We would like to inform you about a very important case that is currently being tried in Greece. On 3rd March 2003 there started the trial of 19 militants who are claimed to be members of the organisation '17 November'. This is an armed organisation founded in 1973 during the black days of the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-74. Since then, it has carried out dozens of armed attacks and killings against the Police, the junta torturers, CIA agents and MPs.

We feel it is right to say that this trial resembles a court martial because the Simitis government and the police have brought into play tactics of unprecedented ruthlessness and violence:

1. The first arrest was made on 29th June 2002 when one of the members of the '17N', Savas Ksiros, was seriously injured by a bomb which exploded in his hands. He was arrested and held in custody despite the critical condition of his health. He very nearly lost his sight and hearing. While in custody the police extracted a confession, which was very important since Savas Ksiros was the first member of '17N' to be arrested in 27 years. Permission to see his lawyer and his relatives was withheld for 40 days while he was being questioned! He claims that he was threatened with extradition to the US and that he was given psychotropic drugs. His testimony was used to incriminate others who were arrested on flimsy evidence. There have been allegations of beatings and threats by the police. Some claim to be innocent of the charges and to have been set up by the police. Among them the trotskyist Theologos Psaradellis in whose defence the MEP Allain Krivine (LCR ñ France) will testify in court.

2. The trial is conducted in the context of two anti-terrorist acts voted in by only 20 out 300 MPs. These acts are designed for use against the internal enemy, i.e. against the struggles of the youth and the working class. They allow the use of unnamed witnesses testifying against militants in trial, abolition of the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty and go as far as making demonstrations illegal under certain conditions.


3. The Simitis government has gone to extraordinary lengths to prove that the crimes committed by '17N' are not of a political nature (!) but fall under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice act. As a result '17N' is treated as if it were a gang of fraudsters or robbers on the grounds that political crimes target the regime whereas '17N' was motivated by greed or perversion. Hence, the accused are being tried by jury but by professional judges appointed by the government.

4. 18 out of the 19 defendants are held under conditions of complete isolation in specially-built 'white cells'. They are allowed minimal contact with their lawyers, and during the visits all documents are seized and their conversations are under surveillance. Some of them are aged and in bad health. The trial is conducted inside the prison, which means that in order to attend it one has to undergo lengthy and humiliating bodily search. Initially, the accused had been placed in a glass cage. It has been forbidden to televise the trial, there are severe limitations on journalists attending the trial and the proceedings of the trial are distributed to the press by a private company.

This trial is an attempt to incriminate and tarnish with the same brush the Left and all those who fought against the 1967-74 military dictatorship. It is also an attempt to intimate those who speak out against the government and the capitalist system. The policies pursued by this government have led thousands of working people to poverty and unemployment. Official figures for unemployment have risen to 12%, the 8-hour working day is no longer observed, wages are being kept low and large sections of the public sector have been privatised. At the same time, the 1,500,000 immigrant workers are constantly facing racism and abuse.

Meanwhile, the government has offered 2 warships in the war against Iraq and has allowed the use of a military base in Crete. Its position with regard to this war became especially clear in its heavy-handed tactics of the police during the recent anti-war demonstration.

Communist League

For more information on the '17N' trial, visit the website on  http://www.syspeirosi.gr