British anti-globalisation protester "framed" by Greek police: lawyer

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/031112134923.ftp0ltf0

British anti-globalisation protester "framed" by Greek police: lawyer

12 November 2003

A British man who is on hunger strike after being detained in Greece on charges of using explosives during anti-EU riots in June, was framed by police, one of his lawyers said on Wednesday.

"Today we're going to handover to the judicial authorities... a video cassette from a private Greek television channel showing police filling a rucksack with explosives," lawyer Haris Ladis told AFP.

Simon Chapman, a British anti-globalisation activist who was arrested after violent protests during a European Union summit in northern Greece in June, was accused of owning the rucksack.

He has been detained and charged, along with four other anti-globalisation protestors, of possessing and using explosives. The five have been on hunger strike for over a month, demanding to be released on bail ahead of their trial.

Defence lawyers have already submitted to the courts a video cassette from Greek public TV channel ERT-3, which they say shows police swapping Chapman's rucksack for another.

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NEW EVIDENCE! THEY'VE GOT NEW EVIDENCE!

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_11/11/2003_36154

Thessaloniki 5 refuse liquids

Ahead of next Monday’s 30th anniversary of the Polytechnic student uprising and in the light of recent unrest among Greece’s anarchists, senior police officials are planning intense security measures to prevent riots during the three-day event that starts on Saturday.

Anarchists have stepped up a five-month fire bomb campaign demanding the release of seven people arrested after the June 21 anti-globalization riots in Thessaloniki, which caused over a million euros in damage. Five of the suspects are in the hospital after a month-long hunger strike, and now refuse liquids.

The annual celebrations of the Polytechnic revolt, which laid the foundations for the collapse of the 1967-74 military dictatorship, and build up to an annual march on the US Embassy ô scheduled for Monday ô are often hijacked by anarchists and vandals who seize the opportunity to clash with police and attack banks, businesses and vehicles.

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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100022_12/11/2003_36203

Thessaloniki 5 in Korydallos

Five men who have been in custody since the anti-EU riots in Thessaloniki on June 21 were moved from the northern city to the hospital of Greece’s top security Korydallos Prison in Athens yesterday. Authorities decided on the transfer due to the deteriorating condition of the five who have been on a hunger strike for over a month and recently began refusing liquids. Two others are being held in a juvenile prison in Avlona and are not on a hunger strike.

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A support campaign claims the five on hunger strike have been “imprisoned on false charges after weapons were planted on them by the Greek police at demonstrations around the EU summit.”

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Dakduk, who fears being deported to Syria, began his hunger strike on Sept. 21, followed by the Spaniards and Chapman on Oct. 5 and Tsitsas on Oct. 8. They began to refuse liquids on Friday when they were admitted to a Thessaloniki hospital, where, their support group says, they were denied their rights. They demanded privacy when using the toilet, access to their lawyers and phone calls, the campaign said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1082873,00.html

Prison protester in hospital

Helena Smith in Athens
Wednesday November 12, 2003
The Guardian

Greek doctors have voiced concern for the rapidly deteriorating health of a Briton on hunger strike.

Simon Chapman, who has refused food since October 5, was taken to a hospital in a top-security prison in Athens yesterday, lawyers said.

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The group, which includes two Spanish anarchists, a Syrian and a Greek, were arrested during anti-globalisation riots at an EU summit in Salonika in June.

Mr Chapman has produced video clips which he says prove police planted firebombs and hammers in a rucksack.


this was a very good piece they did two weeks ago:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1068650,00.html

Greeks framed me, claims Briton in jail hunger strike

Campaigner facing 25-year sentence says video of anti-capitalist demo will prove police planted weapons

Rebecca Allison
Thursday October 23, 2003
The Guardian

A British campaigner facing a possible 25-year jail sentence after being arrested during anti-capitalist demonstrations in Greece four months ago claims video evidence proves that police planted molotov cocktails and other weapons on him.

Simon Chapman, 30, from Basildon, Essex, was with thousands of other anti-capitalist protesters at the EU summit in Salonika on June 21, when he was arrested and allegedly beaten by police after rioting broke out.

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Footage from ET3, seen by the Guardian, then shows him being marched away by a group of policemen minus his bag. He is then filmed sitting on the side of the road with blood pouring down his face. The lens switches to the other side of the road where a police officer is showing an open black bag containing molotov cocktails to the camera.

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and they used these two pictures on a double page spread:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3261619.stm

Last Updated: Tuesday, 11 November, 2003, 17:54 GMT

Greek detainees 'refusing liquid'

Five suspected rioters on hunger strike in Greece to protest their innocence have begun refusing liquids as well as food, campaigners say.

The five have been transferred to Greece's highest-security prison, police have said.

The detention of the five over unrest at the June European Union summit in Thessaloniki has sparked sporadic unrest across the country.

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Supporters of the British man, Simon Chapman from London, say police planted on him a rucksack containing Molotov cocktails and other weapons.

Television footage of his arrest has appeared to back the claims that he had a different colour rucksack at the time, they claim.

Campaigners allege that some of the five have been physically mistreated and denied access to phone calls and their lawyers.