A statement was released today, coming from political Turkish/Kurdish prisoners in Greece. They are recently on trial after a so-called anti-terror-operation was carried out last year in April.
11 out of around 30 detainees, most of them political refugees from Turkey, were sent to prison, without knowing why they were chosen to remain in prison for so far already one year.
There had been reported severe human rights abuses already during their arrest, in which most of the detainees had various wounds from beatings by the anti-teror-police.
The trial started on 2nd July. Since its beginning the situation is tensioned and it seems more and more clear the process is result of the tightened relationship between the recent Greek government and the AKP-government in Turkey, where the safety of political dissidents is systematically threatend with torture, political killings or unfair trial resulting in long-term prison sentences.
The trial is also attended by a member of the Athens Bar Association who declared that the case would be followed and a complaint against the attitude of the court would be filed.
Lawyers left the court room today to protest reported violent attacks by security forces on the prisoners in court and detention of 3 trial observers.
The political prisoners who are on trial in Greece made following statement about today’s hearing…
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We Will Not Bow to Injustice
The Athenian Bar Association attended the Trial of 11 revolutionaries from Turkey as an observer…
It was not the revolutionaries who were tried and convicted in the courtroom today, but the hostile attitude of the Greek state, the court and the police. In the hearing we participated on Friday, July 9 (today), our lawyers left the hall after declaring to the court committee that they would not attend the court to protest this situation due to the attack that took place in the courtroom on Thursday, July 8 (yesterday).
Although the court committee did not want to recognize our right to speak at the beginning, in the discussions we started, we explained our opinion that the court committe was biased and there would not be a fair trial due to its many attitudes such as ignoring the torture in the courtroom from the very first day, interferring with our lawyers, interrupting our witnesses, trying to close the court to the press and preventing our friends and comrades who wanted to enter the court room as spectators. We said that we would not bow to injustice.
We declared that if we see that the artists and our lawyers sacrificed their lives to demand a fair trial against the injustice of fascism in Turkey, that we will not hesitate to pay the price in the face of injustice and that if we see that this attitude of the court does not change, we will start an indefinite hunger strike resistance.
The court board insisted on continuing the trial without a lawyer. It said everything was in accordance with the law. We said that the measure of justice is not compliance with the law and explained that fascism also has laws. We said that Hitler had laws, that Mussolini and Turkey’s fascism had laws. We said that we are discussing justice, not compliance with the law. We declared that we would not proceed to court without our lawyers.
Afterwards, the court board declared that it would continue the court in an unlawful manner, saying “you can join without a lawyer if you want, or you can’t participate if you want.” After this statement, the court board, who ordered a break of 10 minutes for us to think, insisted on continuing the trial when they saw that our decision had not changed. We left the courtroom to protest this situation.
The Athens Bar Association official, who attended the court as an observer due to the attacks that took place yesterday, informed the court that they would follow this case and file a criminal complaint. The court, which had to take a break once again, had to postpone the trial until Tuesday, July 13, in the face of our resistance and determination.
Today, it was not the revolutionaries who were tried and convicted in the courtroom, but the hostile attitude of the Greek state, the court and the police.
What happened here is the retreat of the Greek state, the court and the police in the face of our resistance and defense of the court. Resistance and solidarity won. We will win by continuing resistance and solidarity.
Free Prisoners in Greece
