Donation link: https://www.firefund.net/4pretrial

The following text is the political view of the Assembly in Solidarity with the four comrades in pre-trial detention Fotis D., Jason R., Lambros V. and Panagiotis V.

On November 14^th, 2021 an unmarked police vehicle rammed into the comrades Fotis D. and Jason R. as they were in motion and then they were taken to the General Police Department of Attica. There, the uniformed garbage of the Greek Police proceeded to mandatory fingerprinting and DNA sampling, in order to link them to the attack on the Piraeus traffic police on the same night. In a process that took only half a day, they raided their homes, making sure to plant incriminating evidence, thus building a weak case against them. At the same time, the media indulged in their usual vile role, talking about homes being bomb and explosives manufacturing facilities, in an attempt to normalise the new criminal code in the public mind (which upgrades the possession and use of Molotov cocktails to a felony). It is worth noting, that the code came into force the day before their arrest. For the millionth time, the fabrication of guilty people by the media, has socially reinforced the prosecution’s argument and created the appropriate ground for the pre-trial detention of our two comrades, who have been held captive for 15 months in the Korydallos and Avlona hellholes.

With the trial date not being set and the case file still open, the interrogator had room to implicate more people. Following a prosecution conducted by the interrogator, on Tuesday morning 20/9, state cops accompanied by a prosecutor, stormed into the house of comrades Panagiotis V. and Lambros V. The comrades were arrested and detained in GADA, where for several hours the reasons for their detention were not known and they were not given the right to communicate with their lawyers or their close ones. The next day, they were tried by the Single-Member Plenary Court in Evelpidon for violation of the weapons law and were later released.

The comrades went to the Piraeus interrogator for the first time on the 26/9, for the case of the attack on the Piraeus traffic police, which was adjourned until the 6/10. Then, the intentions of the interrogator became clear to us, as well as her anger and prejudice, since she attempted to interrogate them without giving the file to the two lawyers. With an argumentative and ironic attitude, she did not forget to remind them of her power, threatening that she could issue an arrest warrant at that moment and take them into pre-trial detention. On the 6/10, a request for an exception was filed by the defence lawyers in order to replace the interrogator. Usually, the examination of these requests takes place one or two days later, but in this case it was rejected after the decision of the judicial council which was set up at that very moment, due to the interrogator’s constant pressuring to speed up the procedure in order to take our comrades into pre-trial detention, which seems to have been her main goal. The manipulations used by the state system in order to suppress in any way and by any means the struggling parts of society are not unprecedented. It proves once again how rotten their mob is, since the judicial council and the prosecutor in silent cooperation cover up a series of infringements on her behalf, such as questions of an interrogative nature in a postponement request and the aggressive attitude she had towards the lawyer. Late in the evening, using their companionship and personal relations with the comrades in custody, Fotis D. and Jason R., but also using the ridiculous and unheard of argument that our comrades had been hiding for 15 months, she puts them into custody and the next morning they are taken to Korydallos prison. Of course, we may “excuse” the interrogator because the state cops probably forgot to inform her about their daily surveillance for the last five months, at least, of their workplaces and home.

Although the pre-trial detention of individuals contradicts the supposed basic principles of their very own civil “law”, by depriving freedom without any “proof” of guilt, it is widely used against people in struggle. Especially when the case’s evidence, real or constructed, makes the acquittal of the accused possible, it is used to sadistically punish the very choice of a person to fight. It is the first stage in the application of the exception regime to those persecuted for political reasons, either as a constant threat for a particular level of charges and above, or as an almost obvious complement to 187A prosecutions. The state tries to cover up this punitive criminal treatment of the guilty and the innocent because of the supposed fear of fugitive justice and the danger to the wider community until the trial is held. These are arguments that do not reflect reality, as it is implied that fugitive justice and unlawful living are easy choices that each and every one of us can take to avoid the state’s frame-ups. As for the danger to society as a whole, it is at least ridiculous to use it as an argument against individuals accused of political actions targeting states institutions and services.

