Anarchist Yiannis Dimitrakis was arrested, heavily wounded by cop bullets, on January 16th, 2006 after the National Bank robbery on Solonos street, in the centre of Athens. His arrest was followed by a delirious propaganda by the police and media about the alleged existence of a so-called “robbers’ in black gang”; in the days while he was still being hospitalized in the intensive care unit the infamous “terror”-prosecutor Diotis attempted to interrogate him; his friends and relatives were targeted; and in the prosecution case against him the anti-terrorist provision as well as charges for a number of additional robberies were included. The prosecuting mechanisms also accused and proclaimed wanted for the case three more anarchists, Simos and Marios Seisidis and Grigoris Tsironis, actually reaching the point of placing a bounty on their heads in October 2009.
Y. Dimitrakis defended the particular bank robbery in which he was arrested as his political choice, as a choice based on his opposition to the blackmail of work as well as to the role of banks. In addition, from the first moment and during the entire time of his captivity he has been actively present in revolts and struggles within prison and through his writings has kept a vivid contact with developments on the outside.
The outcome of his trial in the first degree, in July 2007, was an exterminating sentence of 35 years. During his appeal court, in December 2010, his sentence was reduced to 12,5 years
Letter from Yiannis Dimitrakis
Excerpts from Yiannis Dimitrakis Statement in court- June 2007
Text from yiannis dimitrakis on the mass hunger strike in Greek prisons, November 2008
Text from anarchist Yiannis Dimitrakis in regards to the prisoners’ solidarity fund
Escape from oblivion (first attempt), text from Giannis Dimitrakis