Tag Archives: Petrou Ralli

[Athen] No holidays in Petrou Ralli: A LETTER FROM DETAINED WOMEN

An article from our comrades from Bulletinmag in Greece:

No holidays in Petrou Ralli: A LETTER FROM DETAINED WOMEN

On December 19, 2019, was our last visit to Petrou Ralli Detention Center. Once more the number of detainees had increased and reached no50 50 women from 15 different countries. Indonesia, Ethiopia, Albania, Afghanistan, Georgia, Iran, Italy, Cameroon, China, Tibet, Belarus, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, and Turkey. In our effort to talk with them, some police officers were in such close proximity that prevented women to express themselves freely about situations they experience. The behavior of some officers was also provoking towards us.

A characteristic testimony: “When we came here they forbade us to wear our headscarves and told us:” Out of here you can be Muslim, here NO! Here you are Christians… ”

Another testimony: “A police officer invaded into the shower room, while a prisoner was bathing, and made her pull the towel…” At the time, the health of several of them was very bad. Despite our own pressure for two women to be transferred to a hospital as emergency cases, nothing really changed. Τhese women are still very sick. Also, there are no doctors during weekends and during the night time, at Petrou Ralli. On Christmas day we were informed by relatives of prisoners for possible initiation of a few women on hunger strike. The day after our visit they started writing their experiences in the following denunciation letter, where they describe them with their own voices. Experiences that we can simply only imagine. Women from six different countries asked their will for their letter to be publicized. When you have lost everything you do not fear anything.

Their voices should be heard in the whole world. You can discuss it in your assemblies. The organizations and institutions that talk about human rights should stop fooling us and playing with the plight of migrants and refugees, who are led to extermination.

We stand by and admire these women for their bravery and solidarity they show to each other…

No person illegal, no person invisible

Our Rebel sisters are right for the abolition of detention centers and opening of Borders

for stopping illegal racist & misogynist behaviors

for smashing verbal, physical and mental torture

The passion for freedom is stronger than all kinds of prisons

In streets, in squares and prison cells, migrant women you are not alone

The House of Women, for the Empowerment & Emancipation

spiti.gynaikon@gmail.com

(translated in English from the original)

“Greece, Allodapon (Immigrant House) PRISON 20-12-2019

That so-called-immigration office is such a hideous and villainous place that makes anyone forget his/her humanity. Nothing is legal here. Lies, molestation, sexual abuse, diseases, neglection, squalidity, ill-treatment, beating, insult…You literally face with all of these.

Above all, how can they dare? If Europe doesn’t know, how come they dare? Maybe it is a conspiracy! Here we are locked into wards 3-4 times a day which are filthy and full of lice. Only after hitting the iron fences over and over, a policewoman asks «what», by shouting and insulting. They treat us as if we are animals. (not even animals should be treated like this). They took our mobile phones on the first day and didn’t give it back to prevent us to take pictures or videos. Even the lawyers can’t come inside. When the volunteers of organization companies come we are locked. Volunteers are told a lot of lies. For example, they are told we stay here 2 weeks maximum. Most of us are here for 1,5 months. There are people here who stay for 4 months without being told anything.

We are being taken to airing twice a day like herds. When the time is off, they shout ‘Inside’, and lock us inside the wards. When people need to go to the toilets, they have to shout, punch, kick the doors. Sometimes, only sometimes, a policewoman comes after 15-20 minutes. Other times no one comes. Even if one of us dies at those times, no one cares.

Ceylan Pinar Kanli, Turkish. Everybody is sick. Everybody has wounds because of the filth. Some of us even have cysts. For example, I have cysts all over my body. After 5 days, they took me to the doctor inside the immigration house. He said “you should go to the hospital immediately. You need a blood analysis. It is urgent.” Despite that, they make me wait. It has been 5 days.

We do the cleaning ourselves. We have neither shampoo nor soap. Nothing… The ones who have visitors are lucky, what about the others? They ask the ones with visitors to buy things for their needs if they have money. Our friends without money, they either ask to share or they smell.

