Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Thessaloniki 4 trial, update day #2

thessalonikisolidarity@gmail.com (thessaloniki solidarity campaign) | 19.01.2011 15:22 | London

Update from day #2 of the Court of Appeals of our four comrades in Thessaloniki, Greece. The day would be spent examining more police prosecution witnesses, including some policemen who had been involved in the arrest of Simon Chapman, and others who had arrested other demonstrators (not the Thessaloniki 4).

Background information at http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk/

by some attendants in solidarity

Monday 17 January 2011, 9am, Thessaloniki Courthouse.

The day would be spent examining more police prosecution witnesses, including some policemen who had been involved in the arrest of Simon Chapman, and others who had arrested other demonstrators (not the Thessaloniki 4).

The first 5 policemen each said they nothing of the case at trial - they had all arrested other people (not the current defendants) at the 21 June demonstration. They were examined on what is the normal procedure for taking an arrested person from the street to the police station for interrogation, and what would be done with anything found in their possession.

In each case, the idea was that where possible the arresting officer would take the arrested person and any items found in their possession in a police car and then to a police station, where the arresting officer would give their initial testimony and file a report of the arrestee's possessions.

In some cases where the arresting officer could not take the arrestee into the police station themselves, they would hand the person and their possessions over to an arrest team for delivery to a police station, and then give their testimony and sign documents later.

Police witness #6 had a slightly different role, as he was guarding the pre-interrogation team. However, he testified that lists of the names of the arrestees, their arresting officers and their possessions were made. Labels were improvised and stapled to the various rucksacks being brought in, which were stored securely. Arresting officers were not always present, but their names were logged.

Police witness #7 was a more challenging witness. He was part of the Athens-based riot squad which arrested Simon Chapman. He testified with absolute certainty, as he claimed (and same as all other members of the squad that arrested Simon) that Simon had thrown a molotov at his squad, that he had turned to run and had somehow slipped and fallen on to his back, thereby smashing a number of molotovs in the blue rucksack on his back.

Simon is accused to have been holding the black rucksack - containing 7 molotovs and two hammers - in his left hand, though when he fell and hurt himself he somehow managed not to break any in the black bag. As Simon was now covered in petrol from the broken bottles from the blue bag, the police thought it too dangerous to take it with them. They were ordered to move on to another position in Thessaloniki and took Simon with them for at least two hours of further confrontations with demonstrators, as there was no way to get him to police car for transfer to interrogation at a police station.

Police witness #7 was certain that no officers had hit Simon: any blood on him must have been come from an injury caused either by falling over, or perhaps by being hit by a stone thrown for other demonstrators, or maybe Simon fell on his face and then fell on his back. Simon's defense lawyer, Christos Bakelas, pointed out that none of this information appeared in this witness' testimony until after himself and the arresting riot squad had reviewed the rather embarrassing video tapes in November 2003.

Police witness #7 stated that his squad had moved many bags and weapons found in the street, so that they could not be used by any counter-attacking demonstrators. The earlier police witnesses (1-5) had all been asked if they had moved items from the street themselves, and they had all said they had not, as that was the job of another police team (see the report from day 1 of the trial).

Police witness #7 is the cop in the live TV footage who walks up to the TV camera and presents the contents of a black rucksack to be filmed. He presents a hammer to the film crew and puts it in the black bag, and then carries it over to where Simon is sitting and places it next to him.

Police witness #8 was questioned next, again largely about the arrest and custody procedure, as outlined for police witnesses 1-5. He was questioned on how or why the blue bag was never logged at the time of the arrest or when Simon was taken in to the police station. He said conditions were difficult that day.

Police witness #9 was the last for the day and was also part of the Athens riot squad that arrested Simon. He repeated all the same story about how they could supposedly "clearly identify" Simon as the person who threw the molotov at them, how he fell on his back, how they didn't know where all that blood came from, how he was most definitely not beaten. This was a little strange because this policeman was the one in the Reuters photo putting his boot into Simon's face.

This witness said he did not kick Simon, that he was just holding him still with his foot because his hands were full (of tear gas canisters). He was offended at all the outrageous lies reported in the media about Simon, as police were wholly concerned for his safety. He admitted reviewing the videos with the rest of the team before making his first statement in November 2003.

One of the last questions for this police witness was one of the most interesting: witness #9 said that there was a strong odour of petrol coming from the blue bag. He was asked if he took his gas mask off at any point during the day. He had not. So the question was pursued: if police witness #9 had his gas mask on at the time, how could he have detected the odour of petrol, given that a gas mask should filter out gases such as petrol fumes? No satisfactory answer was given.

Court ended at 15.12 GMT+2.

++ Spread the word

Please link to the Campaign's website on your web sites, forums, blogs, facebook profiles etc, tell friends and family and help to spread the word. Join and share the facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Simon-Chapman-and-the-Thessaloniki-4/113450595384764

or join and share the facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150278698345263

Solidarity for the Thessaloniki 4!
http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk/

Films on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThessaloniki4


thessalonikisolidarity@gmail.com (thessaloniki solidarity campaign)
- Original article on IMC London: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6957

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech