Consistency and dignity: On the hunger strike by Dimitris Koufontinas
After the deportation of the political prisoner Dimitris Koufontinas in the midst of the pandemic from the so-called “agricultural prison” Kassevetia Volos (one day's imprisonment is calculated as two when doing agricultural work) to the high-security prison Domokos, the comrade started a hunger strike on January the 8th. He is demanding a transfer to Korydallos near Piraeus, the jail in which he served 16 out of 18 years of his imprisonment.
Translated from Sunizbingfa.noblogs
The background, that exactly this case corresponds to, is due to the government ‘relocating’ Koufonitnas one day after the adoption of a law. The so-called 'Lex Koufontinas' says that prisoners convicted of terrorism must be returned from prisons with “less disastrous” conditions to the jail from which they were once transferred. (While the Code of Criminal Procedure actually stipulates that prisoners must be locked up as close as possible to their families or their social circles)
This is an obvious part of a vendetta by the government, with the joyful acknowledgment of the American embassy, which has always contributed to the deprivation of rights of Koufontina with its pressure, for example when he has repeatedly been denied the right to see his family every two months in the open.
We first document his declaration on the hunger strike in a revised version of the translation published on de.indymedia.org:
"Declaration on the start of the hunger strike by Dimitris Koufontinas
The Ministry's document, which was made available to me yesterday, reveals its unprecedented strategy towards me. My transfer from Kassavetia to Domokos took an hour and a half, where and how as preferred by the family clan (Mitsotakis - Bakogiannis dynasty, who lead Nea Demokratie). Now it seems that I was moved to Korydallos to show that they were complying with the reproduced "Agricultural Prisons" law that they made to get me out of there. A complete humiliation of the rule of law on whose behalf they speak, a complete ripping apart of their own laws. However, this is not just a method of exterminating a political prisoner. Not just a caress of the far right tendency of an increasingly far right government. It is an attempt to destroy a person. Not for what he is, but also for what he symbolizes by refusing to succumb to the unbearable pressure that the system exerts on him, as recently emphasized by Mitsotakis family representatives and selected of the (American) embassy.
After all that has obviously happened and all that was cynically exposed in the war against me, the hunger strike is now a question of personal consistency and individual dignity, and since they insist on this law, that they provocatively worked out, they must too apply it now, at least this one. And bring myself back to the basement of Korydallos, to the special wing that the Minister of Repression himself created to bury November 17th and where I have already spent 16 of the 18 years I've been in prison.
Dimitris Koufontinas, Domokos prison - January 8, 2021 "
Koufontinas was taken to hospital against his will because of his poor health (due to previous hunger strike and his advanced age) and against his will. However, he refused any medical assistance and was eventually returned to Domokos in an equally mysterious manner (decision of the cops, without a judicial order). Four imprisoned anarchists have also gone on hunger strike in support of solidarity. Nikos Maziotis and Giannis Dimitrakis, who are convicted of robbery and involvement in alleged terrorist organizations and are also incarcerated in Domokos (more info)
As well as the detainees on remand Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vangelis Stathopoulos, who are also being investigated for alleged terrorism charges. For Tuesday, January 19, mainly anarchist connections had mobilized for a day of action, which was comparatively modest. In Athens, the meeting point was again cordoned off by the cops and comrades and passers-by were driven away under threat of a € 300 fine for endangering public health.
In Patras, the cops massively attacked a solidarity campaign and covered comrades with chemicals even inside buildings, leading to two arrests.
Numerous banner drops as well as smaller gatherings, demos and campaigns in many cities were able to generate a certain amount of attention in the media and social networks. Most recently, 68 academics published an appeal: “We, the university professors who are signing this text, believe that the rule of law cannot apply on a case-by-case basis. We remind you that justice must be impersonal and that the law must apply to everyone, regardless of the crimes they have committed. We defend the rights of prisoners and remind that the goal of the prison system is not to exterminate the prisoner. We ask for the immediate fulfillment of D. Koufontina's fair request for his transfer to Korydallos prison."
Today, Monday January 25th, Koufontinas has been on hunger strike for 17 days. There are no current statements on the health situation, but consequential damage seems inevitable. This last resort of a prisoner to political action, which subordinates the integrity of one's own body (up to death) to the preservation of dignity, reinforces the indomitable attitude that distinguishes revolutionaries from activists. Hunger strike and “martyrdom” are not an end but a means to oppose one's own value system with all determination to the prevailing oppression and exploitation. Overcoming the ego in order to keep the door open for those who follow. An unbending attitude.