There is no word to describe the toilets. No detergents, no soaps, nothing! The toilets changed their color because of the dirt and filth. The ones with wet handkerchiefs wrap their noses and face to be able to enter the toilets. The ones without handkerchiefs mostly vomit.

And the policemen! Under the pretext of distributing food, they touch and harass women. This is a horrible place.

The ward on the right belongs to men. The inhuman beating by the police (the victim was a man called MECIT) shouldn’t be ignored. 4 cops kicked him to death barbarously. I can’t forget his ashamed looks because he was beaten in front of all of us.

The food they give both cold and smells! Tomatoes and oranges are rotten. Even to drink water we have a timetable. Water drinking time… We have to drink that disgusting, smelling water. When I said ‘I can’t drink this water. May I buy from outside?’ the policemen laughed a lot and said ‘You have to’. There are a lot of things to say about that place… The sentences on the walls, relentless tears, and continuous supplications.

All are here in that hell.

Alla from Syria, whose headscarf is pulled from her head

Aisha from Somalia, who can’t walk because of the cysts, who is taken to hospital in the middle of the night and when the inflammation gets a bit better, taken back in prison.

And us, who are insulted every day, 1 Iranian, 3 Albanian girls who were abused.

That place is not an immigration office, it is a torture house. I believe I will be able to go out but it’s not only me. After me, there are lots of women who haven’t got any money, a lawyer. They have no one. There are children hereunder 18 and it is not legal.

Please help us. The women who were on indefinite hunger strike ate for the first time after 3 days. No one cares.

Esraa Kreash (Syria), age 22. Esraa is on medication for her psychological condition under the supervision of a doctor twice a day. However, the police gave her only once at night. For a day, they didn’t give her any. Then, Esra didn’t take the pills at night and the next day she took two of the pills. Because she took two pills in a day (she took one in a day for 20 days before), she slept. When she woke up, she went out airing. The police said that the time was off. She had to go inside, but she knew neither English nor Greek. So she didn’t understand.

After that, the police pulled her arms hard and pushed her. Esra attacked the police’s hair. 4 police came from inside. 2 policemen handcuffed her, 2 policewomen hit her arms. And in front of all of us, they dragged her on the floor and locked her in a cell. They left her handcuffed in the cell without food until night. She cried a lot, knocked the door continuously but they didn’t open it until the night shift. She only knows to say ‘sorry’ in English. She said it tons of times, over and over. Only after that, they opened the door. Her roommates asked food for Esra, but they didn’t give any.

She says ‘I haven’t used psychological drugs before. When I came to this prison, the doctor here gave them to me. She is here for 25 days. She has no visitor, neither money nor a lawyer. She retained a lawyer but because she doesn’t have money, the lawyer doesn’t come. She signed for asylum in Leros 3 months ago. Then she went to Lefkada and she was caught there while going to Italy on the ship and was taken to Allodapon. For 3 months, she has been waiting for the interview. 25.12.2019

Meryen Zare, from Iran who was swindled by her lawyer, hasn’t got any money and a lawyer. Neither translator nor visitor. She asked someone who knows English to write a letter to the police saying ‘Please send a translator or I will kill myself.’ Meryem has been waiting for the answer for 3 days. She is all alone, doesn’t know what to do, without a translator. She has gone on an indefinite hunger strike for 3 days. Today we made her eat.

