The new trial against Revolutionary Struggle [Επαναστατικού Αγώνα, ‘Epanastatikòs Agonas’] will continue at the special court in Korydallso Prison (Athens) on Friday, January 10th, 2020, at 9:00AM. This ongoing legal proceeding against the organization and its members is part of the wider series of trials that continue to involve and be directed against the comrades, in particular Pola Roupa and Nikos Maziotis. The charges in this trial relate to a car bomb abandoned and discovered by the police in the summer of 2017, seven months after Pola Roupa’s arrest on January the 5th of the same year. Nikos Maziotis, however, has been in prison since July 16th, 2014. In this trial the comrades are accused of “supplying, possessing and manufacturing explosives”. [The date of the hearing for this new trial was announced on Athens Indymedia here].

Revolutionary Struggle is a revolutionary anarchist organization that – since the night of December 5th, 2003, with a double explosive attack against the 1st degree court in Athens – has carried out countless actions against the state and capital in Greece. The group’s actions and analyses were directed against structures, apparatuses and institutional and repressive representatives of the Greek State (IE: 1st degree court, police stations, riot police, Korydallos prison, ministries of labour and economy, former Minister of Public Order G. Voulgarakis), international capital structures, representatives of Greek and international economic power, multinational companies and structures of other states (IE: Ministry of the Economy, Citibank, Royal Dutch Shell, Eurobank, Athens Stock Exchange, National Bank of Greece, Embassy of the United States of America).

On March 10th, 2010, Lambros Fountas, an anarchist and a member of the organization, was killed by police officers while expropriating a vehicle in Dafni (Athens).

On April 9th of the same year, a repressive operation led to the arrest of six anarchists, including Pola Roupa, Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas, who took responsibility for the groups activities (the latter comrade was released in 2019), while a seventh comrade was not arrested because he could not be found. Following their release on “probation” (on October 11th, 2011, due to the expiration of the pretrial detention period that they could be legally held in custody), P. Roupa and N. Maziotis fled into clandestinity on June 15th, 2012.

The proceedings for the first instance of the first trial against Revolutionary Struggle ended on April 3rd, 2013 with P. Roupa, N. Maziotis and K. Gournas sentenced to about 50 years imprisonment for each of them, which was reduced to 25 under a legal limit of maximum imprisonment that was introduced to the legal system by the Greek State. Two other anarchists received sentences of 7 years and 7 years, 6 months. Three other persons were acquitted.

On April 10th, 2014, Revolutionary Struggle detonated a car loaded with 76 kg of explosives in front of the National Bank of Greece’s headquarters in Athens – an action aimed at the State, capital and the economic system. As a result of the action the building was seriously damaged and, as a prosecutor stated during a trial, if it had collapsed (it almost did), the damage to the Greek State would have been enormous.

On July 16th, 2014, Nikos Maziotis was arrested following an armed confrontation with police in the Monastiraki district of Athens. He was injured in one arm and risked being killed on the spot by the forces of repression.

On February 21st, 2016, Pola Roupa, hijacked a helicopter in an attempt to liberate Nikos Maziotis from Korydallos prison, an operation that also could have resulted in the liberation of other prisoners, but unfortunately failed.

On January 5th, 2017, Pola Roupa and Konstantina Athanasopoulou were arrested and immediately (together with N. Maziotis) went on hunger strike demanding the release of Nikos and Pola’s son by the forces of repression (the child was released a few days later). Following her arrest, Konstantina Athanasopoulou declared that she was an anarchist and a member of the organization, subsequently she was released and escaped into clandestinity, she is still on the run.

On May 10th, 2019, N. Maziotis and P. Roupa were both sentenced to life imprisonment in the second trial against Revolutionary Struggle, for charges mainly related to the action against the Bank of Greece (April 2014), three bank robberies, the armed confrontation with the police preceding the arrest of N. Maziotis and possession of weapons and explosives. Other comrades were also convicted.

Also in 2019, the proceedings of the first instance of the fifth trial against Revolutionary Struggle were concluded. K. Athanasopoulou was sentenced in absentia to 35 years and 6 months, P. Roupa to a further 65 years (mainly for the attempted liberation of prisoners from Korydallos prison and some bank robberies), N. Maziotis to a further 24 years and another comrade was sentenced to 34 years and 6 months. So far, about six main trials (pending or concluded) have been opened by the Greek State for Revolutionary Struggle actions.

Solidarity with the accused Revolutionary Struggle members and the accused in the same trials.

(via Round Robin, translated into English by Anarchists Worldwide)