Another aspect of the present prosecution, which demonstrates the tactics used by authorities to crush those who continue to resist, concerns the repeated criminalisation of companionship and friendly relations, as it is explicitly admitted by the interrogator that there is no evidence other than the relationship of P.V. and L.V. with F.D. and I.R., who are already in custody for the same case. Of course, this tactic is not new. The case of comrade Vangelis Stathopoulos is an indicator of how easily and intentionally companionship is criminalised, as his choice to stand by his wounded comrade Dimitri Chatzivassiliadi was the reason he was sentenced to 19 years, without any other evidence and despite testimonies that place him in a different location from that of the robbery. A very important example is the case of the now released Panos Kalaitzis, who remained incarcerated in Korydallos Prison for six months, with the only evidence being the hospitality of his then ill companion Thano Chatziangelou, with whom he also cooperated professionally.

The intentionality of this atrocity on the part of the state is obvious. The attempt to isolate comrades is aimed at their physical and moral exhaustion. The voice of the courts in all these cases rings clearly in our ears: anyone who dares to show solidarity with strugglers is an enemy of the state. The very act of merely associating in any way with the people of the struggle is a criminal offence.

It is clear that in recent years, the state has been shielding itself legally and repressively, in order to be able to manage the probable social reactions due to the frequent crises (economic, health, energy, war). We have always known that civil justice is class-based and is a tool in the hands of the state against the oppressed who are struggling. The current government, especially, has made a clear choice to handle every social issue with repression. From the evacuations of political and residential squats and the legislation of a special police force for universities (which hasn’t yet accomplished its purpose due to the reactions), to the occupying army permanently camped in Exarchia to impose the redevelopment of Strefi Hill and the construction of the metro and the enforcement of the law restricting demonstrations (with clubs and water cannons), the state has now hired so many cops that it has ended up sending its “special” services DIAS (motorcycle-mounted police team) and DRASI (rapid response control force) to fires.

As is normal, the attack launched by the state on the wider society, is being specialised in the parts of society in struggle, and even more so in the anarchist field, with the intensification of prosecutions, the fabrication of charges, the opening of umbrella-cases which implicate a large number of comrades. All at the will of the state. At the same time, they are making their penal treatment more severe, aiming on the one hand to terrorise all and on the other hand to physically exterminate them.

Anarchist identity (and any identity that goes against their normality) has always been the target of the state and capital, with the state and the bosses terrified at the thought that there are still people who struggle and oppose their plans, with diverse struggles from solidarity actions (cooperative kitchens, mutual aid networks), to grassroots syndicalism, to the crushing of fascist and parastatal groups, to political and residential squats, and to attacks of all kinds on state and capitalist targets (cops, banks, police stations, etc.). We have been and will be here for many more years, using our bodies as a roadblock to their plans, putting forward our solidarity with the oppressed of this world and building comradeship and friendship through our struggles.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STRUGGLE CANNOT BE TERRORIZED

NO ONE ALONE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE

TAKE YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF OUR COMRADES

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

Assembly in Solidarity with the four comrades in pre-trial detention

Another IPP prisoner took their own life last Thursday 9th March, at HMP Bristol.

Keith Gadd took his own life, after he was turned down for release. Something which we’re sure had happened to him countless times before. 

We are writing this statement to remember Keith, and express anger and rage at HMP and the Ministry of Justice over his death. 

People who have been given IPPs, or Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection, do not have a set release date. In effect IPP sentences are the equivalent of a life sentence for minor crimes. They mean psychological torture for the people who are serving them. 

The IPP sentence was abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively. The government only intended to give out 900 of these sentences but 8711 were dished out in the time before it was abolished. And still today thousands of people remain in prison, or at perpetual risk of an indefinite recall, as a result of being given an IPP.

IPP’s have the highest rates of self harm and suicide of any group of people in prison, including lifers. At least 81 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives, after giving up hope of ever being released and 255 IPP prisoners have died in prison.

Deaths in custody in Bristol: 

Keith’s death is just the latest death in Bristol’s prisons.

Some of us knew Taylor, who took his own life at Bristol’s HMP Eastwood Park on 9th July 2022 – after serving over 14 years of an IPP sentence. Shortly before he killed himself, Taylor was beaten savagely by prison officers. Read ABC’s statement here – https://bristolabc.org/riptaylor/

Clare Dupree died after a fire in her cell at Eastwood Park after a fire on December 26th, other prisoners heard her scream for the screws to help her, but they say the door was not opened. You can read our statement here – https://bristolabc.org/eastwoodparkdeath/

Another prisoner called Kayleigh took her own life last year, after she too was brutally beaten by officers at Eastwood Park

Not one more death

We will not accept the continued deaths in custody in our community. Keith – like Taylor, Clare and Kayleigh – was murdered by the state. We call on our comrades to take action wherever they are, and in whatever way they see fit, to remember those who have died in prison, and to avenge their deaths. It is up to us to show our rage against this murderous system.