Glory, from Nigeria, has been waiting to be free although she has been here for 2 months and finished 2 interviews. She is still an indefinite hunger striker! 26.12.2019″

Reading the denouncing letter of these women, in comparison with Article 21, on the rights of detainees, from the Decision: “Establishment, operation, and regulation of the aliens’ pre-removal centers(APC)”, one can easily, and leniently speaking, realize the tragic irony:

Regulation of Pre-removal Centers

Article 21

The foreign detainees in the detention centers have the right:

a. To medical treatment and to psychosocial diagnosis and support,

b. To unhindered religious practice, as long as the safety rules of the detention center are not violated

c. Not to be subjects of discrimination (…)

g. To access to a lawyer and in case of inability, providing legal support (…)

n. To be informed via newspapers, magazines, and books with which they are supplied during their visiting hours and to have access to the library (…)

L. To receive from the guards of the detention center the necessary things for their personal hygiene and tidiness,

m. To receive appropriate nutrition with the concern of A.P.C., 3 times a day and

n. To be informed via newspapers, magazines, and books with which they are supplied during their visiting hours and to have access to the library

(there is no and has never been a library at Petrou Ralli)

[Petrou Ralli 8] Ein Gespräch mit den acht Menschen von Petrou Ralli

Wir teilen ein Gespräch mit den acht Menschen von Petrou Ralli, das vom Community of Koukakis Squats geführt und veröffentlicht wurde (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.

[PetrouRalli8] Verurteilung der 8 Angeklagten von Petrou Ralli

Die 8 Geflüchteten, bekannt als die Petrou Ralli 8, wurden alle am 23. Mai in Athen des Widerstands und der Körperverletzung gegenüber Polizeibeamt*innen schuldig gesprochen. Sieben wurden zu 3 Jahren und 1 Monat auf Bewährung verurteilt, eine Person zu 3 Jahren und 2 Monaten auf Bewährung, da sie eine “Waffe” besessen haben soll.

Nach Aussagen von Menschen vor Ort war das Gerichtsverfahren ein lächerlicher Schauprozess. So widersprachen sich Polizeibeamt*innen, die als Zeug*innen gealden waren und verbreiteten ihre Vorstellung von Geflüchteten als “gefährlich”. Die Anwält*innen und die Angeklagten werden in Berufung gehen. Bis das passiert, sind alle frei, dürfen das Land aber nicht verlassen.

Was ist passiert?

Im Mai 2017 gab es einen Protest inhaftierter Geflüchteter im Abschiebegefängnis Petrou Ralli in Athen für medizinische Versorgung eines Mithäftlings und gegen die Haftbedingungen; es folgte ein brutaler Polizeieinsatz gegen die Inhaftierten mit vielen Verletzten. 8 Menschen wurden aufgrund ihrer Herkunft (Algerien) verhaftet und angeklagt und auf Gefängnisse in ganz Griechenland verteilt.

Weitere Infos findet ihr hier auf der Seite der griechischen Unterstützer*innen des Hausprojektes Unbuntu Wahhada in Thessaloniki.

Solidarität mit den Angeklagten!

 

[PetrouRalli8] Start des Prozesses gegen die PetrouRalli8 in Athen

The trial of 8 from started today in#Athens Many solidarian people in the court present. The 3 police men speak against & accused the 8 . A lot contradiction on the key points among the 3 polices men.

At the end the trial for the has been postponed due to the lack of interpreters. It will continue on 23rd of May. That means almost one month more in prison.

More infos: https://twitter.com/hashtag/freethepetrouralli8?src=hash

[Griechenland] Anstehende Gerichtsprozesse der Moria35, PetrouRalli8 und Weiteren im April/Mai

In den kommenden Wochen wird es 3 Prozesse gegen Geflüchtete geben, die gegen die inhumanen Bedingungen in den Camps und Abschiebegefängnissen in Griechenland protestiert haben. Insgesamt geht es um 53 Personen. Dazu kommt ein Verfahren gegen solidarische Aktivist*innen.

Info-Material und Plakate zum Selber-Ausdrucken findet ihr hier auf unserer Seite.

