Greek Anarchist Nikos Kountardas on a hunger strike!!


Solidarity actions are required to show our concern and support for our imprisoned comrade Nikos Kountrardas. Since 21/2/2008 Nikos is on a hunger strike. He is in isolation, at Kassandra Prisons, in Halkidiki, Northern Greece. He got beaten by prison guards who tried to make him stand out in the yard and provoked other prisoners to spit on him etc. No one did so. He requests that he gets out of prison and the current case against him (for lifting an anti-repression banner in a soccer stadium) is dropped, and also the accusations against him for an arson at ETE bank in Ksanthi. Also he wants his personal stuff back, and all limitative clause for an older case concerning the beating of former government party-allied union president. He also wants the stopping of tortures in Kassandra's prison, and his moving to Alikarnassos prison.


ACTION NEEDED.SPANISH COMRADES IN CRISIS.



On 4 February 2006, 9 squatters and anarchists were arrested after a riot
in the neighborhood of El Forat de la Vergonya in central Barcelona. El
Forat is the site of a powerful community resistance, uniting young and
old, squatters and renters, that defeated a city project to construct a
parking lot, and maintained the two year occupation of a community garden
that the neighbors had set up themselves. Barcelona is subject to an
extremely violent gentrification process, and this victory is historic.


During the resistance, a new squat appeared in the area, with no
connection to the movement. "El Teatro" was the scene of huge parties and
drug dealing, and also the home of suspected police informers.

For a longtime the Barcelona police had been protecting the squat from its legally mandated eviction. On 4F, four cops were provoking an incident at El
Teatro, where a major party was raging. Rodrigo, Alex, and Juan, three
squatters, were passing by on their way home. All three are from Latin
America. The police began yelling racial insults at them and started a
fight. The fight turned into a riot, with drunken party-goers inside
taking part. One of them threw or knocked off a flower pot, onto the head
of one of the cops, who was seriously injured and went into a coma.

The cause of the injury was confirmed by medical examiners, on-the-scene
witnesses, and the mayor of Barcelona (who later changed his story). Riot
police who happened to be on call in the neighborhood showed up and began
attacking and hunting squatters.



Rodrigo, Alex, and Juan were beaten down to the ground, taken into custody, and disappeared for several days,tortured viciously in a police van before being admitted into the prison. 6 other squatters and anarchists were arrested and blamed for the riot.


Two were not even in the vicinity-- they had checked themselves into a
hospital after a bike accident. The police cleaned up the riot scene
before a forensics crew could arrive, and the three police first on the
scene contradicted themselves in court, unable to say how their coworker
was injured (they ultimately settled on the story that Rodrigo threw a
brick that gave the cop a light injury on the front of his head but
propelled him backwards and precipitated the major injury on the back of
his head when he hit the ground). The judge meanwhile denied nearly all
of the defense witnesses, and threatened to charge people who witnessed
the riot as participants.

The three squatters given the heaviest charges waited in prison 2 years
until trial, denied bail.

Trial finally occurred in January 2008. All were found guilty. Rodrigo
received a sentence of 4.5 years, plus a 900.000 euro fine, Alex and Juan
got sentences of 3.5 years each, and the remaining six received sentences
of between 1 and 3 years. All are currently out of prison on provisional
liberty, and are appealing the conviction.