Bonanno released but forced to leave the country; Stratigopoulos remains in prison: statement by their families

occupiedlondon.org Nov. 24, 2010

Translation of this post on Athens IMC.

   Comrades,

   the trial of Bonnano and Stratigopoulos in the city of Larisa resulted
in Alfredo Bonanno getting convicted to 4 years of imprisonment for
participation to the robbery, while Stratigopoulos was convicted for
the armed robbery to 8 years and to 3 months for each of the
misdemeanors without bail and without the court recognising any
extenuatory circumstances.

   From the first instance it became clear that the judge and attorney
wanted a fast trial without any ideological characteristics and with
only guide being the criminal record of the accused. In short, they
wanted to prove that Alfredo Bonanno was the leader, the moral
perpetrator of the robbery and that Christos was the pupil, the one
who executed the plan.

   Yet thanks to the solid evidence, the witnesses who testified in
support of the two and the great contribution of the lawyers
(Papadakis, Kourtovik, Sineli), these claims collapsed.

   It “hurt” them that Alfredo was free, that he has essentially served
his sentence – and they looked for any legal or other trick in order
to torture him further. And so, from the prison of Larisa he was
transported to the city’s police headquarters under the pretext of the
approval of his exit from the country by the headquarters in Athens,.

   There they informed us that apart from the Interpol alert, they would
also hold him until their political senior officers would “judge”
whether he would be deported in accordance to article 106 of the
presidential decree of 2007. Late in the night, after calling a
Larisa-based lawyer, we were informed that Alfredo had been arrested
anew in accordance to the above article, as he was considered a threat
to public security and unwelcome to Greece!

   Once again he had to prove the obvious! A 74-year old man with very
poor health was considered dangerous. The same went for us, who were
waiting outside, the very few comrades sitting at a bench: they sent
Riot Police, DIAS and Zita motorcycle cops, undercovers and the
anti-terrorist unit to guard us, since we posed a threat to public
security!

   Faced with this obvious political revanchist action, played within a
strategically covered psychological warfare against Alfredo, we had to
decide whether to appeal at the Larisa court, which would mean Alfredo
would remain detained until the decision was made or until the Greek
state would decide to officially deport him. The instant solution
given by his layers was for him to be released on Tuesday afternoon
and to leave on his own from Larisa to Italy through Athens in the
coming days.

   After everything comrades lived through from the day of their arrest
up until yesterday, as well as for the rest of Christos’ days in
prison, they wish and we wish to extend a huge “thank you” to all
friends and comrades from Konitsa who came to our support, the friends
from Giannena and across Greece as well as abroad who stood by our
side, giving us courage and psychological, moral and financial
support.

   To the comrades we extend our hand, we unite our camaraderie in a
dynamic of anarchist solidarity…

   - The families of Christos and Alfredo