We know that what’s happening in Bristol, is a microcosm of the suffering caused by the carceral system globally. We would like to send a message of solidarity to all those struggling for the abolition of this system. 

We would like to show solidarity and support to Keith’s family and friends, if you knew Keith we invite you contact us at bristol_abc@riseup.net

Smash IPP

Abolish HMP 

No-one forgotten, nothing forgiven 

Bristol ABC

The prison system is by design, racist. Everyone who has ever had any contact with it knows this to be a fact, but it is not something which is ever admitted by those who operate it. That was until the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) on Wednesday 16^th November 2022, conceded the position in anticipation of the damning judgement which was sure to come that day in the Central London County Court in response to litigation I had been forced to bring.

Following false allegations being made against me by racist and corrupt prison employees at HMP Frankland in March 2010, I was transferred into what is known as the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system. The CSC is effectively a prison within a prison, supposedly created to house only the most dangerous men serving a prison sentence which back then amounted to less than 30 prisoners, although is now double that amount. In November/December 2011, I was proven to be innocent of the malicious allegations against me with HMP Frankland being exposed as the brutal, racist and corrupt institution it is throughout the trial in Newcastle Crown Court to the extent that the then Governing Governor of the prison had no choice but to resign in disgrace. Unsatisfied with this result, those public servants running the CSC conspired to recruit some of the most despised men in the CSC to subject me to a campaign of discriminatory harassment, abuse, threats, and assaults.

From 2012 at HMP Woodhill, the discrimination began. The first recruit was the woman killing rapist, Daniel ‘Danny’ Walker, who had come to the CSC from the Vulnerable Prisoner (VP) wings where he had sought protection due to the nature of his crimes and had foolishly participated in an intended compensation scam resulting in his co-conspirator being too severely injured and blaming Walker. This scumbag was rewarded with extra privileges, such as bonus payments, tobacco, and significantly extra time out of his cell in return for the harassment he directed at me. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) were particularly critical of HMP Woodhill, the CSC, and their lack of investigation into the blatant discrimination let alone the total absence of any form of sanction for it. The recommendations the PPO made were supposedly fully accepted by the prison system which would have put an end to the campaign, so obviously they were instead ignored.

At about this time, the management of the CSC fell under the remit of Richard Vince, now the Executive Director of the Long-Term and High Security Estate (LTHSE), who quickly appointed his wife, Georgina Vince, as the forensic psychologist with the responsibility of overseeing the psychological approach applied within the CSC and to the CSC prisoners. For me, this meant psychological warfare intended to break my spirit to be majorly applied by the collaborators recruited from the ranks of the most despicable CSC prisoners. The Vinces, along with a few other senior officials within HMPPS, initially conspired to have me illegitimately sectioned under the Mental Health Act but upon being told that their efforts to break me had not caused me to develop a major mental disorder which could be said to justify such a transfer, supercharged the discrimination campaign obviously with the hope of eventually achieving this aim.

I was sent to HMP Wakefield, specifically within their CSC Exceptional Risk Unit (ERU) which is only supposed to hold the 8 most dangerous prisoners in the country. This relocation made no sense to me at the time, as the verdict of the court as well as an expert report had by then given clear directions that I did not fit the criteria for the CSC, let alone the CSC ERU; but the CSC management knew exactly what they were doing. Although each prisoner within the ERU is kept in solitary confinement, the ability to pass others locked behind metal bars or within cages exists, as well as communication being possible out of cell windows. Not everyone wanted to get out of these cages like I did, some were desperate to stay locked in them for their own safety having perpetrated unforgiveable acts upon other prisoners for which they know payback is certain to come however long it must wait. As well as being extremely psychologically vulnerable due to the impact of detention within the CSC, their fear of reprisals made them easy to manipulate by those running the system and so turning them into weapons to be used against me was not difficult. The thousands of case papers which later emerged from this litigation illuminated both why they were desperate, and what this desperation amounted to.

