All of the 60 accused where found not guilty in the last trial date of the hurriya-squat on the 17th of September in Thessaloniki.

After already 5 postponed trial dates since the eviction of the refugee-solidarity Hurriya-squat in Thessaloniki after the NoBorderCamp 2016 in Thessaloniki finally there was a decision. The 60 people were accused of disturbing public peace and collective destruction, 30 were addtionally accused of not giving their finger prints and photos.

We share a conversation with the 8 of Petrou Ralli that was published by the Community of Koukakis Squats (https://de.indymedia.org/node/24009)

Inside the fascist core of the greek state: A conversation with the 8 of
Petrou Ralli

Following is a series of testimonies from several different voices with
common experiences. It is the result of conversations between eight
ex-detained migrants from Algeria – known from the case of the “8 of
Petrou Ralli” – with female comrades from the Community of Kukaki’s
Squats. The purpose of the text is to give visibility to the reality
that the migrants imprisoned in the centres for administrative detention
and camps face every day. Those who delivered these testimonies, do no
want to serve the spectacle through which many westerners, in greece and
elsewhere, consume the migrant’s situation. It is not written from the
position of a journalist or an academic researcher. On the contrary, we
fought to take these people out of the prison, we live together, in a
community struggling against the same threat. It is the outcome of their
political will and trust, products of a long term communication that was
created by the Coordination of Collectives and Individuals Against the
Detention Centres (SSAEKΚ) since the moment they were in greek prisons
until today that are hosted in the structures of the movement. Political
will to share their experiences and uncover fascism for the next. Trust
in the ability of the movement to break the system that invisiblises
them. These testimonies enable us to perceive better the structures we
fight against, fascist structures of confinement that operate as
businesses. In order to understand what it means to encage people, all
the horror had to be laid bare. The horror of the greek, white supremacy
and its concrete reality, that humans live in their flesh and through
their existence.

First-world colonialism enforces migration to populations and sells them
the new european dream. From the moment one takes the decision to escape
a country due to its financial and political actuality finds himself,
herself struggling to pass the borders and avoid the prisons of the
various fortress states, as part of a crowded mass. Imprisonment for
migrants in europe and in greece can take many forms. One of them is the
administrative detention. The free transportation of a person is decided
on the base of hers, his papers. Ifthey are not accepted, they violently
transfer the arrested to the nearest detention centre. The cops through
a horrendous control try to tune the bodies in order to respond to a
torturing frame, a situation that is extended to the irrational time
realm of bureaucracy.But the bodies react to this dystopic reality. They
shout to demand their rights. They act. They set mattresses on fire.
They organise hunger strikes. They reach to suicide. During solidarity
gatherings, they try to communicate their word with their voices and
throw messages in bottles over the fences.

The police is really afraid of the these acts of revolt. They fear an
organised migrants’ resistance. So, they violently suppress them with
any means possible. It is usual to isolate them from the outside world,
blocking any kind of external encouragement to reach them. They want to
prevent their information and their co-organisation.On 2017, eight
detainees in Petrou Ralli, all from Algeria, were requesting to meet the
director of the prison to obtain accurate information about the reasons
of their imprisonment. Their request was met by fierce beating and
severe wounds (broken arms, skull fracture, etc.). They accused them for
revolt and escape attempt and dispersed them in different prisons around
greece. They awaited trial for over a year.

A multiform struggle arose as the needful reaction to the situation.
SSAEKΚ, in which comrades from Squat’s Community of Kukaki participate,
was in a constant, direct communication with the detainees, conducted a
counter-information campaign, organised solidarity gatherings, events in
open spaces and interventions.

In May 2018, even though the court found them guilty, allowed their
release. We offered them housing in the structures of Kukaki’s Squats.
We are a community, liberating our needs from state’s and capitalism’s
exploitation and organising our lives without hierarchy. In our spaces
they were able to stay together, rest and recuperate from the jail time,
stay away from the mafia and thepolice abuse of the peoplein the
streets. They are able to take time and explore all the available
options on how to continue their lives from now on.

As the time passed, we bonded more, building friendship and comradeship.
We lived together for more than three months. In those months, some left
for work or found other places to live, some chose to visit us
periodically. But we extended a family and our abilities to support the
struggle of those who try to reach europe and establish common ground
for actions against imprisonment, state borders, police brutality and
fascism.

In their words..

We are all from Algeria but each of us have a different story of how we
reached to greece. Four of us came through turkey and arrived in Chios
island, to a very miserable camp managed by certain NGOs. Food was not
provided and we were housed in tents. Fascists attacked us. Around 80
individuals defended the camp against them. When the police entered, two
hours later, they only arrested the Algerians.

