In the midst of revelations of all kinds of government scandals and the participation of the Greek state in the war unleashed by the US and Israel against Iran, the repressive mechanism decided to deal with the “internal enemy”. Three weeks before the first hearing, we were notified of the start of our trial. On April 1 and one month before the end of the 18-month period, the process begins. A process based on an obviously inflated indictment where it is obvious that four of the five defendants have nothing to do with or knew about what was going to happen on 31/10. The court’s focus, however, is not exclusively to highlight the otherwise well-used tactics of the anti-terrorist unit, but to defend the memory of the revolutionary Kyriakos Xymitiris and the armed means of resistance he decided to adopt against this cannibalistic system.
From the very beginning, the prosecuting authorities with the counter-terrorism at the helm saw this specific case as an ideal event to open yet another fan of persecutions and imprisonments of people. The apparent inability of the anti-terrorism police to establish even a pretextually credible indictment held us all hostage, with requests to terminate the temporary detention being rejected in all the interim judicial councils (six months and twelve months) with flimsy justifications. The case was thus kept open, in the absence of any new evidence to justify it, with the councils’ dismissive reasoning self-refuting at points, trying to find a new narrative in order to exhaust the limit of pre-trial detention for all the defendants, thus attempting to satisfy two goals: on the one hand, the consolidation of state vindictiveness and on the other hand, the maintenance of the narrative of a terrorist organization. An organization without a name, without a history, without action, without even a substance, the invention of which serves on the one hand spectacular-communicational reasons, but also a serious upgrade of the indictment that carries the risk of lethal penalties.
The result of this pretentious delay in closing the case for 17 months, was the delay in issuing and final deliberations, with the result that the trial is now approaching the typical time limit for the end of detention for all the detainees in the case. A fact that in itself causes a rush in its definition and conduct, with the service of its summons to take place on 09/03, just 3 weeks before its start on April 1, suffocatingly pressing our preparation time. I am therefore called, on April 1st, to stand trial accused of forming and joining a terrorist organization, aggravated manufacture of explosive devices and possession of explosive materials and explosive devices, pistols and ammunition, explosion with possible intent, aggravated damage and illegal possession of weapons, in a trial that has shown signs of haste and carelessness from the beginning. The situation that is taking shape may not surprise me. I am very well aware of the role of civil justice within this specific system of exploitation, which while pretending to play its role within a “rule of law”, is in reality primarily interested in implementing the dictates of anti-terrorist and political leadership. Nevertheless, I categorically declare that I am not prepared to allow any acceleration of the trial to work against me and my co-defendants and my comrade Kyriakos himself.
And if the counter-terrorism service took, once again, 17 months to return to where it started from, without any new evidence but insisting on prosecuting me – bagging me with four other people who have absolutely no connection, involvement or knowledge in the case, the trial in question includes a new method. The complete absence of all the counter-terrorism cops from the prosecution’s witnesses. That is, the prosecution, under the orders under which the investigations took place, the arrest warrants were issued and the charges were filed, considers that there is no reason to appear in the proceedings. That is, the prosecution does not appear in a case that it itself is prosecuting. I am not in a position to know the exact reasons why this happened. It is a fact that with the new amendments of 2024 (Floridis Law) it is now possible not to call the police officers who draw up an indictment and lead the pre-trial stage in the trial in an obvious attempt to protect themselves from foreseen contradictions that will eventually arise. However, especially in this case, with such a perforated indictment and a case file full of contradictions, gaps and obvious shortcomings, the absence of anti-terrorist police officers from the prosecution’s witness list aims to protect them in the courtroom with the expected deconstruction of their fabrications.
Whether it comes or not, the responsibilities will be attributed to them. Responsibility for the shameful way in which they treated the family of my comrade Kyriakos Ximitiris in the first hours of the explosion, which far exceeds the moral limits that these unscrupulous guys who swear by democracy and legality supposedly invoke and that they supposedly protect. Responsibility also for the order to take a DNA sample while I was still unconscious in Evangelismos. Responsibility for the fact that once again, like so many others in its years of action, the counter-terrorism is the spearhead of repression with surveillance, persecution, imprisonment of countless fighters.
On the contrary, I will be there. I will be there to assume the responsibilities that fall to me, to defend the political choice for the position I held on 31/10. I will be there to stand up to a mechanism that proves its bias every day and that, for decades now, has been unfolding its full vindictiveness in the face of fighters. Despite all the possible consequences, however, I will proudly defend my partner’s choices, the necessity of fighting by all means, the gravity of this choice and the imprint it leaves. And I will be there because the political space to which I have belonged for the last 15 years of my life is dominated by other values and agendas than those promoted by the system. It does not shift the responsibilities of others as the government does every day, it does not defend partisanship and individual interest as the system promotes, and it does not choose the easy path of selfishness as its representatives choose.
I will not attend the trial to bow my head, nor to renounce my ideas and responsibilities. But I will not give even one more day of freedom to their hands for actions that I not only did not do but also for which there is no evidence to support them. Moreover, the issue of the trial is mainly the preservation of the revolutionary memory of the comrade. Of the deposition of all these elements that make him such an indispensable and unique comrade and person. For me, this is the stake of this particular trial; the prevalence of the image of comrade Kyriakos as we knew him, learned about him, experienced him. As a deeply revolutionary man who, beyond his commitment and presence in the field, decided to sharpen his way of acting despite the adverse conditions that prevail. This is for me the legacy that I hope such a trial will leave. Of devotion and faith in the revolutionary vision even during the greatest challenge. The sign of solidarity and the defense of projects that want us continuously and practically against those who oppress our lives and alongside those who struggle by all means. The dignity and pride that befits our political space from whose bosoms fighters like Kyriakos emerge. People who do not retreat, do not compromise, whose sparkling gaze is enough to illuminate even the most difficult path.
But Kyriakos will be there too. That’s where his heart will beat. Next to me and all the accused. Next to his comrades. He will be there because he knows that the fight for memory is a collective affair and is not simply necessary but essential. Essential for a movement to exist and have a future. Because the stories of those who fell are the ones that inspired others to rise. And as much as the weight of loss bends our knees, it is enough to take a look at that sparkling gaze of his for the fatigue to be shared and the fear to diminish. And if at some point we become discouraged, a look at his genuine smile is enough to remember that nothing is over.
With Kyriakos as our companion, it is in our hands, inside and outside the walls, to reverse the terms of the trial both before and during it. To put a stop to the injustice that has become law, to the bias that has become habit. To perceive justice as a battlefield and the trial as a political conflict. Since the field is already mined, it is an unequal battle, in which there is no middle ground. Either you give up or you fight until the end. And what I can say with certainty is that I and certainly Kyriakos would choose the latter. We are right, we will win.
KYRIAKOS XYMITIRIS ALWAYS PRESENT
HONOR FOREVER TO ANARCHIST COMRADE SARAH ARDIZONE AND ANARCHIST COMRADE ALESSANDRO MERCOLIANO
STATE AND CAPITAL THE ONLY TERRORISTS
Marianna Manoura
Women’s prisons of Korydallos