The worst of these collaborators were:

• Clifton ‘Yankee’ Jeter, a confused Black man who was born in Liverpool but grew-up within an American army base in Germany once his mother had formed a relationship with a Puerto Rican soldier in the US army. He had been one of the most vocal members of the extremist Islamophobic gang within prisons who call themselves ‘the piranhas’, and although he had never actually physically attacked a Muslim, he had sought protection from the reprisals he knew were coming his way (for the vile discriminatory abuse he had been shouting-out from within the isolation of his locked cell) when he applied to become, and was accepted as, a VP while in the segregation unit of HMP Long Lartin of 2011¹. Eventually his fear of reprisals led him to what was then known as the Managing Challenging Behaviour Strategy (MCBS) Unit in HMP Woodhill where he was allowed to mix with only a few prisoners at a time, enabling him to coerce another prisoner into giving him oral sex within the showers purportedly as payment for the protection of the piranhas;
• Jason Gomez, a racist extremist who had fled main location after running-up a major drug debt in 2014, and subsequently fled the VP wings in HMP Full Sutton for the same reason in 2015, then committed a random murder at HMP Swaleside upon the prisoner who appeared the most frail and weak that he could find along with his racist co-defendant, Paul Wadkin, seeking the safety of the isolation that the CSC brought him;
• Douglas ‘Gary’ Vinter, a double murderer and attempted rapist with a natural life sentence from Middlesborough. He had sadistically made false allegations against the teenage son of the second woman he had killed and attempted to rape after dragging her out of a pub by her hair and taking her to his mother’s nearby bungalow where he stabbed her to death. He caused the boy to be remanded to prison and put on trial for threats to kill that he had never made, only to later laugh about not only setting him up with his lies but also killing his mother when he was challenged at the boy’s criminal trial². He had been run-off of the wings and taken to threatening to attempt to murder the most high profile prisoner he came across if forced to mix again, Roy Whiting being the last one he got to within the VP units;
• Charles ‘Bronson’ Salvador, the 5 ft 6 former Muslim who calls himself Britain’s most notorious prisoner. He had been responsible for the creation of the CSC having taken the art teacher hostage and smashed-up what was called the Special Unit at HMP Hull, where he had been located following a repeated refusal to locate in multiple prisons after committing a disgusting rape upon another prisoner at HMP Long Lartin which became common knowledge among all long-term prisoners due to his boasting;
• Like these 4, the other collaborators are all racist and Islamophobic with at best questionable histories which often contain acts of sexual deviance and/or allocation to VP units, many of whom came to join the fascist CSC gang who call themselves ‘death before dishonour’, ‘DBD’, ‘424’, or the prison wide gang ‘the piranhas’. All received preferential treatment for performing the dirty work and thought nothing about selling-out to the system to meet their own selfish needs.

As well as shouting racist and Islamophobic abuse at me on a daily basis, I was also repeatedly subject to threats to kill and/or sexually assault me as well as being spat at and having excrement thrown at me³. This discriminatory harassment also included the targeting of my visitors who were made to see me inside the ERU, with even my grandmother being racially abused and threatened with rape and murder by these nonces despite being a wheelchair bound woman in her 80s. It is important to recognise that none of this was done discretely, the culprits wanted their bosses to witness their work and so all of this occurred in front of the prison officers, including on occasion governors, who did nothing but revel in their handiwork.

After 2-years of this harassment, I was finally returned to HMP Woodhill CSC Unit only to be joined there the same day by Daniel Walker. Along with various other racist extremists who were located there including Jordan Palmer who had murdered a Muslim prisoner in HMP Peterborough, and Martin Fieldhouse who had been shouting racist abuse from within solitary confinement for years, they continued the discrimination and even exchanged letters with their DBD gang to plot what to do and how to obtain the greatest reward from the prison for it.

Following multiple other transfers, and a never-ending campaign which even led to an attempt on my life within the CSC unit of HMP Full Sutton⁴, which was facilitated by the whole staffing group there after the culprit discussed his plan with them in advance to do this, a legal challenge became the only way I was going to obtain recognition for what was happening and potentially bring about change. The MOJ designated the CSC Operational Manager to be responsible for instructing the Government Legal Department (GLD) to defend the case, who then chose to cause the process to be dragged-out as long as possible while persistently refusing to engage in any form of alternative dispute resolution and repeatedly ignoring Court Orders. I can only assume the intention was to maximise the duration the discrimination campaign would continue against me before the conclusion of the litigation.

