Letter from Vaggelis Stathopoulos

12/4/10
"Mixing me up in the Revolutionary Struggle case is a consequence of my political convictions. I do not condemn any type or method of struggle. My political activity has always taken place in broad daylight." From 10/4/2010 I am accused, together with comrades that I know through my journey in social struggles, by the infamous antiterrorist in regime of violence and psychological war.My arrest was made like in the movies in Viktwria area by 10-15 people aiming their guns on me, while in fear of any reaction on my part they also mobilized the special forces in the surrounding area. Heavily armed against unarmed.Of course it wasnt hard to immediately recognize them because of the experience I have gained over the years from the usual followings and harassements that I had at my father's house in Nikaia as well the house I stayed at in Peukakia. So I didn't give any importance to it considering it another usual scare tactic of the authorities to cut off the antiregime action of the fighters.A tactic known and used constantly by the opressive mechanisms of the ruling class, especially in times of social unrest. I did not know obviously what the authorities had cooked me up yet another time.I, along with other comrades, have been in the dock of the ridiculous courts of the anthropoids of the State many times, without evidence or with made up accusations and methods.In all these cases I was found innocent since even the cops couldn't back up their own stories.I stayed waiting for trial and was controlled by the authorities for seven years. Seven years of constant surveillance in an attempt to stigmatise my action, criminalising my personal relations, my ideas and my political opinions which I have freely expressed openly many times.And here's one more time. I'm an anarchist and I fight with all my power for the social revolution. After my arrest and after I met the "cool guys" of the antiterrorism they took me to the "kitchen of stupidity", the 12th floor of g.a.d.a. [Athens police headquarters], there where at one office they check your details and you leave the next one with made up heavy charges. The "cool guys", problably taught by their colleagues, the torturers of the junta, beat me and other comrades while our hands were still in cuffs while the swearing and the threats kept the rythm. Then I experienced the simple procedure, by the interrogators and prosecutors, the cop method and my life was wrapped in a piece of some official document, my case was tied up and imprisoned in Trikala prisons.Its not at all accidental that they chose E wing for my "stay", since it's the most controlled.I don't have to mention with detail the disgusting living conditions in the "modern" hellholes of democracy.All I have to say is that water cuts are a something more than a usual thing [many thanks to Themis constructors]!!! It's a constant tactic of the State with the media as its allie, to defame and criminalise the social stuggles and also the personal relationships of the fighters. And its not the first time something like this has happened but this time I felt under my skin this incredible brutality, that has as its purpose to criminalize my life, by slandering not only me and my actions, but also my comrades, friends and family and the whole subversive movement which I actively participate in.In this attempt my house is baptised a "safe house" and a small fence of straw, which was there when I got there, was enough to transform my personal space into a dangerous base of operations.The fact that nothing was found in this house I guess means nothing!!! The continuous fake leaks and the vulgar misinformation was added to this cannibalism, revealing once more the vengeful mania of the mechanisms and the journalists against every resistanse.And this is just one aspect of the organised violence of the mechanisms and the lawful crimes of the state and the bosses in our lives.Naturally, neither the penalization of the struggles, neither the criminalisation of those who deny that the regime is something new and unusual.All those who fight know it well by now. Besides, even if someone gets arrested for sticking up a poster he's persecuted for pollution and not for their subversive ideas, which is the substance of their prosecution. Towards the fairytale of legality, and the made up limits of innocence and guilty, I declare myself an enemy of the regime and unrepentant adversary of the state and capital. Besides, my statement to the interrogator that "I do not renounce any form of struggle against state and authority" is the only reason why I'm in prison and not their made up charges. If they expected statements of repentance and loyalty from me they thought wrong.In my life I havent learned to crawl left and right like a snitch and informer, I havent learned to betray my friends and comrades, to abandon them, to denounce them in front of my persecutors to save my save myself. In my life I've learned to keep my head up high, to be a proud person and not to crawl even if that has a cost. If some people have learned to live like that, I really feel ashamed for them.In this economic situation where the bankrupt Greek state under the umbrella of the I.M.F. trys to terrorise and supress every subversive attempt afraid of the "Decembers" that will come, it is our duty to fight for its total inversion.I will continue to fight against the policing and control over our lives, for the destruction of prisons. For the social revolution and for freedom. Because in this life freedom is not given to you, you fight for it and win it.