We ended up in the detention centre of Korinthos, imprisoned for seven
months. Cops are also fascists. They don’t like Arabs and they treated
us very badly in the prison. One of us was sick and also has asthma but
they never transferred him to the hospital. This is a hardcore jail.
Food is not enough, you have to buy everything and a lot of people get
sick because of the bad hygiene. People there, self-harm as a way to get
out and numerous attempted suicide. We did some demonstrations inside
the prison because the cops weren’t accepting asylum requests. We also
organised mass hunger strikes. We managed to do four strikes of four
days each. The police responded by beating us with their sticks. During
our stay there, we were constantly itching, scratching and having
serious skin conditions. We were asking the cops to bring us to the
hospital every single day but they never cared. One of us managed to
cure himself of the infections by buying his own medicines, only a year
after when he was in Domokos prison. Before Petrou Ralli, the sent us to
other detention centres without any explanation. In Nafplio, in Tripoli…
There, the police had a lot of problems with us and they finally sent us
to “Alodapon” detention centre in Athens. We met with the others that
were already in the cell and together we became “the 8”.

The first that you see when you arrive in Alodapon is the face of the
police. A hard face “welcomes” you, especially if you are Algerian. They
push you until in the entrance of the building. “Mesa, mesa!” (Inside,
inside). They treat you badly from the beginning, they try to provoke,
they always make racist comments: “Go back to your country!”, “Why did
you come here?”, “What are you doing in greece?”. From the first moment,
we started communicating with the other prisoners. We asked questions
like: “Why are you here?”, “How is the situation in here?” and “When are
you getting out?”. But no one knew the answer for the last one.

To make make more clear the time some of the detained spend in, there is
a very characteristic example. When we firstly arrived in P. Ralli, we
met a man. A year after, when we passed again by Alodapon, to get our
release papers, we found the man there. He was detained for 14 months.

The second is the day you are really experiencing thing, the serious
things. The cops were intimidating us because we were trying to figure
out how it works inside. When you ask them the duration of your stay,
you will see that it is common to bring someone out of his cell, to the
yard or to a desk and beat him. Once, someone came back with a fractured
shoulder.

It’s really very dirty inside. They don’t provide with basic and hygiene
supplies. There are no bedsheets, towels, shampoo, soap or razors.
Everyone shouts to understand what the fuck is happening here. We are
literally like animals in cages, screamed at and beaten up. The water
comes from a dirty stock. They don’t give you water bottles so you have
to drink from there. The food is little and disgusting. They don’t give
spoons for everyone so we were eating with our dirty hands. Like this,
infections are spread fast. The bedbugs, the mosquitoes and the
cockroaches can be life-threatening in the big quantities they are. All
the beds are infected with bed bugs and you can’t sit anywhere without
getting bitten. When the police try to flush the insects out with
petrol, they went everywhere and were bitingus. The mattresses are so
infected that it is impossible to sleep normally. You can never really
sleep.

The Red Cross brought bedsheets but the police doesn’t give the things
brought by the NGOs. They come maybe once per month and the actual
conditions of the cells are hidden from them. Instead, they clean a cell
up and show them only that. The european union is making a lot of money
to keep people in jails like this. Inside everything is about money
also.They make a business out of telephones, alcohol, medicines and
drugs. If you have money the corrupted cops bring everything for you.
You can get bublecan (benzodiazepines) or shisha (the local name for
crystal meth) for a hundred euros. Many people take Subutex which is a
substitute for heroin and even though it is used for treatment, they get
addicted to it. The Georgians use it a lot.

To punish you, they might put you in the cells upstairs with the drug
addicts. They don’t have money for needles so they share the same and
spread diseases. One prisoner died from an overdose. When his inmates
took pictures with their mobiles, the copswent crazy and entered the
cells to find and take all the phones. Someone refused to give it
andthey broke three of his ribs. He was unable to walk for a month and
no doctor was involved. “Freedom” is a business also. If you bribe the
director 5000€, they will release you, directly. He is free to do as he
likes. He will write a fake report, saying that the prisoner had good
behaviour. A guy from Georgia paid this amount and when they caught him
again without papers he tried to negotiate his release for a 1000€ but
the director didn’t accept.

At the top of the hierarchy is the principal. It’s the one you never
see. He comes once per week to sign papers for deportations and all the
administrative things. Then there is the director. He comes more often
and stays in an office with the officer in charge and make jokes.
Sometimes he comes to talk with the prisoners. He is a hypocrite
pretending to comfort us. He doesn’t speak english or doesn’t like to
speak english. Once he asked for a translator from arabic to greek. When
a guy from Algeria proposed to translate, he told: “Why do you translate
for them? Don’t translate for them again! If you refuse to help them,
next time I will bring one bottle of whisky and I will set you free.”
Under him are the cops. They are divided into groups, following time
schedules. There arethree groups of 15 policemen, under the command of
the officer in charge. Petrou Ralli can keep around 450 prisoners and
sometimes only 15 policemen guard. The first group starts from 06.00 to
14.00, the second from 14.00 to 22.00 and the last from 22.00 to 06.00.
The ones who work one day at 06.00, work the next at 22.00.