Moria 35+2
Am Dienstag den 18. Juli 2017 verließen protestierende Migrant_innen das Moria Lager und blockierten die Hauptstraße in unmittelbarer Nähe. Während sie außerhalb des Lagers Slogans riefen, wurden sie von Polizeikräften von innerhalb und außerhalb des Lagers aus mit Steinen, Tränengas und Blendgranaten angegriffen.
Die Migrant_innen warfen Steine zurück auf die Polizei und starteten kleine Feuer. Nachdem Konflikt, das Lager Moria kehrte zurück zu “Normalität”, allerdings starteten die Polizeieinheiten eine Razzia innerhalb Morias. Die Migrant_innen mussten die Drohungen der Spezialeinheiten ertragen, welche die Container stürmten, alle die sich in ihren Weg stellten wahllos verprügelten, bis dann 35 Leute willkürlich ausgesucht und verhaftet wurden. Das einzige Kriterium welches die Polizei anwendete war die Hautfarbe, da sie ausschließlich schwarze Menschen verhafteten
Zwei weitere Menschen wurden im August verhaftet und weitere Dokumente wurden der Anklage vom 10. Juli 2017 hinzugefügt, auch Unruhen in Moria (ein weiterer Protest, welcher eine Woche vor dem Moria 35 Fall stattfand), deren Verhandlung findet am 11. Mai 2018 statt.
Im Januar 2018 die einleitende Untersuchung für den Fall Moria 35 wurde abgeschlossen. Dreißig der angeklagten Migrant_innen werden weiterhin in vier verschiedenen Gefängnissen in Griechenland (Korydallos, Avlona, Chios, Malandrinos) Haft gehalten, und ihre U-Haft wurde nach einer neuen Entscheidung des juristischen Ausschusses von Mitilini für weitere 6 Monate verlängert.
Die 35 angeklagten sind mit ernsten Anklagen konfrontiert welche viele Jahre Inhaftierung und Ausschluss vom Asylverfahren bedeuten. Genauer gesagt sie sind die Anklagepunkte:
1. Gemeinsame Brandstiftung mit dem in Kauf nehmen von Gefahr für Menschenleben
2. Gefährlicher physischer Schaden, versucht, wie auch durchgeführt, gegenüber der Polizei und der Feuerwehr, gemeinsam und wiederholt
3. Beschädigung von fremden Eigentum und Objekten des öffentlichen Interesses durch Brandstiftung, gemeinsam und wiederholt.
4. Widerstand von mehr als einer Person, welche ihre Gesichter vermummt hatten und potentiell gefährliche Objekte mit sich trugen.
Der Prozess der Moria 35 findet am 20. April auf der Insel Chios statt.

Die Petrou Ralli 8
Am 31. Mai 2017, in der Attica Ausländerpolizeistation, dem berüchtigten Petrou Ralli, Abschiebegewahrsam, 8 Migrant_innen wurden verhaftet, nachdem sie von Polizeikräften innerhalb ihrer Zellen angegriffen wurden. Die Gründe für die Polizeiattacke waren, dass die inhaftierten Migrant_innen nach Kontakt mit dem Chef des Abschiebeknasts gefragt hatten, um sich zu informieren, wie lange sie noch festgehalten werden würden, da sie bereits zwischen 8 und 10 Monaten im Gewahrsam waren. Die Polizei antwortete auf diese simple Anfrage damit, dass sie die Fragenden brutal verprügelte. Als Ergebnis davon, mussten die acht in ein Krankenhaus gebracht werden, wo ihre schweren Verletzungen an ihren Köpfen und den gebrochenen Händen, versorgt werden mussten. Die Polizei erstatte sofort Anzeige, um ihr eigenes Verhalten zu vertuschen. Den gefälschten Beweisen zur Folge, sollen die Migrant_innen die Polizeieinheiten mit “improvisierten Rasierklingen und Telefonkarten” angegriffen haben, welche zu einer “Eskalation der Spannungen” für “vierzig Minuten” geführt haben soll. Es wird angegeben, dass die inhaftierten während dieser Zeit versuchten zu entkommen, dadurch, dass sie ihre Köpfe gegen die zentrale Tür des Zellenblocks schlugen, um sie zu durchtrennen, und das angenommener weise als ein Versuch zu fliehen, wodurch alle Verletzungen sie sich selbst zugezogen haben. Die Migrant_innen von ihrer Seite allerdings argumentieren, dass die Polizisten die Zellen unprovoziert betraten und sofort mit Gewaltanwendung anfingen und jeden verprügelten, der vor sie kam. Die Petrou Ralli 8 Migrant_innen sind in sechs verschiedenen Gefängnissen über das Land hin inhaftiert: Volos, Nigrita Serres, Domokos, Malandrino, Nafplio und Chania. Ihr Verfahren wird am 27. April 2018 in Athen stattfinden.

