Greetings comrades
We would like to send you some news about the imprisonment of anarchist comrade Nikos Maziotis -who is in Domokos prison for his actions in Revolutionary Struggle- and the special “state of exception” for him.
as a summary:
The Lamia Misdemeanors Court Council recently rejected the comrade’s request for conditional release. This is the sixth time his request has been rejected (five rejections by the first-instance council and one by an appellate court where he appealed only once). Three of the six requests Nikos Maziotis has submitted for his release were rejected by a council presided over by the same judge. And in all three instances, his request was accompanied by three consecutive positive prosecutorial recommendations.
With the recent conditional release of the Nazi Michaloliakos, the above was proven once again. According to journalistic, legal, and judicial circles, this decision was signed by Christina Papagianni as president of the Lamia Misdemeanors Court Council. Thus, with the decision No. 121/30.4.2024, the specific one was released, while his first release request was accompanied by a negative prosecutorial recommendation. From the very beginning, there was not only political cover but also a concerted and coordinated effort by state (and judicial) authorities to keep the name of the council president who released the Nazi. This attempted cover-up did not succeed. The president’s name was immediately revealed through leaks from journalistic (and not only) offices. And despite the fact that the Nazi is now back in prison (after an appeal was filed against his release by an appellate prosecutor), the selectively biased stance of far-right elements within the “justice system” who release Nazis, yet are the same ones like this particular judge who keeps comrade Nikos Maziotis imprisoned, can no longer remain hidden.
We do not forget our imprisoned comrades all over the world until the freedom from the cells of democracy
We defend comrade Nikos Maziotis and comrade Pola Roupa for their actions and political choices as anarchists and as convicted members of Revolutionary Struggle. We call on the world of struggle to mobilize and show solidarity for the:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF COMRADE NIKOS MAZIOTIS, who remains imprisoned in the cells of democracy for the actions of Revolutionary Struggle.
FINAL RELEASE OF COMRADE POLA ROUPA FROM STATE CAPTIVITY
Their justice in the years of democracy: the “exception regime” and the imprisonment of Nikos Maziotis
The militants of revolutionary organizations who are imprisoned face a special “state of exception” during all stages of state and criminal repression —from their arrest, trials and long-term imprisonment in the cells of democracy, to the moment of their release. This “state of exception” primarily affects the militants who, through their actions, sought to overthrow the existing state-capitalist world. Despite the increasingly harsh judicial and repressive environment, the imprisoned comrades consciously stand with dignity and consistency, defending their political actions.
This stance of the rebellious revolutionaries constantly reminds us that the struggles against the state and capital, even if temporarily, are not defeated and are not in vain. On the contrary, their political legacy in every historical era has always been (and continues to be) the catalyst that ignites the struggles of the present and the future. This prospect is what continuously frightens political and economic power. For when people who struggle are at the forefront of history, everywhere and always, they are victorious. They fear nothing and have nothing to lose but their chains.
Among the fighters with these political characteristics are the convicted comrades of Revolutionary Struggle, Pola Roupa and Nikos Maziotis. Precisely because of these political characteristics, the anarchist comrade Nikos Maziotis, who is in prison for his actions in Revolutionary Struggle and does not negotiate or bargain for his freedom on terms of submission and repentance as the state and “justice” seek, is experiencing an additional “state of exception”. He remains imprisoned in the cells of democracy and is deprived of his freedom despite having served his lengthy sentence for over two years. Comrade Pola Roupa, despite being released under restrictive conditions for months, remains in political captivity. Notably, just one week after her release in November 2023, the appellate prosecutor of Halkida appealed her release, and a final decision has been pending since January 2024. As long as this judicial uncertainty exists, she is at risk of being sent back to prison.
The “state of exception” for Nikos Maziotis
The Lamia Misdemeanors Court Council recently rejected the comrade’s request for conditional release, as he himself publicly announced (Nikos Maziotis: Regarding the latest rejection of my release https://epanastaticosagonas.wordpress.com/).
This is the sixth time his request has been rejected (five rejections by the first-instance council and one by an appellate court where he appealed only once). Three of the six requests Nikos Maziotis has submitted for his release were rejected by a council presided over by the same judge. And in all three instances, his request was accompanied by three consecutive positive prosecutorial recommendations.
It is well known that in the comrade’s case, the reasoning behind the continuous rejection of his conditional release is systematically based on similar ideological and political characteristics. This is reflected in all the rejection decisions, with particular emphasis on the latest request. He is one of the few prisoners panhellenicly —if not the only one—with a 20-year sentence who has been denied suspension for two years. They may be attempting to force him to serve the entire sentence, even though he has completed more than the required three-fifths of the sentence according to their own laws, since January 2022.