There are different groups of policemen. Some of them only come to hurt
you. There is another group that pretends to be “good” cops. It’s a
role-playing game, to suppress you. When you try to get their attention,
with a hunger strike for example, if a cop convinces you to stop or
punishes you, he is job is recognised. On the contrary, if they don’t
work well the principalpressures them. If you don’t want to eat they
might come inside your cell and beat you up. Some prisoners refuse to
eat when certain cops have shift because they don’t want the cop to be
rewarded for making them eat. Their job is to never let us protest. To
calm us when we make too much noise or if we protest, to hit us. They
are drunk most of the day.

One of their main targets is to force the detainees to force them to
request deportation. This is a very hard situation for the refugees that
come from countries in war, like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. Somemay
don’t want to leave without their family or because of the unbearable
and dangerous reality in their countries. Although, they are forces to
sign. On top of that, you are unable to know anything about the news and
the circumstances in your country. There is no TV, no access to
newspapers. The cops say that they will randomly deport a bunch of
people back to Turkey. During the solidarity gatherings in front of the
prison, they forbid us from reaching the windows. They will suddenly
serve food to distract us and punish the ones who will try to
communicate with the outside world. Exactly because of the lack of
external communication, people are afraid and the cops know very well
how to play with this general uncertainty. Everything inside is
uncertain. You have to choose what you believe and that’s how they play
you. They joke, they laugh and threat people with deportation. “Don’t
worry, we will deport all of you”. There is another example withthe
director that was mentioned before. Once he came inside and called
everyone to say there is news. “I will help all of you that came by sea.
I will help you to come back to your country and I will give you a 500€.
You will go back by plane with no risk.” When we denied his “help” he
answered that he will send us all back to Turkey and that the day we
will start crying for deportation will come but he will not deport us.

When the day of their deportation comes, people put shit in their hair
or on their body. Like that the cops don’t touch them, don’t hit them,
and sometimes don’t deport them. They wait at the door and the door gets
full of shit too. Every day something like this happens and shit smells
all over the jail.

One of us drank chlorine in order to be brought to the hospital and
avoid deportation. The other time he drank soap. The director of the
jail visited him in the hospital and he ate the buttons of his shirt. He
answered to the doctors that asked him why he acts like this that he
doesn’t want to go back to Algeria. They sent him back to Alodapon with
a letter stating that he needs to get out of this environment. It was
ignored. Instead, they gave him tranquillizers and sleeping pills.

When sick people request to go to the hospital they don’t care. Since
they don’t see blood, they find no reason for hospitalisation. They
bully you like the visit is a walk and you just want to go there to meet
people and talk with them. One day, a guy from Iran tried to slit his
throat and the cops had to send him to the hospital. One day later they
brought him back to Petrou Ralli. He didn’t have clothes any more
because he let them at the hospital, neither had he something to cover
his throat. It was winter and it is really cold there and they don’t
even give clothes to the prisoners.

They keep this kind of stories hidden. They avoid bringing people to the
hospital because their stories will be heard by the psychologist or the
staff of the hospital. If they believe that someone might kill himself
because of the way he istreated, they would request from the director to
let him out of the jail immediately. But they don’t care if you are in
danger. In many prisons in greece, I’ve said them that I’ll kill myself,
and the answer was always: “Okay, go kill yourself”. Most of the
psychiatrists are also fascists. They mess with your psychology. If you
protest they give you sleeping pills to be powerless and not talk. They
mightprescribeyou three medicinesper day. They even put pills in the
food so as to go to sleep immediately after.

One day we asked to see the director. We made some noise. But we only
saw his assistant. We wanted to know more about our cases. Why we are
closed inside this jail and when we will go out. A cop came and told us
to write the names and the nationalities of some of us who have been
inside Petrou Ralli for more than nine months, in a piece of paper. We
waited but a two days after we found the paper with our names in a trash
bin. So we asked again. This time, the cop who came told us that only
the principal can answer our questions and that he will be back on
Monday, at 07:30. Next Monday, we all asked the police to call him to
ask about our files and everything. They said that they we’ll bring him
in a minuteand they went to an office, changed theiruniforms and wore
MAT (anti-riot police)gear. I heard them when they opened the door.

