A-Infos (en) Greece, APO, Land & Freedom:[Athens]Complaint for brutal beating and trumped-up charges by police forces (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On Tuesday 19/08, at approximately 00:30 midnight, two people were 
driving down Didotou Street in Exarchia when we received a signal from 
the riot police squads on the corner of Charilaou Trikoupi Street, 
outside the PASOK offices, to stop, which we did. From the very 
beginning, asking for our identification, the riot police forces began 
to beat us up and be mean and told us to get out of the car. After we 
gave our IDs and got out, we asked to know the reason why we were 
stopped or if it was a "random" check. In an even more aggressive tone, 
many riot police men who had gathered at the scene began to mock us and 
answer our questions with phrases like: "no one is in charge here" and 
"now you will find out why."

Before we could understand the reason for this aggressive attitude, we 
saw two more riot police officers coming towards us from the lower part 
of Didotou with obvious anger. As soon as they arrived at the scene, one 
of them began to beat us furiously in the face and body, with kicks and 
punches. The attack continued with the same anger even when one of us 
was on the ground from the blows.

Throughout the brutal beating, he cursed and threatened us, while the 
rest either simply watched or silently participated verbally in the 
attack. When the completely unprovoked and unexpected beating was over, 
and while people had already gathered on the opposite sidewalk shouting 
at the rioters to stop, the police officer who beat us ordered us to be 
handcuffed and taken to the Exarcheia Police Station. There, after all 
the checks, we were informed that we had been arrested on charges of 
insulting, threatening and disobedience, since the police officer who 
attacked us had told a whole load of lies to justify the incident, 
reversing the entire reality (he spoke of provocative behavior when we 
passed by the square with our vehicle, while we were simply listening to 
loud punk music).

Although from the first moment we were taken to the department we asked 
to be seen by a doctor because we were in pain, our transfer to the 
hospital took place after about two hours, while the methodical attitude 
of the Hellenic Police continued throughout our detention, as they 
repeatedly denied us the right to a forensic examination. The next day, 
the prosecutor added charges of violence against employees and the 
refusal to undergo fingerprinting after we refused to give fingerprints 
for such a conspiracy.

Our own incident of police violence is just another example in the long 
list of police arbitrariness and authoritarianism. We see daily in every 
field in which we live, study, work and struggle the imposition of 
totalitarianism and police rule by any means. Especially in the 
neighborhood of Exarchia which has been transformed into a 
police-controlled zone, where all kinds of uniformed people can bully, 
harass and even torture people, such phenomena are now the dystopian 
everyday life.

The false statements of the police, the delay or even the denial of your 
basic rights as a prisoner, as well as the attempt to cover up and 
obstruct by all levels of the ELAS testify to the particularly 
heightened reflexes of the entire state apparatus when it comes to 
orchestrating staged scenes of violence, revenge and repression, 
creating a condition of absolute terror. That is, to find yourself 
brutally beaten in the city center by the police without the slightest 
reason and then having to put up a huge fight to prove your innocence 
against a fabricated indictment.

B.K.

S.G.

https://landandfreedom.gr/el/agones/2038-athina-kataggelia-gia-agrio-ksylodarmo-kai-stimenes-katigories-apo-astynomikes-dynameis
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