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boycott Eurovision song contest from GREECE

necati Zontul | 18.05.2006 17:19 | Anti-racism | Indymedia | Repression

I am a victim of torture in Greece: I have not seen proper justice done in 5 years! Meanwhile many others have been tortured. This happens in Europe and we must make the world aware of the level of human rights abuse that happens in the EU and that goes unchallenged. A number of British people have also suffered in Greece, but perhaps readers forget about the Planespotters, David Wilson, and the Robinsons- all held in detention without good reason. It is time to protest! Please support this appeal!

As Greece prepares to celebrate the Eurovision song contest, I must remind you that I am not the only victim of State-sponsored torture in Greece, directly witnessing myself, a travesty of justice, a ministerial cover-up and in getting neither information from the Government about the progress of a trial in 2004 in which 5 men were supposedly found guilty, nor an apology, nor an offer of compensation nor any expression of sympathy for what I suffered at their hands. My efforts in seeking legal redress have been frustrated by serious threats to my life, by silence from all professional bodies, professional deceit ( for example, attempts to corrupt my initial evidence and a claim that I could not possibly command international support because I could not speak english) and by a protectionist policy that permits only local Greek nationals to file claims- the same policy that allows the same locals to take a sizeable cut of any award made by a Greek court. I was tortured and raped by members of the Greek Coastguard who also abused some 164 men, women and children in Crete in 2001. More recent atrocities include the torture of some 60 Afghans in December 2004 and the torture of Pakistani men, abducted from their home and held in the Greek Secret Service headquarters. Some Greek commentators, including Greek-staffed NGOs have blamed MI6, as earlier they blamed the inspiration of Abu Ghraib. The torture I suffered predated the invasion of Iraq, and no one else can be held accountable but those responsible for directing the activities of Greek servicemen in uniform.

In 2002, Amnesty released a document claiming that Police and the military acted with impunity, torturing and killing especially foreigners and Roma. Other target groups include conscientious objectors and homosexuals. Such racism and prejudice must be made known to tiourists who plan to viist Greece this summer.

In 1998, Time Magazine reported on paramilitary camps near Athens. I can confirm, in contradiction of the ex- Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, that such a camp existed and specialised in the training of terrorists. Europe is not safe while rogue Governments permit such camps to exist and to deny their exisitence is to bury our heads in the sand.

It is time Greece recognised her Human Rights responsibilities as a member of the European Union. I am proud of my achievement, last week, in successfully lobbying the UN against granting Greece a seat on the newly formed UN Human Rights' Council. I hope now that readers will boycott the Greek Entry in the Eurovision contest by turning off the tv for the 3 minutes it takes to air: like many Eastern European States, Greece sees the contest as a shop window: please deny them such an opportunity!

Sincerely,

NECATI ZONTUL

necati Zontul
- e-mail: necati.zontul@btinternet.com

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

Go to hell

18.05.2006 22:28

You claim in your post that Greece is doing all that because of "racism and prejudice", yeah there we go again blaming the racists Greeks for torturing an Alqaida sympathiser.

I oppose to torture to scumbags like Alqaida or any other, but when I see people like you saying they are doing that because they are racist I can only say Go to hell.

merlo


reply to Merlo

19.05.2006 21:21

sad to see such a comment here. There is nothing in the posting to suggest that Netjati Zontul is an "alquaida" supporter and indeed his torture in June/July 2001 predates the twintowers attack and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan!

In fact, Netjati was tortured because he is Turkish and because the Greek Coastguard in Crete are thugs. There was no excuse for the behaviour of his assailants, as there is equally no excuse for the continued racist behaviour of the Greek policeforce, security personnel and many members of the Clergy whose support gives the thugs the confidence to keep attacking foreigners, women, children and gays. There is a well-documented history of torture by the Greek police and security personnel (cf Amnesty report on Greece "agaisnt Impunity" 2002) as there is also a well-documented history of sexual abuse by the same. There is also a history of impunity, and most of the men in uniform who attack, rape and torture their victims do not see a courtroom or are acquitted on appeal as was the policeman who in 1998 raped Olga B.

There is also evidence that Greece has supported terrorist organisations, and allowed paramilitary training to take place on Greek territory. (cf Lavrion, and blatant support of PKK and DHK-PC)

There is little evidence of apologies ever given or compensation paid out to any victims, no matter how deserving.
Netjati is entitled, I think, to ask for help from the Indymedia community without being assaulted by some nonesense about Al Quaida!

the "Merlo" poster needs to do some calculations before he flings accusations! Maybe he is so bewitched by the delights of Eurovision, he cannot stop and consider the serious abuse of human rights that Necati addersses. Or maybe he is a stooge of the same Greek government that cannot say sorry. I am ashamed to be Greek when I read such stuff!
SAKI

Sakis Pappa


general response to Merlo

20.05.2006 09:58

NECATI's torture
NECATI's torture

 http://www.indymedia.org/en/2005/10/825353.shtml

 http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:Y-7S4cSXQW0J:www.redress.org/news/Statement8Dec05.pdf+necati+zontul,+torture&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=5

 http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13148&m=A18&aa=1&eidos=S

 http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/special_issues/ai-ihf-torture-background_rel_texts.html

 http://www.indymedia.org/en/2005/12/830572.shtml

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/oxford/2004/10/300243.html?c=on

 http://newswire.indymedia.org/de/2005/10/825353.shtml

 http://istanbul.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/72024.php

 http://www.zaman.org/?bl=readersvoice&alt=&hn=19836



From the TURKISH DAILY NEWS: Human rights
Monday, May 23, 2005 TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI
We keep complaining of the ill treatment of detainees, police brutality on demonstrators and often feel frustrated seeing authorities declaring zero tolerance to torture on the one hand, but keeping -- and often promoting -- police or security personnel accused by rights groups of involvement in such horrible episodes.
However, often we tend to overstate the human rights violations in Turkey and ignore developments outside. How the police treated demonstrators in some European countries -- we have seen the horrible photos in the Western press -- what other European allies of Turkey have been doing in conjunction with the so-called cooperation against terrorism often escape our eyes which indeed are sufficiently open to see the Turkish national emblem on the Land Rovers used by Uzbek security forces in quelling riots there.
Of course, we are preoccupied with our own problems. That, perhaps ought to be the case because such developments in Turkey are obstructing the progress of this country towards a better democracy and its integration with Western democracies. Turkey has been striving to erase the impact of the police brutality on women during International Women's Day celebrations in Istanbul last March on its relations with the EU.
Still, human rights violations do exist in the West and because of the assumption that Western societies are more sensitive on such issues and governments are more accountable to their public, not only Turks but also many nations outside of Europe tend to turn a blind eye to allegations of human rights violations by European states.
Recently, a TDN reader in Greece wrote us a very lengthy letter complaining that there were many instances of torture and, for various reasons, including the reluctance to accord proper credibility to foreign witnesses, none of them has come successfully to trial. The case of Joseph Okeke, for example, a Nigerian beaten and electrocuted with instruments of torture by police in 2002, of Andreas Kalamiotis, a 21 year old Roma beaten with truncheons before his children, Yannoula Tsakiri, a 21 year old Roma whose assault by police induced a miscarriage, Astrit Lleshi, an Albanian, forcibly repatriated and repeatedly beaten with rifle butts, Arjan Hodja, a legal Albanian worker, beaten by police and then lynched in 2001, Jahangir Alam, a Bangladeshi man forcibly drugged so he could not resist deportation. Amnesty reports allegations of falanga, the beating of a person's feet, other allegations of torture with electrodes, of rape and of the impulsive and improper use of firearms by police and security forces. There are instances of the torture of children, among them Roma Lazaros Bekos, who was threatened by police with sodomy and beaten.
The letter also claims that because there are legal restrictions on the victims' access to doctors, many cases receive inadmissible, tardy, scant or no medical examination, and important evidence is lost. Even when allegations result in a conviction, it is usual that a sentence imposed on a security official in Greece be commuted to a fine, or quashed altogether. This happened in the case of Apostolis Tsikrikas, who saw his punishment for assaulting Bekos reduced to a fine of about $60 and was subsequently acquitted.
The police officer is reportedly still on duty.
In another case, the letter claims, 165 people, including a Turk named Necati Zontul were subjected to a harrowing two week ordeal of torture and intimidation by the Greek Coastguard and members of the Special Services in summer 2001.
After so many years, these people were not compensated, nor the criminals persecuted with charges of torture and rape alleged by their victims.
The list continues, but it appeared that they were all very much like each other.
update on NECATI ZONTUL
tim Wilson | 29.10.2004 10:24 | Repression
A climate of censorship and repression still clings to modern Greece, and reports about the trial of the Coastguard who assaulted Necati modify the facts quite freely and continue to undermine Necati's credibility. This is in line with earlier actions that tried to styop him testifying at all. It is a shame!