We didn’t think that they might come for that. We had done nothing
wrong. We just wanted to talk to someone in charge. After they opened
the door, they wanted to throw outside the cell the person in front to
beat him. We grabbed him and pulled him back inside. “After that, they
started to hit me and everyone there with a metal stick. They hit my
head and I tried to protect myself. My face was covered in blood and I
couldn’t see anything. I ran to escape and hide. I heard everyone
getting beaten. I heard my friend screaming. They hit him badly and he
had a wound on his head and a lot of blood”. “The other prisoners in the
first room thought they were going to die inside because they beat them
a lot. After that, they didn’t want to bring us to the hospital. They
just took one person who had very serious and dangerous wounds and the
others stayed until 14:00, until the change of shift. They started to
take us one by one to the hospital without really caring about us”. “I
had my arm broken and a lot of wounds on my head. I had to wait until
16:00 because I wanted the others who had more serious wounds to go
before me”. The doctor said to one of us who had serious wounds on the
head that they brought him too late to the hospital. After waitinghe
hadseven stitches. The other had maybe twelve stitches. “Because I hid,
they started to search for me. They went into the room I was hidden and
the people of this cell did not tell them I was there. I was helping the
other prisoners because I can translate for them and the police don’t
like that. This day, they looked for me specifically because I was the
one to translate and ask for the director in order to help the ones that
stayed a lot of time in Petrou Ralli. I was talking a lot and asking why
they didn’t help this or that one. They didn’t find me because the
people that witnessed everything said nothing.” One of them, from
Georgia, took pictures of us and the police talked with him in greek and
told him: “Let these people down, don’t help them because you will have
problems with us”. But he sent the pictures to his wife. After they
found about that, they filed a case against us, accusing us of starting
a riot to excuse their violence. We were sent to penal jails. Three days
after the cops took all the phones inside Petrou Ralli and deported
around 70 persons. They also hit other people. Every morning since then
the prisoners shouted to the police about what happened. The police kept
pressuring them.

Next trial against Ahmed H. on the 20th September 2018 in Hungary: Call for solidarity and international trial observation in Szeged, Hungary

On the 20th of September 2018, the trial of the Hungarian State against
Ahmed H. is going to the second level of court – for the second time.

Date:
20th of September, 9 am
Re-Trial of 2nd level court

Address:
Szegedi Ítélőtábla (Regional Court of Appeal)
6721 Szeged
Sóhordó utca 5

Ahmed H. has been convicted for “terrorism” in Hungary, because he has
been protesting with thousands of refugees at the Serbian-Hungarian
border crossing of Röszke in September 2015, when Hungary suddenly
closed its borders to the people traveling through.

The case against Ahmed H. is a political show trail by the current
Fidesz government of Victor Orbán. To stir up their racist rhetoric’s,
they needed a scapegoat to keep up the fear of the apparent “Muslim
terrorist invaders”.
They constructed absurd allegations against Ahmed, with no evidence to
ground them (read or report on the last trial here).

On the first instance court in March 2018 (held for the second time),
Ahmed has been sentenced to 7 years in prison. This was just before the
presidential elections. The Orbán government has not been shy in
constructing Ahmed as proof of the foreign threat of which Orbán wants
to protect Hungary and Europe. The defense, as well as the prosecution
have appealed against the decision.

Now, the second instance court will decide again. We cannot let this
absurd trial continue. As Ahmed H. has pointed out, if we ignore his
trial, he might be only the first victim of this new far-right juridical
system:
“If they can punish me, they can punish everyone. Through this trial
they create a new law. I was just one person in a crowd of many people
and they punish me for terrorism. If they do this to me, they can also
do this for any other people in a crowd in the future.”

Ahmed has already spent three years in Jail. He needs to get out now! We
need to be present, monitor the trial and show solidarity with Ahmed H.!
Spread the Information! Come to Szeged! Show your rage to the Hungarian
Government!
#FreeAhmed #FreeTheRöszke11

stay tuned:
https://freetheroszke11.weebly.com/
@freetheroszke11

We report an article of the solidarity group “Free the Harmanli 21” (you can find it here: https://harmanli21.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/the-trial-has-started-solidarity-is-more-important-than-ever/)

The trial

On Aug. 7, after being postponed twice, the trial for the riot in Harmanli started. The people charged are 21, although 11 are missing and therefore those present in court were only 10. This time they were brought in through the backdoor and earlier in order to avoid meeting our group trying to express solidarity. Those who were in court today have been in detention for 2 years already without a sentence or a trial and are clearly the victims of a state and judicial system which is scapegoating them to set an example of its nationalist and racist border policies. More info on the trial and the story behind it can be found here.

One of the detainees interrupted the judge in court to state: “Why are you holding us, we were 2000 people on strike and you are putting just us 10 on trial?”

A self-organized group stood at the exit when the migrants were taken out, shouting „Freedom, Azadi, Свобода”, „No nation, no border, fight law and order” ,“No one is illegal”, “Our passion for freedom is stronger than your prison”. The migrants greeted with fists in the air and victory signs before the riot van took them away.

