees!!!, asked what’s going on and then they told him “get out of here now, there’s a bomb”! If I didn’t get, I would have been blown up, he testified. That’s when the chairman, despite being generally reserved, committed the second big ‘foul’ since the beginning of the trial. “Casualties are also the labourers, not only the capitalists.

I am mentioning this so the accused can hear me”. He said. In other words, adding to what the prosecutor said earlier, he showed that he has made his decisions in key matters of the charge. This witness still works for the same company. This is why when he was asked his opinion about if the cops acted good or bad, if they protected him, he answered “Ask the cops if they acted good or bad. I do not want to express my opinion”. N.Maziotis noted that the leading consultant lied and called the court to decide to call the head of security of the stock exchange and the other three security guards. P.Roupa commented that the chairman’s statement was discriminatory; noting that he is trying to save the charge, trying in any way to get the R.S. attempted homicides.

But the court decided again that the incident was adequately investigated concerning the real incidents and concerning the warning from then organization R.S. and there is no reason for further investigation. This means they decided to not even call Kokkini, the supervisor of then security guards, who gave them the order to remain in the building. After that, D.Vagianou, according to the wish of her clients, asked that Politairidis is prosecuted for perjury. First the prosecutor and then the chairman said that the only thing they can do is send the minutes to the penal prosecutor, because their court is not responsible. The advocate in the end submitted a lawsuit against Politairidis.