Since 15th October when his case finally came to trial, and 5 men were convicted of torture and sexual assault, the Greek media has variously diluted or wrongly reported the facts. This seems to be in line with the intimidation we suffered before the trial. I am printing the report from Friday in the Athens News. Note the use of the word "claim" in this article and "tried to assault" in the article from Kathimerini. The Athens News has a longer letter from us reprinted on Indy News before, but has so far failed to publish it.

Migrant-beating trial ends in suspended sentences

KATHY TZILIVAKIS
A NAVAL court in Hania, Crete, found five Greek coastguard officers guilty of physically and sexually abusing a group of migrants smuggled to the island four years ago. The officers, however, walked out of the court free men on October 16 after receiving suspended sentences.

The victims were part of a group of some 160 migrants on board a Turkish smuggling boat towed into Souda harbour by the coastguard on 30 May 2001. This is one of the very few times officers in Greece are convicted on charges of torture and abuse.

One of the officers, Stylianos Dandoulakis, was found guilt of sexually abusing a man in the toilet. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison suspended for five years. Constantine Vardakis, who was charged with abetting Dandoulakis, received a 12-month suspended prison sentence.

Ioannis Florakis, Ioannis Lefakis and Athanassios Moumtzis, were charged with physically abusing many of the migrants. All three received an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The migrants (119 men, 20 women and 25 children), mainly Kurds from Turkey, Iraq and Iran, as well as Turks, Afghans, Pakistanis, Eritreans and Ethiopians, were held at the port town's old merchant marine academy. It was there that the six coastguard officers allegedly beat the migrants. Turkish migrant Necati Zontul says he was sexually assaulted.

According to human rights groups Amnesty International and the Greek Helsinki Monitor, all the adult male migrants said they were punched and kicked by the officers and that at least 10 of them were severely beaten and threatened.


ATHENS NEWS , 22/10/2004, page: A15
Article code: C13101A153


from Kathimerini
(Monday)
Five guilty of migrant abuse
A military court in the Cretan town of Hania has found five coast guard officers guilty of beating up a group of Kurdish illegal immigrants in heir custody three years ago.

But in a decision made public on Saturday, the court proceeded to give sspended sentences of 12 to 30 months' imprisonment to the five officers. A sixth defendant was cleared.

The 24 immigrants who suffered abuse were part of a group of 164 people held in coast guard installations in Souda, near Hania, after arriving in Greek waters on a battered vessel from Turkey in June 2001.

Among the witnesses was the former commander of the Souda coast guardstation, Diamantis Vassilagoudis, who said several of the detainees had complained to him of being beaten up by the men under his command. He also confirmed that two of the officers had tried to sexually assault one of the migrants.

In mid-September, the Defense Ministry admitted that army commandos on the remote eastern Aegean islet of Farmakonissi had violently abused a group of illegal immigrants who landed there. An investigation was ordered, but its results have still to be made public.

Large numbers of illegal immigrants reach Greek shores every year, mostly in rickety vessels that leave from Turkey.

Yesterday, coast guard officers rescued 34 illegal migrants from a sinking boat off the island of Leros in the Dodecanese, and were searching the seas off Lesvos for another migrant ship that was reported to be trouble in the area. The 34 migrants - 25 men, three women and six children - were located some 8 kilometers off Leros after a migrant couple told police in Athens that their daughter, who was on the boat, had contacted them by cellphone to seek help.

The second search operation was under way until late yesterday off Lesvos for traces of a vessel thought to be carrying illegal migrants. The search was hampered by high winds of up to 8 on the Beaufort scale.

The coast guard has arrested over 20 more illegal migrants on Lesvos and
in the southern Peloponnese over the past three days.
tim Wilson
necati zontul updates
12.10.2005 22:48
 http://publish.indymedia.org/en/2005/10/825353.shtml

OPEN LETTER: 12th October 2005

HE President Papoulias,

Odos Stissichorou 17

Athens

Greece 10674

Re: torture and military impunity in Greece 2001-2005, ref: Amnesty report on Greece 2005

Dear Mr President,

I am astonished that your office has failed to answer any of the letters written on my behalf by my partner, Tim Wilson. (22 10 2005, 28 06 2005, 16 03 2005, 21 04 2005) They address my experience of being tortured and raped by men wearing the uniform of Greece in 2001. This matter has been clearly covered by the English-language weekly, "the Athens News", by "Kathimerini" and by the British magazine, "Gay Times". The issues relating to this case, of torture in Europe, have been raised in the British parliament, and questions specific to the case have been tabled in the House of Commons.