A video of the action can be seen here:

The unlawful trial against the #Harmanli21 has started. Solidarity is more important than ever! Down with all detention centres, #FreetheHarmanli21 #noborders pic.twitter.com/Jg76N2rl90
— Bou chkara (@boubouchkara) 9 agosto 2018

What’s next?

The next session of the trial is set for 11.09.2018, 9,30AM. The encarcerated and trialled migrants are almost alone against the machinery of the state and the Fortress Europe and every action in solidarity, in bulgaria or abroad, has an enormous meaning. After the previous court hearing, they let us know that they are aware of the solidarity actions. All actions and specifically those targeting the bulgarian state and its institutions abroad are of great importance now when the trial has started. We already heard from the court how “the trial is of a great public interest” and we have no doubt that they were referring to the solidarity shown here and abroad so far. In order to continue supporting the detained and put more pressure on the bureaucrats, we are starting a LETTER – WRITING CAMPAIGN. Let’s flood the detention centre with hundreds of letters!

How can you take part?

Write a letter in English and then translate it (with an automatic translator it is okay as well) in Farsi and Pashtu. Copy the letter 10 times for each one of the detainees and then put it in 10 different envelopes send it to each one of them separately. Talk to friends and comrades and organize even more people to do it! The more letters we send, the stronger the echo of our collective voice would be!

Address:
SVNC – Lubimec, bul. Odrin 75, gr. Lubimec, oblast Haskovo, Bulgaria 6550

Full list of the names:

Zabitullah Hotak
Idris Babakarhel
Ashikullah Babrak
Fazel Ahmadzai
Fahiman Safi
Ali Reza Hudaidad
Nasrullah Babahel
Habibolrahman Mangal
Kalandar Uafa
Abdul Malek Ahmadzai

Freedom for the detained migrants!

Down with Fortress Europe!

Wir dokumentieren einen Solidaritätsaufruf von der Solidaritätsgrupper “Free the Harmanli 21” (zu finden unter https://harmanli21.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/the-trial-has-started-solidarity-is-more-important-than-ever/)

The trial

On Aug. 7, after being postponed twice, the trial for the riot in Harmanli started. The people charged are 21, although 11 are missing and therefore those present in court were only 10. This time they were brought in through the backdoor and earlier in order to avoid meeting our group trying to express solidarity. Those who were in court today have been in detention for 2 years already without a sentence or a trial and are clearly the victims of a state and judicial system which is scapegoating them to set an example of its nationalist and racist border policies. More info on the trial and the story behind it can be found here.

One of the detainees interrupted the judge in court to state: “Why are you holding us, we were 2000 people on strike and you are putting just us 10 on trial?”

A self-organized group stood at the exit when the migrants were taken out, shouting „Freedom, Azadi, Свобода”, „No nation, no border, fight law and order” ,“No one is illegal”, “Our passion for freedom is stronger than your prison”. The migrants greeted with fists in the air and victory signs before the riot van took them away.

A video of the action can be seen here:

The unlawful trial against the #Harmanli21 has started. Solidarity is more important than ever! Down with all detention centres, #FreetheHarmanli21 #noborders pic.twitter.com/Jg76N2rl90
— Bou chkara (@boubouchkara) 9 agosto 2018

What’s next?

The next session of the trial is set for 11.09.2018, 9,30AM. The encarcerated and trialled migrants are almost alone against the machinery of the state and the Fortress Europe and every action in solidarity, in bulgaria or abroad, has an enormous meaning. After the previous court hearing, they let us know that they are aware of the solidarity actions. All actions and specifically those targeting the bulgarian state and its institutions abroad are of great importance now when the trial has started. We already heard from the court how “the trial is of a great public interest” and we have no doubt that they were referring to the solidarity shown here and abroad so far. In order to continue supporting the detained and put more pressure on the bureaucrats, we are starting a LETTER – WRITING CAMPAIGN. Let’s flood the detention centre with hundreds of letters!

How can you take part?

Write a letter in English and then translate it (with an automatic translator it is okay as well) in Farsi and Pashtu. Copy the letter 10 times for each one of the detainees and then put it in 10 different envelopes send it to each one of them separately. Talk to friends and comrades and organize even more people to do it! The more letters we send, the stronger the echo of our collective voice would be!

Address:
SVNC – Lubimec, bul. Odrin 75, gr. Lubimec, oblast Haskovo, Bulgaria 6550

Full list of the names:

Zabitullah Hotak
Idris Babakarhel
Ashikullah Babrak
Fazel Ahmadzai
Fahiman Safi
Ali Reza Hudaidad
Nasrullah Babahel
Habibolrahman Mangal
Kalandar Uafa
Abdul Malek Ahmadzai

Freedom for the detained migrants!