Eventually, the case was won and Judgement was entered in my favour on 17^th August 2022 which accepted the full-facts as listed within my particulars of claim as being true and accurate. In summary, what this means is that the MOJ was found to have:

1. ‘failed to take steps to protect [me] from inhuman and degrading treatment…;
2. failed to take steps to protect [my] emotional and physical integrity…; and
3. failed to carry out any or any proper investigation into the abuse [I] suffered…’

Within these elements of the case were further more detailed findings demonstrating systemic failures including that the MOJ:

1. ‘Knew…that there was a real and immediate risk that [I] would be subjected to:
2. Inhuman and degrading treatment;

ii. An unjustified interference with [my] emotional and physical autonomy; but

1. Failed to take steps, within the scope of its powers… to avoid that risk.’

The factors which were proven which evidenced these systemic failures included that the MOJ:

1. knew that the culprits ‘…had a propensity for violence and racist and/or religiously motivated abuse…’;
2. ‘was aware of the DBD gang’s existence’;
3. ‘placed [me] in cells where it was known that [I] would be at risk of racial and racist and religiously motivated abuse from other inmates’;
4. ‘failed to move prisoners who were abusing and harassing [me]’;
5. ‘failed to put in place any or any proper deradicalization process for extremist prisoners’;
6. ‘failed to make alternative arrangements for [my] visits’;
7. did not ‘take steps to prevent the DBD from operation’.

Discrimination was also proven as I was subject to less favourable treatment evidenced by the fact:

1. ‘[I] was subject to abuse and harassment by other prisoners either wholly or in part because of [my] ethnic origins and/or the fact that [I] am Muslim;
2. The [MOJ] failed to comply with its positive obligation to put into place any or any proper system to protect individuals in the position of [myself].’

These findings were aggravated by the fact that I suffer with Post-Traumatic Stress due to mistreatment within prison as well as ‘the differential treatment afforded to [me], in that [I] was placed on more restrictive regimes whilst the prisoners who had abused and harassed [me] were given more progressive transfers, less restrictive unlock levels and higher IEP (Incentive and Earned Privilege) levels.’

A date was set for a remedies hearing to determine how the MOJ should address their institutional failings on 16^th November 2022. In the final hours preceding the hearing, the MOJ accepted that individuals employed by them to work within its prisons where I had been located (including HMPs Full Sutton, Wakefield, Woodhill, Whitemoor, Long Lartin, Manchester, and Belmarsh) since 2012 had collaborated with these racist extremists whereby they ‘failed to protect [me] from racist and religiously motivated abuse and assaults…and failed to properly investigate the same.’ The severity of this discrimination amounted to torture and so the MOJ agreed ‘it is declared that there has been a breach of [my] rights under Articles 3, 8, and 14 ECHR…’

For the MOJ to have admitted that since 2012 I have been tortured and discriminated against within the Close Supervision Centre, which the title of evidences the scrutiny those detained within face, is no small thing. This landmark case has vindicated what I have suspected for years, that these racist nonces are working with the prison while trying to create a fake persona to trick those less informed that they are in the CSC due to being dangerous, rather than for their own protection which is the truth of it. Let’s not forget, while this hate campaign and associated litigation were occurring, the government’s so-called independent advisor on terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, undertook a supposedly thorough investigation into extremism within prisons and found no evidence of any far-right or fascist groupings or concerns. The deliberate blindness to this major and growing threat by all levels of personnel within and connected to the MOJ cannot be permitted to continue, silence is violence and so corrective action is urgently required. I would much rather have never had to experience this, but insha’Allah my ordeal helps bring about change or at least illuminates the clandestine world that is the prison within prison to make those corrupt public servants less willing to enable discrimination. Although the United Nations Special Rapporteur against Torture raised my situation with the government last year⁵, I remain detained within solitary confinement so this victory is not the end of the battle.

Anyone who wants to help me in this struggle can contact me at Kevan Thakrar – A4907AE, HMP Belmarsh – Segregation Unit, Western Way, Thamesmead, London, SE28 0EB by letter, cards through www.funkypidgeon.com, photos through www.freeprints.com, or emails via www.emailaprisoner.com. Alternatively, add your voice to the resistance on www.justiceforkevan.org. Please support Kevan financially if you are able: https://gofund.me/05b6095c

1 https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/murderer-who-attempted-kill-two-10223735

2 https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4025999.son-murder-victim-trial/

3 November 2016 when Bronson attacked Kevan

4 December 2019 when McCarthy attacked Kevan

5 June 2021 in the Guardian United Nations Intervention