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Announcement
Committee for Solidarity with Soldiers, Greece
On September 13th,
seaman apprentice Giorgos Monastiriotis, member of the crew of the battleship
“Navarino� was court-martialed and sentenced to 3 years and 4 months
imprisonment for his refusal to follow the ship to his mission in the Persian
Gulf during the war on Iraq. It is important to stress that this happened 16 (!)
months after his refusal.
This sentence
comes in a period when there are no more doubts about the motives and the
consequences of this war.
The dead bodies of
Iraqi civilians, the tortures of the American warders in Abu Ghraib prison, the
unjustified attacks against Iraqi cities justify the refusal of Giorgos
Monastiriotis to take part in the war. His attitude is also absolutely in
accordance to the will of the people in Greece and all around the world that
demonstrated against this war, 16 months ago.
The Greek government
and the military leadership share part of the responsibility for this war. After
the war, the social democratic government received a “thanks� from the US.
Nowadays, the new conservative government prepares to send Greek military forces
to Iraq.
Until a few years
ago it was requested from the soldiers to “obey orders without thinking�.
Today it is required from them to “kill without thinking�. In such an
army, attitudes such as the one of Monastiriotis do not fit and have to be
punished. It seems that their vision for the country and its army is even worse
than the reality of Israel where soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied
Palestinian territories are sentence to 2-4 weeks imprisonment.
The struggle for the liberation
of Giorgos Monastiriotis concerns the antiwar movement and all people that took
part in the demonstrations and actions against the war on Iraq.
FREE GIORGOS MONASTIRIOTIS –
STOP THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
Committee for Solidarity with Soldiers, Greece
Email:
antiwargr@yahoo.gr
Telephone: +30
6946455596
Please send letters of
protest to the minister of National Defense:
minister@mod.mil.gr
STATEMENT OF GIORGOS MONASTIRIOTIS
Since three days I am imprisoned
in the prison of Korinthos. I am accused of desertion because I refused – with a
public statement in 08/05/2003 – to follow the battleship “Navarino�, where I
was serving as a 5 – year professional soldier, to its mission in the war on
Iraq. In the morning of 13/09/2004, I presented myself on my free will to the
naval court of Pireus hoping that the whole issue would be over. I was arrested,
sent to the court and sentenced to 3 years and 4 months of imprisonment. The
same morning I read in the newspaper that an American military that confessed to
torture Iraqi prisoners was sentenced to 8 months of imprisonment.
My attitude was crystal clear
from the beginning. I refused and I still refuse consciously to take part or to
support in any way the merciless slaughter of the Iraqi people, the bombing of
maternity clinics and open markets. I refused and I refuse to enter the dead end
of violence and insanity. With my participation in the antiwar movement I joined
my voice with the voices of millions of people from all around the world against
the horror of war. My act was the least act of solidarity to the people that
experience this situation. I choose not to acquiesce in this insane terror, not
to compromise with the end of history.
I paid and I am still paying the
price. However, I am sure that except for the justice of the state that
convicted me, there is the justice of the people – the Greek people that crowded
the streets during the demonstrations against this dirty war. This justice is
more real and more important and has not given its verdict yet.
Prison of
Korinthos, 15/09/2004
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