Crime, punishment and injustice in SYRIZA’s Greece

Two recent cases in the media reveal the ludicrous nature of the “radical leftist” SYRIZA government. One regards the case of an 88-year old man arrested and charged for not agreeing to being robbed by two hoodlums in his own house. The other concerns the case of a 77-year old man caught protesting the controversial gold mining operations in Skouries, who was charged with beating up 10 riot policemen.

Only a banana republic which never charges politicians for financial and other types of fraud or big businessmen for tax evasion, will set out to publicly prosecute two pensioners following the letter of the law.

According to media reports, two hoodlums one of which was allegedly a migrant knocked on the door of the 88-year old man, claiming their ball had fallen in his garden. He let them in and they proceeded to attack him. Having a gun at hand he shot at them, injuring one. The police then made a big show of arresting him and taking him to court the following day in handcuffs under the known charges of illegal possession of a gun. But the unlawful presence of an illegal (Albanian) migrant is never, of course, taken into account, nor is the age of the alleged “perpetrator.”

The crime of robbing pensioners and torturing them with the use of hot irons has become a trend in the last two decades, and is the sign of the times. Adding to this, the robbery of their pensions by the men in suits and the continued economic genocide only adds to an environment that implies that it is “anything goes” season — a Hobbesian state of nature where life has no meaning.

In the case of the 77-year old who protested the gold mining activities in the Skouries region of Northern Greece, Greek courts found him guilty of the charges of “attacking” the riot police and issued him a 12-month suspended sentence, with three years’ bail. On that specific day, the accused checked himself into to the local hospital after suffering what must have been self-inflicting wounds, bruises all over his face and body.

Notably, these very same gold mining activities in Skouries were once protested by SYRIZA when it was still in opposition. SYRIZA even organized speeches on behalf of the protestors all over Greece and even abroad. Today that has been forgotten, in the name of “growth and development” and “foreign investment.”

The fact that a 77-year old left his home to protest the ecological destruction of an entire community for the stock exchange surpluses of a dubious gold mine which is destroying the ecosystem of a whole region (including local agriculture and local tourism) is a sign of how rotten politics has become in Greece, as it is in bed with the most rapacious multinationals. An older article describes the situation under which this occurred.

In both cases it is clear that justice is not blind. It serves the interests of the ruling cliques. To be old in Greece only implies you are surplus to national requirements. You should not be concerned about what world you leave behind to your grandchildren or for your own safety…

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