Moria: Der Aufstand der unbegleiteten Minderjährigen
Am Montag den 20. November 2017, 300 Minderjährige, attackierten und rissen nieder alles was sie an die entwürdigenden Bedingungen die sie erlebt hatten innerhalb von 3 Stunden. Die Polizei verhaftete sieben von ihnen und klagte sie an wegen Brandstiftung, Störung von öffentlichem Frieden, Provokation und Zerstörung, versuchte Körperverletzung und Widerstand. Sieben von den Minderjährigen bekamen vom Haftrichter restriktive Auflagen. Zur gleichen Zeit, ein besonderes Haftregime operiert innerhalb des Flügels der Administration des Zentrums. Minderjährige die innerhalb der Station “Probleme gemacht” haben, werden von der Direktion des Lagers Moria von dem Bereich für minderjährige unbegleitete Geflüchtete ausgeschlossen und müssen mit den anderen Erwachsenen im Hot Spot wohnen.

Weiterhin wird auch Solidarität kriminalisiert, so wie die 3 Mitglieder der ehemaligen No Lager Gruppe, welche am 23. April in Drama vor Gericht stehen müssen, angeklagt für “Provokation zu Straftaten”, da sie an einem solidarischen Besuch zum Abschiebeknast Paranesti im Frühling 2015 teilgenommen hatten, wo zum gleichen Zeitpunkt ein Hungerstreik stattfand. Die drei (griechischen) Aktivist_innen sind nicht mit schweren Anklagen bedroht wie im Falle von Moria oder Petrou Ralli die Migrant_innen, aber die Kriminalisierung der Solidarität ist ernst in ihrer Sache selbst schon.

 

Prozessstart der Moria 35: 20. April, Chios (Griechenland)
Verfahren gegen die No Lager 3: 23. April, Drama (Griechenland)
Prozesstart gegen die Petrou Ralli 8: 27. April, Athen (Griechenland)
Verfahren wegen der Riots im Juli 2017 in Moria: 11. Mai, Ort noch unklar (Griechenland)

Es wird eine transnationale Solidaritätswoche geben: Samstag, 14. April, bis Freitag, 20. April.

von Ubuntu Wahadda

[Athen] Verfahren gegen die Petrou Ralli 8

Petrou Ralli 8

Im Mai 2017 gab es einen Protest inhaftierter Geflüchteter im Abschiebegefängnis Petrou Ralli in Athen für medizinische Versorgung eines Mithäftlings und gegen die Haftbedingungen; es folgte ein brutaler Polizeieinsatz gegen die Inhaftierten mit vielen Verletzten. 8 Menschen wurden aufgrund ihrer Herkunft (Algerien) verhaftet und angeklagt. Sie sind auf Gefängnisse in ganz Griechenland verteilt, es drohen ihnen mehrere Jahre Haft und Entzug allen asylrechtlichen Schutzes.

Weitere Infos findet ihr hier auf der Seite der griechischen Unterstützer*innen des Hausprojektes Unbuntu Wahhada in Thessaloniki.


Fotos von Katja Lihtenvalner.

Im Folgenden dokumentieren wir einen Aufruf der Unterstützer*innen von Ubuntu Wahadda:

The tragic story of 8 Algerian men from Petrou Ralli

This story of 8 Algerian men is directly connected with two facts: the inhuman living conditions migrants are exposed to in Greek detention centres and their unknown detention status which is completely dependant on police authorities.

