George Dafermos' Weblog

Friday, March 05, 2004

member of the greek parliament accused of huge atrocities during greek juda

As some people may be aware of, we have elections on this Sunday in Greece. I decided to post this as i'm certain it will not receive the attention it deserves by mainstream media. That it will go uncovered is not my idea - it's a fact: the courts issued a decision two days ago prventing any mention of the case i'll report below on any format so that last-minute propaganda (since we have elections here in three days) will be avoided. Consider this illegal knowledge that may incriminate you for knowing how rotten our society and politics is. I'll try to keep my opinion to myself as much as this is possible and just report the facts the way they are:

Less than a week ago, three people who had been imprisoned during the period of the Greek Juda in 1967-1969 in the military dungeons in thessaloniki simply for resistance against the opressors, and who were brutally abused to the point of near death, and had their dignity taken, accused Stavros Vrentzos, member of the government, and a canditate with PASOK (greek socialist movement) for taking part in their darkest hours in the cells of the Yenti Coole (the military prison in thessaloniki where hordes of people lost their dignity, character and ultimately life).

Some background information is necessary here. Stavros Vrentzos, who's from the island of crete where i am from too, has long been advocating his leftist political identity, and to his credit, he was indeed also imprisoned in the same place together with the people now accusing him. He was imprisoned for calling names the then king while he was studying for a medical degree at the military academy. This is slightly contradictory because at the time in greece it was close to impossible to be admitted to any military academy unless yours and your family's political background was favourable to the king. Anyway, this is only smallprint compared to the political travesty that unfolded before my own eyes tonight. However, the people now accusing him say that he was indeed one of their fellow prisoners, but only in the papers. He received privileged treatment, he was kept unguarded in a different section of the prison next to the officers' rooms, and he never mingled with other prisoners unless when he was overseeing their humiliation. Why he, a prisoner, was the receiver of such privileges, you may wonder. Well, because he was a trained doctor, and he could tell with some certainty whether prisoners were faking it or they had actually passed out after taking some heavy beating, etc...The matter of fact is a number of people now accuse S.Vrenzos of overseeing and instructing juda's gorillas how to best batter his fellow prisoners. At first, lots of skepticism surrounded the debate as to whether the timing of the accusations (which came only a few days before the national elections) was part of a well played out propaganda game against the ruling political party of which Vrenzos is a member. That may well be part of the reason. But it is also beyond doubt that those people had accused Vrenzos thirty years ago in 1974, but they changed their mind and withdraw their accusations before the case went to court. Why? Tonight they said that after a personal meeting held in 1974 between some of them and Vrenzos where he apologetically swore to them that he would do his best to undo the harm he had contributed to by switching his conscioussness off while an inmate, but most importantly, after telling them that he would blow his brains out if his neighbours and friends in Crete found out about his past, they chose to let go, to forget about him. In the space of the thirty years that separate then from now, Vrentzos has been a very elusive character in political circles. Not well known in any part of greece outside of crete.

Now thirty years later,Vrentzos preaches time and again that he had been a member of the greek resistance (and for evidence he cites his imprisonment), that he's a true socialist, etc. One of the people who had then suffered under Vrentzos' s generous medical care, collapsed when he saw him on the telly. He says he doesn't want him to suffer any more - besides, he had conscioussly chosen not to paint him black back in 1974 - but he opposes to anyone like him being a member of the parliament and claiming that he was part of the resistance. He wouldn't have any problem with him had he not run for a parliamentary seat. Now, all they ask is for Vrentzos to resign and step down. That's how it all begun.

Vrentzos dismissed the accussations as plain bullshit, and somehow he managed to convince the courts to ban any reportage related to his case until the elections day. They call it "preventive censroship" and it obviously violates the constitutional right of speech, but whatever. Tonight, the politcal show Jungle hosted by ALTER TV and moderated by journalist Makis Triantafilopoulos, where the accusators first appeared only a few days ago, went live despite legitimate concerns that Vrentzos' s lawyer with the district attorney would step in and take the plug off. I saw three people who acted like human beings, who didn't say a single thing about politics, who treated each other like a commarade they had suffered extreme pains with, and who wept when they listened to the voices of others who called during the live show to say they had also suffered with them and express their support for the three men's accusations against Vrentzos. Some five or so people who had been imprisoned at the same place and at the same time rung and stated they will gladly stand next to the three in court, if they're asked to. After all this, it's hard to make any comments. I feel deeply disgusted by the reality of modern politics. Such animals have no place in the greek parliamant, although i'm sure there are plenty already. It also should be noted that after the Juda came apart, most of these monsters were never tried in court, and the very few ones who did go to some travesty of a trial were not heavily penalised, if at all. Then, upon re-seizing control of the country, and re-establishing representational democracy, the system decided it was better not to smash groups and politcal mechanisms attached to the juda. Disgust for the state of politics we have to live in, and respect for all those who suffered and lost their lives so that now i can say my mind about anything. nothing more, nothing else.

3:46:29 AM

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