Down with Fortress Europe!

Yesterday, the trial against the Harmanli 21 has started finally, after it was already postponed two times. Still only 10 people were present in front of the court and were brought in via the back door. The local District Court of Harmanli announced that during the trial more than 60 witnesses will be questioned. The fact that no investigation was done by the authorities concerning the police violence against the asylum seekers in the camp of Harmanli was criticized by Bulgarian Human Rights Organizations. In front of the court a group of people protested in solidarity of the accused migrants. The next court hearing will take place on the 11th of September 2018.

Source: http://bulgaria.bordermonitoring.eu/2018/08/07/the-trial-against-the-harmanli-21-has-started/

We document a Statement by musaferat about the Free the Moria 35 campaign.

Political Assessment of the Campaign #freethemoria35

The decision to stand in solidarity with the persecuted migrants…

When we began the #freethemoria35 campaign, after the events of July 18
(2017), in Moria’s detention centre, we knew that we would face many
difficulties. We already had an idea of the difficulties we would
encounter given the fact that we had no prior relationship with the
persecuted migrants, the obstacle of different language, politics and
culture, the financial burden of a trial, as well as the various people
interested in the case who, each in their own way and for their own
purposes, would involve themselves in the case. Most of the facts of the
case were not initially known to us, and communication with the
persecuted and development of the first solidarity actions were very
difficult as 30 of the persecuted were immediately taken into custody to
various prisons throughout Greece. What was crystal clear, however, was
the brutality of the police operation, the random arrests that followed
and the established feeling of fear for those trapped in Moria, which
was further intensified a week later, when a sweep operation by the
police took place inside the detention centre, with dozens of
administrative arrests.

Uncertainty about the outcome of their asylum claims, fear of
deportation, containment on the islands, miserable conditions in
detention centers, violent daily confrontation with police forces and
exclusion and marginalization by local societies, are the necessary
mixture of pervasive powers and repressive instruments for the control
of migrants. Any attempts to resist the marginalisation and
dehumanisation experienced are met with violent mob and police attacks,
followed by legal actions brought against migrants, proving the
counter-insurgent role of the judicial authorities.

This was the case in the judical cases we have followed from the
detention centres of Moria and Petrou Ralli (Athens), but also in cases
where migrants attempted to publicly protest, such as the protest of
Afghan migrants, whose decision to transfer their protest to Sappho
Square led to a pogrom against them. The targeting of these migrants not
only has a punitive effect for those who dare to resist, but also are
intended to function as deterrent example for everyone else in the same
circumstances.

The message is reenforced that migrants must remain invisible, and
significant obstacles are placed to prevent the development of struggles
against detention centres and against the modern totalitarianism within
which these detention centres are being developed.

Despite the difficulties mentioned above, choosing to stand with them
was the only option. After all, the main goal of the campaign, besides
material and legal support that would be offered to the persecuted, was
to bring the anti-migration policies of the Greek state and the EU back
into the public dialogue and that of the movement. A similar case from
the Petrou Ralli inferno and the decision comrades made to focus on that
case in a similar campaign offered the opportunity to join these two
struggles and have a broader impact. The emergence some time after of
another court case against 10 migrants related to events that had taken
place on July 10, which we didn’t know about earlier, but concerned
people with whom we had developed relationships during the campaign,
further expanded the campaign, but also added additional burdens.

Breaking through invisibility

Since the beginning, we had as our primary goal to combat the
invisibility which threatened the case. The videos of police brutality
that initially circulated provided some publicity, which drew the
interest of various groups and organisations. Many rushed to express
their discontent and to condemn, but it was easy to predict that once
the mist of the teargas settled, and the persecuted had disappeared into
the dungeons of the Greek state, the case would be resigned to the
archives for most of these groups.

With the help of comrades from various cities in Greece and abroad, the
publicity campaign began with various, mostly informative actions in
order to carry out more powerful actions as we drew closer to the court
date. Solidarity actions from Patra to Kavala, but also from Barcelona
to Rojava, gave the case an important character, beyond the narrow
borders of the Greek state in which it was taking place, and beyond the
strictly mono-thematic character which is often afforded to the migrant
struggles.

