WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE GREECE - news journal UPDATE - (en) Greece, APO, Land & Freedom - Gender-based violence is institutional - Solidarity with the 12-year-old, her mother and siblings (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 On January 23, 2026, the second instance trial of the case of the then 12-year-old girl from Kolonos against the trafficking ring that betrayed and abused her begins. The decision of the first instance court, after the continuous and dynamic mobilization of a solidarity community, had justified the 12-year-old girl and her family, acquitting the mother of the fabricated indictment that had been attributed to her and convicting the child rapist and pimp Elias Mihos and the so-called "Michalis" as well as 17 other defendants - who were characterized as "clients" - for rape of a minor for payment and other charges. Also, during the second trial that resulted from the second case file that was formed, 11 more child rapists were convicted - out of a total of 17 defendants.

Immediately after the first-instance court's decision was issued, an appeal was filed against the acquittal of the 12-year-old's mother. This appeal, for almost two years, held both her and -the same- the 12-year-old girl and her other siblings hostage. A punitive and vengeful move against the girl herself and her family, because they had the courage to denounce the trafficking ring, the rapists and their institutional protectors - resulting in the mother being imprisoned and the child separated from his family at a time when he needed support more than ever,- and which to this day prevents them from healing their wounds, deprives them of the opportunity to live their lives as they dream of and as they deserve, as they won with their struggle. At the same time, they have to face a dangerous situation as several of the convicted child rapists were suspended and are roaming the Kolonos neighborhood, continuing to intimidate and threaten the girl herself and her family.
And in this trial, we will stand against the methods of the state police-judicial apparatus to cover up once again the trafficking ring and its institutional protectors. A cover-up that had already been underway since the first trial as key members of the ring, who are connected to the Greek police mafia, the brothels and hotels where the girl was raped and are also involved in the Ilioupoli case, Michos himself and the others involved, were not even found in the defendant's shoes, while no one was convicted of human trafficking.
We will face any attempt to exonerate the child rapist Elias Michos and the rest of those involved, as attempted through the vulgar prosecution proposal during the first trial, using the conviction of the 12-year-old's mother as a counterweight. In any attempt to retroactively legalize all the unacceptable manipulations: the imprisonment of the mother who reported while the police were indifferent, the terrorization of the child who spoke up and identified the rapists, and especially the laundering of the convicted child rapists and pimps, insisting on the construction that "there is no circuit - the mother is to blame", thus paving the way for them to "fall for the easy way out".
This trial constitutes yet another battleground against the trafficking circles and their institutional protectors, the entire state capitalist patriarchal system that, through class and social inequalities and hierarchies, generates, nurtures, justifies and conceals gender-based violence. A system where the perpetrators come from within its ranks, from its political bodies, institutions and repressive mechanisms, as in the case of the rape of the then 19-year-old girl by uniformed scoundrels of the DIAS group inside the hell of the Omonia Police Station - which was even recorded on video, and, while they were denounced by the girl herself - they were prosecuted but released with restrictive conditions until the trial, which is now being heard and is progressing. In a system that ignores the complainants, abandoning them to the hands of their abusers - as in the murder of Kyriaki Griva outside the A.T. Aghios Anargyron by her "partner", for which the police authorities are equally responsible who ignored her complaint, refused to help her and expelled her.
In the face of state manipulations, our solidarity and struggles have the power to overthrow state plans. This was clearly demonstrated in the first trial, where both the construction of the mother's guilt and the attempt to exonerate Mihos collapsed thanks to the dynamic mobilizations that took place, thanks to the expression of social anger and solidarity towards the 12-year-old girl and her mother, thanks to the voices that united in saying that they are not alone and that the state is clearing the rapists.
No complacency, no trust in the state of rapists and murderers! Justice will be judged in the streets.

RACE:
Friday, January 23, Court of Appeals (Loukareos), 9am .
Opening day of the appeals court for the Kolonos trafficking case

Saturday, January 24, Sepolia Metro Station, 12 p.m.

AGAINST STATE AND PATRIARCHY - FOR AUTHORITY AND ANARCHY

Group against patriarchy | Anarchist Political Organization - Federation of Collectives

Link: https://landandfreedom.gr/el/agones/2174-athina-i-emfyli-via-einai-thesmiki-allileggyi-sti-12xroni-ti-mitera-kai-ta-aderfia-tis

Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca