Kostas Sakkas is a Greek anarchist who was arrested in December 2010 and has been held per-trial detention ever since. He was originally charged with membership of an unknown terrorist organisation and aggravated possession of firearms, he has since been charged with being a member of the Conspiracy Cells of Fire organisation though both him and the CCF have denied this.
The maximum period for per-trail detention in Greece is 18 months which means Kostas should have been released, or faced trail in the Summer of 2012. An Athens court of appeal decided to extend his detention by another year until June 2013. The court then decided to further prolong his detention by another six months!
Kostas went on hunger strike on June 4th to protest against his unlawful detention. After a series of high-profile demonstrations and solidarity actions the court of appeals finally decided, on Thursday July 11th, to grant Kostas bail with the following conditions:
- Kostas is forbidden to exit the country
- Once a week, he will have to sign off at his local police station
- He must reside at his registered address
- He is forbidden to travel outside the Attica prefecture (Greater Athens)
- He is not allowed to be in contact with any of the fellow accused for the CCF case
- He must pay a 30,000 euro bail
He will not be released until he pays his 30,000 euro bail. An international fundraising campaign has been start by comrades from all corners of the world to raise the money and free Kostas Sakkas!
In the United Kingdom the fundraising effort has been spearheaded by DIY record label Pumpkin Records who (along with fellow DIY record label Riot Ska Records) have released two benefit compilations for Kostas Sakkas.
These compilations are available from the record labels’ BandCamp pages (here and here) as a ‘Pay What You Want’ download. Both compilations feature over 50 bands including several unreleased tracks. All proceeds go directly towards Kostas’ 30,000 euro bail fund so please give generously!