I have today asked my lawyers in the UK to respond to allegations made by Court prosecutor Michael Tsagarakis who apparently insisted that the case against the five Coastguard accused and convicted of abusing me failed because I did not give evidence in Court.

In fact, I was not informed of the case at all, and the Greek Embassy in London, which had earlier assured my partner, that it would appraise him of any developments and was kept informed by the competent (sic) authorities in Athens, absolutely denied that any trial was taking place right up to the date of the trial itself.

On the two occasions when I attempted to give evidence in Crete, I found my evidence grossly mistranslated and I was bullied into answering questions in a language I did not fully understand and no response has ever been received by us after a letter demanding an explanation from Michaelis Apostolides was sent by the Greek Helsinki Monitor on 26th June 2002. In addition, my partner and I were so threatened by thugs who attacked us on the street and visisted our house with guns in their pockets that we were advised to leave Greece. We were in no doubt that our lives were in danger. We had appealed for protection to the then Prime Minister and to Mr George Papandreou, the Foreign Minister and received no response at all.

At a time when the new penal code in Turkey condemns all forms of torture, and criminalises male rape, I do not understand, frankly why the Greek Government, already a member of the EU and often critical of Turkey's human rights' record, fails to take the issue of my torture and rape seriously at all. The matter has been before the Courts and clearly awaits political comment, yet the politicians have remained silent. Not least of all is the need for the Greek government to fully implement article 137a and to address the issue of male rape and the machismo of the Greek policeforce, Coastguard and militia. I was appalled to learn from Michael Tsagarakis, for instance, that the issues of rape and torture were never seriously considered in Court.

Maybe, as President, you can find out which evidence was placed before the court to suggest that the assault that took place in the toilet was attempted rape only, and refer to my statement to the Press, (and reported again in the Athens News 27/02/2004) made the day before I also gave a statement to the GHM in which I state: "They took me to the toilet," he says. "One coastguard took out his truncheon and beat me on my shoulders and hands. Pulling at my trousers, he tried to rape me with the truncheon. I resisted. I fell down and he kicked me to make me stand up. He continued. I was in great pain." Please also refer to my statement of 5th July 2002:

“Then, he pushed the club down on the back of my neck, indicating by that that I should bend and then with force pushed it up my rectum. The pain was excruciating and I cried out….I collapsed in pain and then he gave me another kick and left.” I hope it is clear from these statements that I never alleged anything other than actual penetration, and serious pain, sexual assault, brutality and sadism. Beside my assailant, Dandoulakis, and his henchman, there was only one witness who was not present in the Courtroom to modify this evidence in any way, and whose own testimony, also given in July 2002 absolutely supports my account. I was interested to read that former head of the Coastguard Diamandis Vassilakoudis also confirms this story though the Haniotika (16th October 2004) elsewhere bizarrely reports “In the court it was said that penetration did not occur.”

Although the convictions in October 2004 were for lesser offences than those I suffered, and the 164 other foreigners also suffered at the hands of men wearing the Greek Uniform, nevertheless, the charges were serious and the conviction clear. Please explain, therefore, your silence after repeated requests for an official apology. I understand you are chief of the Greek Militia and are therefore the appropriate man to assume responsibility for their actions. As further torture occurred last Christmas, and as this too has not yet come to proper trial, it might soon appear that there is an effective policy of torture. This is certainly the impression the recent Amnesty report suggests. Only your personal intervention will help to reassure the Greek people and the wider world that this is not in fact the case. Please let me know whether appropriate compensation has already been arranged, when a public declaration of non-recurrence will take place and when I can expect a letter expressing sympathy from the Greek militia and Government.

Yours sincerely,

NECATI ZONTUL

and in GREEK:

TEXT IN GREEK: please email me or telephone above should you print this letter**
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ΑΝΟΙΧΤΗ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ: 12 Οκτώβρη 2005
Κον Πρόεδρο Παπούλια
Στησιχώρου 17
Αθήνα 10674
Ελλάδα
Βασανιστήρια και ατιμωρησία στρατιωτικών στην Ελλάδα 2001-2005, αναφ: Έκθεση Διεθνούς Αμνηστεία στην Ελλάδα, 2005
Αγαπητέ κύριε Πρόεδρε,
Έχω εκπλαγεί από το γεγονός ότι το γραφείο σας δεν κατάφερε να απαντήσει σε καμιά από τις επιστολές που γράφτηκαν εκ μέρους του συντρόφου μου, Tim Wilson (22 10 2005, 28 06 2005, 16 03 2005, 21 04 2005). Περιγράφουν την κατάσταση κατά την οποία βασανίστηκα και βιάστηκα από ένστολους, στην Ελλάδα το 2001. Το γεγονός καλύφθηκε με σαφήνεια από την εβδομαδιαία αγγλόφωνη εφημερίδα "Athens News", την "Καθημερινή" και από το βρετανικό περιοδικό "Gay Times". Τα θέματα που σχετίζονται με αυτήν την υπόθεση, τους βασανισμούς στην Ευρώπη, έχουν τεθεί υπό συζήτηση στο Βρετανικό Κοινοβούλιο και συγκεκριμένες ερωτήσεις για την υπόθεση έχουν τεθεί επί τάπητος στον Οίκο των Κοινών.
Ζήτησα σήμερα από τους δικηγόρους μου στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο να απαντήσουν στους ισχυρισμούς του Εισαγγελέα κ. Μιχάλη Τσαγγαράκη, που επέμεινε ότι η υπόθεση εναντίων των πέντε λιμενικών που κατηγορήθηκαν και καταδικάστηκαν για την ασέλγεια εις βάρος μου απέτυχε εξαιτίας του ότι δεν κατέθεσα στο δικαστήριο.
Στην πραγματικότητα, δεν είχα καμία ενημέρωση για την υπόθεση, και η Ελληνική πρεσβεία στο Λονδίνο, που είχε νωρίτερα διαβεβαιώσει τον σύντροφό μου ότι θα τον κρατάει ενήμερο για κάθε εξέλιξη και που είχε συνεχή ενημέρωση από τις αρμόδιες (sic) αρχές της Αθήνας, αρνούνταν οποιαδήποτε δικαστική διαδικασία μέχρι και την ημέρα της ίδιας της δίκης.
Στις δύο περιστάσεις που αποπειράθηκα να δώσω κατάθεση στην Κρήτη, βρήκα την κατάθεσή μου παραποιημένη άσχημα κατά την μετάφραση και αναγκάστηκα να απαντήσω ερωτήσεις σε μια γλώσσα που δεν καταλάβαινα πλήρως και δεν λάβαμε ποτέ απάντηση μετά από ένα γράμμα του Ελληνικού Παρατηρητηρίου των Συμφωνιών του Ελσίνκι που απαιτούσε εξηγήσεις από τον Μιχάλη Αποστολίδη, στις 26-06-2002. Επιπροσθέτως, ο σύντροφός μου κι εγώ αντιμετωπιστήκαμε με τέτοιο τρόπο από γκάνγκστερ που μας επιτέθηκαν στο δρόμο και εισέβαλαν στο σπίτι μας με όπλα στις τσέπες ώστε ακολουθήσαμε τη σύσταση να φύγουμε από την Ελλάδα. Δεν υπήρχε καμιά αμφιβολία ότι οι ζωή μας ήταν σε κίνδυνο. Είχαμε ζητήσει προστασία από τον τότε Πρωθυπουργό και από τον κ. Γιώργο Παπανδρέου, Υπουργό Εξωτερικών, και δεν λάβαμε καμιά απάντηση.
Σε καιρούς όπου ο νέος ποινικός κώδικας στην Τουρκία καταδικάζει όλες τις μορδές βασανιστηρίων, και χαρακτηρίζει κακούργημα το βίασμό αρρένος, πραγματικά δεν καταλαβαίνω γιατί η Ελληνική Κυβέρνηση, ήδη μέλος της ΕΕ και συχνός επικριτής του θέματος των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων στην Τουρκία, δεν καταφέρνει να πάρει στα σοβαρά την υπόθεση βασανισμού και βιασμού μου. Το γεγονός τέθηκε υπόψιν δικαστηρίων και αναμένει ξεκάθαρα πολιτικό σχολιασμό -ωστόσο οι πολιτικοί παραμένουν σιωπηλοί. Δεν υπολείπεται σε προτεραιότητα η ανάγκη η Ελληνική κυβέρνηση να εφαρμόσει πλήρως το άρθρο 127α και να ασχοληθεί με το θέμα του ανδρικού βιασμού και του ματσισμού τού ελληνικού αστυνομικού σώματος, της Ακτοφυλακής και της Εθνοφρουράς. Έφριξα όταν έμαθα από τον Μιχάλη Τσαγγαράκη, για παράδειγμα, ότι θέματα βιασμού και βασανιστήριων ουδέποτε αντιμετωπίστηκαν σοβαρά από ελληνικό Δικαστήριο.
Ίσως, ως Πρόεδρος, μπορείτε να βρείτε ποια αποδεικτικά στοιχεία τέθηκαν υπόψιν του δικαστρίου, για να στοιχειοθετήσουν ότι η βίαιη ενέργεια που έλαβε χώρα στην τουαλέτα ήταν απόπειρα βιασμού απλώς, και να προσφύγετε στις δηλώσεις μου στον τύπο (όπως γράφτηκε στο Athens News 27/02/2004) την προηγούμενη ημέρα που έκανα δήλωση στο Ελληνικό Παρατηρητήριο Συμφωνιών του Ελσίνκι, στο οποίο λέω τα εξής: "Με πήγαν στην τουαλέτα" λέει. "Ένας της ακτοφυλακής έβγαλε το γκομπ του και με χτύπησε στους ώμους και τα χέρα. Κατεβάζοντας το παντελόνι μου, προσπάθησε να με βιάσει με το γκλομπ. Αντιστάθηκα. Έπεσα κάτω και με κλότσησε για να με κάνει να σηκωθώ. Συνέχισε. Πονούσα πολύ". Επίσης, δείτε την δήλωση μου στις 5 Ιουλίου 2002:
"Μετά, πίεσε με το ρόπαλο το σβέρκο μου, υποδεικνύοντάς μου να σκύψω και στη συνέχεια το πίεσε στο απευθυσμένο μου. Ο πόνος ήταν βασανιστικός και ούρλιαξα... Λιποθύμησα από τον πόνο, μου έριξε άλλη μια κλωτσιά και έφυγε". Νομίζω ότι είναι σαφές από τις δηλώσεις ότι ποτέ δεν ισχυρίστηκα κάτι διαφορετικό εκτός από πραγματική εισχώρηση, πραγματικό πόνο, σεξουαλική κακοποίηση, βιαιότητα και σαδισμό. Εκτός από τον εν λόγω, Δανδουλάκη, και τον μπράβο του, υπήρχε μόνο ένας μάρτυρας στο Δικαστήριο για να επιβεβαιώσει τα στοιχεία με όποιον τρόπο, και του οποίου η κατάυεσγ, επίσης τον Ιούλιο του 2002, επιβεβαιώνει πλήρως τα λεγόμενά μου. Με ενδιαφέρον διάβασα ότι ο πρώην επικεφαλής της Ακτοφυλακής, Διαμαντής Βασιλακούδης επιβεβαιώνει την ιστορία στα Χανιώτικα (16/10/2004) ενώ αλλού περιέργως αναφέρει ότι "στο δικαστήριο ειπώθηκε ότι δεν συνέβει εισχώρηση".
Παρότι οι κατηγορίες που αποδόθηκαν τον Οκτώβρη του 2004 ήταν ελάχιστες σε σχέση με αυτά που υπέστην, και άλλοι 164 ξένοι υπέφεραν από τα χέρια Ελλήνων ένστολων, ωστόσο οι κατηγορίες ήταν σοβαρές και η καταδίκη σαφής. Παρακαλώ συνεπώς να εξηγήσετε τη σιωπή σας, μετά από συνεχείς αιτήσεις για μια επίσημη συγνώμη. Αντιλαμβάνομαι ότι είστε επικεφαλής της Ελληνικής Εθνοφυλακής, και κατά συνέπεια ο αρμόδιος για να αποδοθούν ευθύνες για τις πράξεις τους. Καθώς συνέβη κι άλλος βασανισμός τα περασμένα Χριστούγεννα, και ούτε αυτόε έχει φτάσει σε σχετική δίκη, μπορεί να προκύψει σύντομα μια πολιτική που ανέχεται τους βασανισμούς. Αυτή είναι σαφέστατα η εικόνα που δίνει η Διεθνής Αμνηστία στην πρόσφατη έκθεσή της. Μόνο η προσωπική σας παρέμβαση θα βοηθούσε να βεβαιωθεί ο ελληνικός λαός και ο ευρύτερος κόσμος ότι δεν είναι έτσι στην πραγματικότητα. Παρακαλώ γνωστοποιήστε μου αντισταθμιστικές ενέργειες που ενδεχομένως έχουν ήδη γίνει, πότε θα πραγματοποιηθεί δημόσια δήλωση μη επανάληψης και πότε μπορώ να περιμένω επιστολή που να εκφράζει την συμπάθεια της ελληνικής εθνοφυλακής και κυβέρνησης.
Ειλικρινά δικός σας,
NECATI ZONTUL

tim wilson