Conducting the trial

Faced with the mobilisation that took place in Lesvos and beyond, the
state responded by sending the cases to be tried in the Joint Court of
Chios Island. The move had a clear isolating effect as the obstacles to
sustained solidarity in Chios alongside the persecuted are obvious.
Choosing Chios also posed serious problems in conducting a fair trial.
The defendants, who had been released from detention with restrictive
orders in Mytilene (5 for the court of 35 and one for the court of 10),
had no financial means to move to or stay in Chios. With this decision,
they were excluded from their own trial. The same was true for witnesses
in the defence of the two cases, since those who had not been deported
or excluded because of the geographical limitations imposed on them
because of the EU-Turkey deal would have to bear a considerable
financial cost. Faced with this impasse, the various organizations
representing the 5 for the first case and the solidarity assembly were
called to cover these costs. The practice of excluding witnesses through
various administrative measures, particularly in cases concerning
migrants, is well established in the Greek judicial system. In dozens of
cases in the past, we saw key witnesses, defenders or defendants, being
expelled or excluded from attending court due to lack of legal
documents. A political practice that essentially negates the access of
thousands of migrants to justice, leaving them exposed to exploitation
and fear.

A fair trial requires that the persecuted are given the opportunity to
defend themselves regardless of their financial means. Ensuring this is
a struggle against the classist nature of the judicial system.

The decision of the judicial system to deny a fair trial to the
persecuted was made very clear at the Moria 35 trial through the (lack
of) preparation for a trial where defendants speak foreign languages.
The date of the trial was long known, as were the languages ​​spoken by
the defendants. However, when we arrived at the trial we saw that not
only were the appropriate interpreters missing, but that the judges
themselves were unconcerned about interpretation. The 35 accused became
the audience in a foreign language play that was not dubbed or
subtitled. This was a production, however, in which their future was
determined. The same became clear during the the defence witnesses’
testimony and the testimony of the accused. The court not only
interrupted the defence witnesses, not allowing them to testify to what
they knew or to expand their testimony into the political nature of the
trial, but was extremely threatening and aggressive with most witnesses.
For example, the judge repeatedly threatened the first migrant witness
who attempted to testify, while with another witness, a member of the
solidarity assembly, the prosecutor did not hesitate to strongly attack
him when he refused to testify to what she was suggesting to him. And if
defence witnesses were not given sufficient time, there were no
pretensions of giving sufficient time for the accused’s testimony. It
was obvious that for the court there was absolutely no importance or
procedural value to what some black migrants would testify when they had
earlier heard the false testimony against them of so many cops. All the
evidence presented showing the arbitrariness of the police’s raid, at a
time and place where nothing was happening, was given no significance.
The outcome of the trial seemed to have been decided from beforehand.
That was also exactly the case in the trial of Petrou Ralli, where the
audiovisual material proving the unjustified assault of the guards
against incarcerated migrants, were not taken into consideration in the end.

The decision reached in the case of the Moria 35 could be misleading
given its ambiguous nature. On the one hand, the accused were acquitted
of the most serious charges, which allowed them to be released from
state prison. On the other hand, for the lesser charges they were
subject to penalties that not only justify the arrests, but also caused
them further problems. Based on this conviction the persecuted were
punished a second time for the offences for which they had just been
released, as on returning to detention centers they were taken to the
closed facilities as recognized troublemakers. Also defendants who had
their asylum applications rejected during their time in detention were
immediately placed on the list for deportation, something which has so
far been prevented by the further mobilisation of the solidarity
movement and lawyers. Faced with this treatment, so far, one of the 35
persecuted, who had already been trapped for months on the island, and
for nine months in Greek prisons, withdrew his asylum claim and was
deported to Turkey.

This exclusion is experienced by so many thousands of migrants who are
forced into the judicial system without having the same basic rights
that exist for native and Western citizens. The system fails them as
they are permanently confronted with the Scylla and Charybdis of the
criminal and administrative mechanisms of dehumanisation and repression.

Facing the arbitrariness of their arrest and trial, as expressed by the
persecuted themselves to the comrades who were close to them, the only
thing that made them feel safe was the presence of people in solidarity
that ensured them that, no matter what happens, there would be someone
to bear witnesses, and prevent them from getting lost in the jaws of the
judicial system. Unfortunately, it is easy to imagine the fate of so
many migrants dragged into the courts without the support of the
movements or the visibility that the migrants had in these cases.

Aside from the distance we traveled to reach the trial and the court’s
hostility, the climate of fear created in Chios in the face of the trail
was also serious. In a city without any substantial prior experience in
a central political trial, publications in local newspapers and blogs
cultivated a highly aggressive image of the solidarity actions that had
been organized, giving the police forces the excuse to set up an
operations beyond any logic within and around the court. Especially
during the early days, the accused and the people in solidarity, were
found confronted by the entire Chios police force with multiple controls
and constant surveillance. It should also be noted that there were
elements of the local solidarity movement that had fallen in the same
trap of fear and reproduced the same fear tactics. In the state’s desire
to isolate the trial on the island of Chios, an unfortunate coincidence
came to reinforce its isolation. A ferry strike by the workers union,
which took place the last two days before the trial began, excluded the
presence of comrades who were planning to travel from further away. But
the feeling of isolation was broken by a considerable mobilization of
comrades living in Chios, who both provided everything we needed in the
unknown landscape of Chios, and were present throughout the two trials
that took place.