This “special” treatment by the judicial authority and particularly by the president of the Lamia Misdemeanors Court Council against the political prisoner Nikos Maziotis strengthens—if nothing else—the political assessment that his continued imprisonment is based on the political nature of his case. The same happened with comrade Pola Roupa. However, this case, and especially the continued imprisonment of comrade Nikos Maziotis, not only deprives him of his freedom but could also set a precedent against the world of struggle, should this action be directed explicitly against the state-capitalist system of political and economic dominance. This highlights how much their democracy fears the actions of millitants and guerrilla organizations that oppose the state, capital, and all forms of authority and imprisonment.
As comrades fighting within the anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement, we stand hostile to the state and its mechanisms, its laws, and its prisons. Consequently, we know how the state and its mechanisms treat our comrades and how they treat “their own”. Whether they are political figures involved in criminal (and other) cases, or uniformed servants of the political and economic power system who have committed state murders, or fascists, Nazis etc.
(Para)state, political-judicial mafia and democracy
With the recent conditional release of the Nazi Michaloliakos, the above was proven once again. According to journalistic, legal, and judicial circles, this decision was signed by Christina Papagianni as president of the Lamia Misdemeanors Court Council. Thus, with the decision No. 121/30.4.2024, the specific one was released, while his first release request was accompanied by a negative prosecutorial recommendation.
From the very beginning, there was not only political cover but also a concerted and coordinated effort by state (and judicial) authorities to keep the name of the council president who released the Nazi. Moreover, this was to prevent the “integrity” of the “justice system” itself from being questioned. This attempted cover-up did not succeed. The president’s name was immediately revealed through leaks from journalistic (and not only) offices.
And despite the fact that the Nazi is now back in prison (after an appeal was filed against his release by an appellate prosecutor), this selective decision by the particular judge does not diminish the political significance of this favorable stance by the state and judicial authorities, nor can it mitigate the social and political contempt it caused. However, the selectively biased stance of far-right elements within the “justice system” who release Nazis, yet are the same ones like this particular judge who keeps comrade Nikos Maziotis imprisoned, can no longer remain hidden.
Fascism and neo-Nazism in all their forms and under whatever political guise they appear seem to find “support” from repressive and judicial authorities due to their political affinity and organic connection within the mechanism. The authorities treat them as an extension of their own political reach, as they do not pose a threat. Instead, fascist, Nazi and other nationalist enclaves, as an ideology, political expression and practice, are the perfect political complement to the state-terrorist, in whatever form it occasionally takes. It is well known that since the post-civil war years, they have been consistently integrated into the structures and institutions of the state itself. Moreover, they complete its work whenever, for reasons of integration, appeasement, and deflection of social anger, the political power does not want to “expose” itself further.
Focusing on this selective tactic toward the specific Nazi and the vindictiveness and deprivation of freedom for comrade Nikos Maziotis, the political “sympathy” of the president and, more generally, the ideological and structural blending of state power with such ideologies and practices (such as fascist, Nazi, racist, gender-based and other intolerant pogroms and murders) is fully confirmed. As when “justice” (the Komotini three-member Court of Appeals for Felonies) a month ago, awarded with suspension and released the three fascists who acted as vigilantes in Alexandroupolis, who hunted down and imprisoned 13 refugees/migrants in a trailer-cage! In fact, in August 2023, when they were first arrested, the Alexandroupolis prosecutor recommended their release with restrictive conditions until their trial. Or when the state and its mechanisms allowed the Golden Dawn’s attack squads to operate unchallenged. Let’s not forget that shortly before the neo-Nazi squads of Golden Dawn murdered the antifascist Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini, members of the current party that is in the government, as well as journalists from mainstream media and later parliament members of New Democracy, who saw their dominance and “votes” in the nationalist right being threatened, were in talks with members and parliament members of the neo-Nazi formation to bring about this political convergence with a perhaps … “more serious” … Golden Dawn (sic)!
The struggles of rebellious people for a stateless, classless society of freedom, equality and solidarity cannot have any relation to the hateful characteristics of fascist or Nazi ideology. As part of the state’s efforts to depoliticize social struggles, in Europe—and not only—democracies are trying on a criminal-law level to equate insurgent-revolutionary actions with the practices of murderers. Recently, the judiciary in Greece and the informers of the regime media have been reproducing the narrative of the “unrepentant” fascists as an argument for the “victory of democracy” in the re-imprisonment of the “Führer”. A jurisprudentially subversive argument for the unrepentant stance of revolutionaries, like that of the imprisoned comrade Nikos Maziotis.
We do not forget our imprisoned comrades all over the world until the freedom from the cells of democracy
We defend comrade Nikos Maziotis and comrade Pola Roupa for their actions and political choices as anarchists and as convicted members of Revolutionary Struggle. We call on the world of struggle to mobilize and show solidarity for the:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF COMRADE NIKOS MAZIOTIS, who remains imprisoned in the cells of democracy for the actions of Revolutionary Struggle.
FINAL RELEASE OF COMRADE POLA ROUPA FROM STATE CAPTIVITY
Solidarity Assembly for the condemned members of Revolutionary Struggle P. Roupa and N. Maziotis