Alert and call for support before the trial of October 13, 2021!
(From Yannis Youlountas’s blog)
SUPPORT FOR GIORGOS KALAITZIDIS AND NIKOS MATARAGKAS OF THE ROUVIKONAS GROUP
Two years after the tremendous outpouring of solidarity without borders which enabled two members of Rouvikonas to avoid prison, a new threat of unprecedented magnitude hangs over the group. A Kafkaesque trial awaits Giorgos and Nikos on October 13, based on false accusations. This attempt to criminalise the social movement can cost these two political activists life imprisonment. Their group, however irreproachable and exemplary, has obviously become too awkward. A new international mobilisation is needed.
The facts: On June 7, 2016, a drug trafficker was executed in Athens, in the neighborhood of Exarcheia. This execution is claimed by a self-defense collective called the “Armed People’s Militia” which claims that the drug trafficker was behaving violently, threateningly and being dangerous in Exarcheia, both towards members of the social movement and residents of the neighborhood.
Three years go by. No member of Rouvikonas is targeted by the investigation. In July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis comes to power in Greece and promises, among other things, to end “by all means” with the anarchist group Rouvikonas, renowned throughout the country for its actions of solidarity and its unrelated resistance. this kind of process *. After a few months, in March 2020, an investigating judge takes over the case and indicts two Rouvikonas activists: Nikos Mataragkas and Giorgos Kalaitzidis, respectively for homicide and incitement to murder.
But in June 2020, after their hearings at the prosecution, they were both released without bail and the proceedings were logically dropped.
Theatrical coup in April 2021: although the dossier is empty against the members of Rouvikonas, the State and the mechanisms of repression suddenly decide to prosecute Giorgos and Nikos on the basis of false accusations and their trial is scheduled for October 13 2021!
This manipulation on the part of the authorities makes Giorgos and Nikos its hostages and aims to destroy them politically and physically: they risk life imprisonment! The aim is also to damage the image of the Rouvikonas group and to criminalise the social movement in Greece, as the ruling Colonels did fifty years ago.
Faced with this Kafkaesque trial, we give our support to political and solidarity militants Giorgos Kalaitzidis and Nikos Mataragkas and we demand an immediate end to the proceedings.
We call for strengthening the international support committee: support@rouvikfrancophone.net (send your name, first name and position to join the signatories).
We also invite support for them financially in this showdown, which is not limited to this trial of the Rouvikonas group: the group is frequently the subject of legal proceedings for less serious reasons, but no less costly (in total, for all actions currently being judged and in the months to come, the group’s legal costs amount to several tens of thousands of euros):
https://fr.gofundme.com/f/soutien-giorgos-et-nikos-athnes
Finally, we call for those who can, for a rally of support on the day of the trial: Wednesday October 13 at 9:00 a.m. at the Efeteio Courthouse, 4 Degleri Street in Athens. Photos of remote support actions are also welcome.
Let no one of us fall prey to power alone.
International Support Committee for Giorgos Kalaitzidis and Nikos Mataragkas
First signatories:
Pia KLEMP (lifeguard at sea), Maud and Yannis YOULOUNTAS (directors, solidarity activists), Cédric HERROU (peasant, solidarity activist), Dr Hawzhin AZEEZ (philosopher, poet and spokesperson for Rojava), Adriana VARELLA (activist and anarchist artist from New York), Vitor PARRHESIA-SINISTRO (artist and activist from Porto Alegre in Brazil), Sarah HAIDAR (Algerian, feminist, libertarian and Kabyle writer), Surya TJAHJANTO (Indonesian graffiti artist), Dave DOWNES (Anarchists of London, DiY and Anarchist Film Group in London), Dimitra ANTONOPOULOU alias Mimi (social worker, solidarity activist in Athens), Jean-Jacques GANDINI (honorary lawyer, former president of the Syndicat des Avocats de France), Dominique TRICAUD (lawyer, former member of the council of the order in Paris), Pierre GALAND (former Belgian senator, president of the OMTC, world organisation against torture), Gunter GORHAN (philosopher), Miguel BENASSAYAG (philosopher and psychoanalyst), Odile HELIER (anthropologist), Francis DUP UIS-DÉRI (political scientist, UQAM), Philippe CORCUFF (sociologist), Rémi BÉNOS (geographer), Jean-Pierre TERTRAIS (writer), Eric TOUSSAINT (writer and internationalist activist), Noël GODIN (writer, pie thrower), Alain GUYARD (fairground philosopher), François BÉGAUDEAU (writer, director), Mathieu RIGOUSTE (sociologist, director and writer), Alain DAMASIO (writer), Serge QUADRUPPANI (writer), Jean-Pierre LEVARAY (writer), Jean-François BRIENT (writer, director) , Jacques TARDI (designer), Nathalie ATHINA (author and activist), Matteo BONAGLIA (lawyer), Jack DINIZ (Autonomous Federation of Workers of Brazil), Fabiana GIOVANNINI (teacher and trade unionist in Geneva), Federico BERTONE (musician from Turin), Koshi SAKURAI (graffiti artist), Waepele