The complex role of NGOs

Another important aspect we faced during the campaign was the role of
NGOs. Much has been said regarding the role of these organizations in
the management of migrant populations. Just as in the rest of the field,
so in this case their dual role has emerged.

Following the events in July, several NGOs appeared willing to take part
in the legal support of the 35 persecuted. As expected, as soon as the
publicity of the case decreased in anticipation of the trial, many of
them left the case without even informing the migrants they represented.
In addition to that, the president of SYNYPARXIS, an NGO mainly
consisting of SYRIZA members, who had also abandoned the two migrants
who it had been representing just 1 month before the trial, appeared at
the court with the intention of testifying as a defence witness in the
trial. Facing the inconsistency and ridiculousness of such a
proposition he was forbidden by the solidarity assembly. EURORELIEF’s
role, compared to that of many NGOs, however, was particularly important
in the case of 10 persecuted migrants for the events of 10 July. We
remind you that during the events, the containers hosting the offices
and warehouses of this organisation within the center of Moria had been
targeted and burned due to organisation’s role within the center, always
in full collaboration with the authorities. The head of the NGO, Jeremy
Holloman, not only identified to the police a migrant he recognized
during the riots, but he also collected audiovisual material from the
employees’ and volunteer smartphones, which he handed over to the law
enforcement authorities for further investigation. Through this
material, criminal charges were brought against 4 additional people.

However, it should be noted that other NGOs involved in the case,
independent to the reasons that each of them may have done so, have
worked positively in defending migrants by offering them dignified legal
representation. Some were assisting them not only throughout the course
of the trial, but also in the preparation of their subsequent asylum
applications after they were released.

Further Conclusions

Judicial arbitrariness against persecuted migrants cannot be seen
separately from dozens of other cases of comrades and people that had
been in resistance. Being themselves or even their relatives dragged in
kangaroo trials. We are increasingly viewing cases where the judiciary
performs a counterinsurgent role as a main component of state and
capitalist power. Blind persecution, imprisonment and unsubstantiated
convictions will continue to be used as tools against those who question
the advance of modern totalitarianism over their lives or the lives of
others.

What is extremely worrying, however, is the normalization of mass and
blind judicial prosecutions. In Lesvos, the number of persecutions
against migrants from the detention centre of Moria, supposedly for
events they have caused, is impossible to know. Criminal prosecutions
for cases of non-existent incidents, expulsions and deportations of
those who assume more central roles in the organization of migrants, as
well as persecution of those witnessing racist and criminal events
against the imprisoned population are common.

In this situation, where more and more detention centers and populations
are in a state of exclusion, it is imperative to stand with all our
strength next to the persecuted. Despite the efforts of the authorities,
the isolation imposed on them is broken, encouraging them to continue
their resistances but also linking them with local movements in the
direction of common struggles. In practice, it may seem impossible to
follow all the judiciary cases. The judicial prosecution industry is
built to overwhelm the time and material capabilities of the movements.
But solidarity needs to be present in as many points as possible,
building these bridges.

To allow solidarity to expand to more and more arenas ….

musaferat, June 2018.

https://enoughisenough14.org/2018/06/24/political-assessment-of-the-campaign-freethemoria35/

We document a report from the 2nd trial date against the accused Harmanli 21 from 5. June 2018 by our comrades from bordermonitoring Bulgaria.

Banner in the court: „Freedom for the 21 migrants from Harmanli“

On the 5th of June 2018 the trial against the Harmanli 21 was postponed again. As last time, 10 of the 21 accused migrants were present. The hearing started with people in attendance to support the migrants. They took out a sign saying “Azadi” (the word for “freedom” in several languages. They also showed a banner in support of all the persecuted, saying “Freedom for the 21 migrants from Harmanli” in Bulgarian. Afterwards they were expelled from the court room. One of the migrants was rudely silenced by the judge for thanking the protestors.

The supporters claimed that they are not a part of an organization and just people, who came in solidarity. Some media did not quote their banner correctly afterwards and some media reports following the events on the very same day noted that among the supporters were foreigners and not everyone spoke Bulgarian language. A journalist challenged the protesters with a question about police being injured during the riot. One of them answered, by stressing the fact that a 15 year-old boy was in a coma after police violence following the riot and no police has been investigated or accused until today.

The hearing continued with only two out of the 10 present migrants disagreeing with starting the trial right away. The statements of all the lawyers were pleading against a start – they argued that one month has not passed since the start of the search for the 11 missing migrants. The trial was postponed until August 7th, 2018 at 13.30 h in the Regional court in Harmanli.