“We demand release of 8 migrants, who were beaten, tortured and arrested with accusation of “revolt” in hell of detention facility Petrou Ralli,” was one of the demands from a group of anarchists, who last week occupied the Polytechnic school of Athens, two days before the historic anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military regime of November 17, 1974.

The story of 8 Algerian men is the latest most significant story of police violence in Greek detention facilities.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) reported on the mistreatment by the police officers in the Athens based detention facility Petrou Ralli in its September report. It addresses the authorities to take “rigorous action to counter acts of ill-treatment”.

Cells in Petrou Ralli “filthy, stuffy and infested”

CPT, in its report, describes the cells in Petrou Ralli detention facility as “filthy, stuffy and infested”. Apart from inhuman living conditions police authorities continue to practice “the use of prolonged detention”, reportedly one year or even more.

The conditions in Petrou Ralli were well documented in the video released after a 45-year-old Algerian man died last February.

This rare piece of evidence shows the kind of conditions of the facilities that migrants in Petrou Ralli are staying in:

The document is shocking.

“We asked police more then 4 times to call for a doctor and to help sick migrant. They denied to help,” the migrant in the video describes. He also adds that ill migrants (AIDS, hepatitis) are detained together with migrants who are healthy and as such “at risk”.

What does the police say?

We asked Greek police authorities for comment and to confirm if the video was really taken in Petrou Ralli detention facility.

“Considering the video, it seams that it does show a space, which is very similar to cells on third floor of Petrou Ralli for vulnerable migrants. The wing is not in use to detain migrants due to lack of lighting and ventilation,” was the answer given to us by Greek police authorities.

They add that for the above mentioned video and the incident in it, (the death of an Algerian man) a police investigation was conducted, but is still pending.

The answers of the police authorities are on the contrary to the released video document and to migrant testimonies.

The video very clearly shows that migrants are detained in these dark cells: there is a migrant on video, a mattress on the floor and the testimony of the man who took the video.

Iraqi Kurd Shayan Samad also confirms this in our report for MEE.

“On the second floor there are a few abandoned, dark, very dirty and smelly cells. In these cells there are sick migrants,” she adds.

Brutal police attack

The sick conditions in Petrou Ralli and the prolonged detention without any explanation led a group of men, on 31st of May, to demand answers. On that morning they demanded to talk with the director of the detention facility. Most of them were detained in a sick condition for over 8 months without reasonable explanations.

As the migrants explained to us, police officers answered with the method they usually used: “They promised us that next week someone will deal with our status.” Migrants aware of this daily police routine, feeling desperate and anxious, continued to insist on seeing the director of the police detention facility.

What follows, was one of the most brutal, organised and savage attacks of police officers behind the four walls of a Greek detention facility.

“The group of armed police officers entered cells and started to beat us badly,” deeply traumatized migrants explained to us after the attack. The result was broken arm and head injures as “Coordination of the collectives and individuals against detention” (SSAEKK) reports.

After the attack, the police authorities went further: they arrested 8 Algerian men, and accused them of disobedience and resistance to authorities. They are keeping them detained in different prisons around Greece.

Eight Algerian men (most of them young boys in their 20s) are now awaiting trial as defendants in the brutal police attack, which nothing but confirms, “the ill-treatment” criticised by CPT and reported by migrants and human rights organizations in numerous cases.

The demands from the group of anarchists, that last week occupied Polytechnic in Athens, were not answered.

The 8 Algerian men, victims of a brutal police attack in Petrou Ralli on 31st of May, are still in jail and awaiting trial.

The case nothing but confirms that human life in Greek detention facilities is worth less then a speck of dust. In these migrant prisons inmates are completely dependent on the caprice of sadistic police officers. And not much was done to stop them.

(The question for comments on detention conditions were sent to responsible authorities on 12th of July, 2017. The police authorities answered on 29th of August, 2017.)

(By Katja Lihtenvalner, Athens)