Alexandros Grigoropoulos Murder Trial Opens

Libcom.org Jan 22 2010 13:14

The trial over the assassination of Alexandros Grigoropoulos opened today
in Amfissa, with the defense of the assassin cops trying to turn the trial
on its head.

After a two days delay the trial of the assassins of Alexandros
Grigoropoulos opened today in the remote town of Amfissa.

The procedure, which is still to be completed for the day, opened with the
lawyer of the defense, the notorious Mr Kougias, trying to turn the trial
on its head by presenting material supposedly indicating that before his
assassination the dead boy has been at a water-polo match in Chalandri
during which hooligan activities took place. The court has declared its
reluctance to accept the material, while the lawyer of the boys family
intervened to ask if this was a trial of alleged acts of hooliganism, or
of the assassination of Alexandros

Tension rose again when the defense claimed that Mr Korkoneas, the main
accused "did not kill anyone, it was a tragic coincidence. finding him
self in danger he shot up in the air. The ones who really attacked were
the boy and the witness. Those 16 year old boys are not normal kids like
mine and yours". At that moment, police had to intervene to contain the
enraged mother of the boy.

The courts are guarded by strong police forces at gunpoint, while clashes
that appeared two days ago at the original, postponed, opening of the
trial were not repeated.

On other news from greece, farmers continue their mobilisation which is
taking qualitatively new characteristics after farmers from the blockades
of north greece have declared they no longer consider their official
unions relevant and have formed an ad hoc autonomous council comprising of
two elected members from each blockade. This is an unprecedented move of
autonomy by a productive sector plagued by all-powerfull party-controlled
unions. The development has visibly angered the government, with the PM
urging the farmers from the Parliament to abandon the blockades and engage
in dialogue. The farmers insist they demand nothing less that what PASOK
promised them before its landslide electorate victory last October. The
herder's union has announced its mobilisation beginning next Monday for
the re-enforcement of the farmers' blockades.

The developments on the farmers front, has caused the intervention of the
ex-PM of the right and senior statesman Mr Mitsotakis who warned the
government that "the country is in its worst overall crisis since the end
of the civil war" warning that there could be a mass uprising in the near
future.

On other fronts, Civil Aviation workers symbolically occupied the Civil
Aviation Headquarters on Thursday, while prostitutes main Athens union
formed a demo outside the parliament demanding more working positions and
better health care.
Finally, the latest guerrilla attack, against the Ministry of Press, has
been claimed through a long communique by a new group called
"Revolutionary Organisation 6th of December" (referring to Grigoropoulos
day of murder). The communique has caused publicly expressed deep concern
to the authorities due to its completely new style of analysis, different
and openly critical of both the leninism of the Revolutionary Struggle and
the nihilism of the Sect of Revolutionaries (though none of the groups are
named, the references are very explicit). The communique presents a
concise history of the social and class movement since the collapse of the
junta, and declares what it terms "social guerrilla" of ELA and 17N
outdates, due to lack of mass working class movement. It rather attacks
the concept of democracy and declares itself as "a third pole", an
"experiment" which calls for the mobilisation of participants of the
December Uprising beyond the given identities of traditional anarchist or
revolutionary politics.


Jan 22 2010 21:53
#1
taxikipali

Update: The trial continued with the testimony of the boy's mother who
described the last day of Alexandros and the conditions of his murder in
Messologiou street: How the two cops shot at the boy and left him dying in
the middle of the street, while they calmly walked back to their police
car (as shown by the home-video shot at the time). In response to the pig
Korkoneas' claim that he would never harm anyone, but would put his body
as a shield against bullets threatening any citizen, the mother replied
that "the life of my boy is worth for them as much as a cockroach. They
left him there like a squashed mouse". Responding to the defense lawyer's
claims that the boy was rioting, the mother replied that "They have killed
my boy twice, the first time by the assassin, and the second time by
trying to soil his honour. They killed his body and then they killed his
soul". The trial will continue next Friday with the testimony of the
doctor responsible for the necropsy. It must be noted that the bourgeois
media are systematically under-reporting the trial, obviously at the
orders of the Minister of Public Order, known for his draconian media
manipulation in his last term 7 years ago.