WADRIAKO (support of Kanaky), Shaïmâa BENKIRANE (acrobat dancer), Saara LARSSON (musician), Ellen POWEL (actress), MILTON DJ RAZAP (musician), JACK OF HEART (musician), LOST BODIES (rock group), Joy BAXTER (musician), Veronica RODRIGUEZ (musician), Koffi DJEDJE (musician), ANTIDRASI (punk band from Athens), ANSER (hip hop artist from Sparta), F??? (punk band from Patras), S-CONTRO (punk band from Turin) , FUNDRACAR (reggae/punk band from Athens), Val K (photographer), Alexandros KATSIS (photographer), Nicolas PATRIS (musician), R??????S ?SS?S (hip hop artist), ??O??L? R?????? (punk band from Athens), Yannis HATZIGIANNIS (rapper), Keny ARKANA (rapper), SKALPEL (rapper), BATRAS (rapper), SID (musician), Dyvan LE TERRIBLE (musician), BAZOOKA (punk group), L’1CONSOLABLE (rapper), ADAM L’ANCIEN (rapper), Dominique GRANGE (singer), Serge UTGÉ-ROYO (singer), Christian LEDUC (singer), MC YINKA (hip hop artist from Athens), Company JOLIE MÔME (musicians), Alessandro DI GIUSEPPE alias PAP40 (actor), Yan LINDINGRE (designer), Marc LARGE (designer), Gilles LASSERPE (designer), BERTH (designer), Vincent MAKOWSKI (graffiti artist), Olga DABROWSKI (dancer), Richard PROST (director), Stéphane MERCURIO (director), Jean-Pierre BOUYXOU (director), Jean-Henri MEUNIER (director), Eloise LEBOURG (journalist, director), Anne BOISSEL (editor), Jean-Jacques RUE (programmer), Sandrine FLOCH (film distributor), Emmanuel VIGNE (journalist, director and producer), Xavier MATHIEU (actor), Serge PEY (poet), Mathieu FERRÉ (winegrower in Tuscany, anarchist publisher), Isabelle ATTARD (former MP, anarchist author), Rafael SADDI (anarchist activist and professor at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil), Bernard THIESING (activist, Berlin / Athens), Lorenza ROSSI (anti-fascist activist), Hazem EL MOUKADDEM (anti-fascist activist), Barbara BAKER (anti-fascist activist), Clément CUSSAC (libertarian activist and social worker), Eric SIRVIN (solidarity activist), Cyril and Nathalie MOREL (artists, solidarity activists), Philippe GUILLARD (solidarity activist), Frédéric GRIMAUD (popular education activist), Nikos PAPADAKIS (educator), Eric BERTIN (teacher), Geneviève AZAM (economist), Pierre CONCIALDI (writer), Etienne LIEBIG (writer), Thierry GUILABERT (writer), Jean-Marc RAYNAUD (editor), Tatiana MORONI (bookseller), Nicolas RICHEN ( journalist and solidarity activist), Naz OKE and Daniel FLEURY (journalists, KEDISTAN editorial staff), Constant KAIMAKIS (trade unionist and solidarity), Sylvie HALLER-XYLOURIS (cat sitter in Syros), Dimitris PASTELAKOS (libertarian activist), Patricia VARLET (solidarity activist) ), Anny ROUX (anarcha-feminist activist), Patricia TUTOY (solidarity activist), Nikos NIKIFORAKIS (environmental engineer), Sylvie GRACH (Viens on sème association), José BENGALA (solidarity activist), Anaïs BOYER (solidarity activist), Anne KELLER (former nurse, solidarity activist), Olivier ESTRAN (navigator and activist), Alex TESS (artist and law student), Patrick VIAL (solidarity activist), Bernard LANGLOIS (journalist, founder of POLITIS),
Christian EYSCHEN (spokesperson for the International Association of FREEDOM OF THOUGHT), NEW YORK CITY ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR COLLECTIVE, Collectif MARSEILLE AVEC LES GRECS, ANARCHISTS OF LONDON, LA HORDE ANTIFASCISTE, ANEPOS, ANARCHIST FEDERATION, ELAFF Group of Tarn, Antifascist Group Lyon and Surroundings, National Confederation of Labor (CNT), UNION COMMUNISTE LIBERTAIRE, TELEIA DES LUTTES, KEDISTAN, CNT JEREZ (Andalusia), LUNDIMATIN newspaper, CERVEAUX NON DISPONIBLES… (an ongoing list)
Contact: support@rouvikfrancophone.net
- On the resistance and solidarity actions of Rouvikonas in Greece (10 minutes video, in greek with french subtitles):
Some answers to common questions about Rouvikonas (testimony of members of solidarity convoys who have often met with the group):
- Rouvikonas is also a solidarity group that frequently carries out actions with precarious Greek nationals and migrants, including food distribution and other forms of aid.
- Rouvikonas is also an anti-fascist group, and not the least of them since the anti-fascist network Distomo (which allowed Golden Dawn to be driven out of central Athens, long before the legal sanctions against the party) was created by Rouvikonas.
- Rouvikonas is a mixed group where women are present and where sexism, machismo and virilism are rejected (the group also includes a very active and autonomous feminist section).
- Rouvikonas includes members of several nationalities and origins.
- Rouvikonas is overwhelmingly made up of workers and precarious workers.
- Rouvikonas refuses the avant-garde and does not wish to be qualified as such.
- Rouvikonas does not only act in Exarcheia, but all over Greece.
- Rouvikonas regularly offers public meetings to discuss with people who want to learn more and possibly join the group.
- Rouvikonas often carries out actions in tandem with other groups (anarchists from Thessaloniki, Kurds, migrants, antifas, solidarity activists…)
- Rouvikonas is affiliated with the Anarchist Federation of Greece A.O. (anarxiki omospodia)
- Rouvikonas also participates in meetings, concerts or even antifa football tournaments bringing together different groups.