Imprisoned anarchist Yiannis Michailidis has suspended his hunger strike. The 33-year-old, who first became known as the «Syntagma Archer» following his attack with a bow and arrows on the Parliament building in 2011, will seek his release through a new petition to be filed in the near future with the Amfissa Misdemeanor Court.
«This fight isn’t over, and I don’t intend to leave it unfinished,» Yiannis Michailidis said in a statement, noting that «he will continue to fight for what he is entitled to.».
The full statement by Yiannis Michailidis
«I am in the unfortunate position of having to announce that I am putting this difficult struggle on hold, without having achieved anything substantial. However, this struggle is not over, and I do not intend to leave it unfinished. This suspension is temporary.”.
Some of the reasons are obvious. Others are not. I apologize to those who have supported me for not being able to share the reasons publicly at this time. If necessary, I will return to this topic and explain in detail, publicly, the reasons why I chose to take a temporary break.
I will continue to fight for what I am entitled to, and I hope I won't have to bring this up again.
The justice system has been discredited. The only success of the hunger strike so far is that it has highlighted its contradictions. As for the line I tried to draw, the lawyers“ statements have shifted the prevailing atmosphere away from the ”lock them up and throw away the key” mentality. My personal request, however, remains unresolved. And my commitment that I would not stop now seems to have been betrayed. This weighs heavily on me, of course, even though I know that my intention is—if necessary—to continue at a more fruitful time in the near future.
But as I said before, not everything can be said at this point, and I hope it won't be necessary to say it.
In closing this announcement, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who supported me in any way. Those who took a stand, those who spoke out, those who went beyond their social roles because empathy prevailed. But above all, those who fought tooth and nail to break the imposed silence, those who were beaten in the streets for expressing their solidarity, those who took risks, and those who went hungry in prison. I owe my life to the latter. If all of this hadn’t happened, the conditions for my release wouldn’t exist right now.
That's all for now. I continue to look forward to my immediate release.
It all continues…
»G.M.".
A Chronological Account of the «Archer» Case»
The appeal filed yesterday by imprisoned anarchist Yiannis Michailidis against the decision of the Amfissa Misdemeanor Court—which had rejected his request for conditional release. The 33-year-old, who first became known as the ’Syntagma Archer« following his attack with a bow and arrows on the Parliament building in 2011, is on his 67th day of a hunger strike and is being treated under guard at the Lamia Hospital.
He was arrested in 2013 on charges of participating in a double bank robbery in Velvento, Kozani, that same year. He was additionally charged with attempted murder of police officers during a confrontation in the Pefki area, and was also tried for possession of ammunition. Following the consolidation of his charges, he was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison.
In June 2019, while he was being held at the Tiryns agricultural prison, Michailidis escaped and, while on the run, committed an armed bank robbery, and was charged with kidnapping and robbery against a police officer who had attempted to apprehend the perpetrators. He was located and arrested in early 2020 by the Counterterrorism Unit in Agia Paraskevi.
With him were his partner and Konstantina Athanasopoulou, against whom an arrest warrant was pending for participation in the «Revolutionary Struggle.» «Toxovolos» had also initially been arrested for membership in a terrorist organization, specifically the «Conspiracy of Cells of Fire,» however, the court had acquitted him of that specific charge.
In May, Michailidis filed a motion for release with the Amfissa Misdemeanor Court, having fulfilled the formal requirements set forth by law for his conditional release, namely serving one-third of his actual sentence. On May 23, while the decision was pending, he announced that he was beginning a hunger strike, characterizing his imprisonment as ’an attack by the state and capital on those who consciously oppose them.«.
On June 20, the Amfissa court rejected his request, on the grounds that he had escaped in 2019 and exhibited delinquent behavior while outside of prison. Through his attorneys, George Kakarnia and Theodore Manta, he filed an appeal on the same day (June 20), which was heard on Monday, with the Lamia Court of Appeals rejecting his appeal, reiterating the Amfissa court’s reasoning regarding his «lack of rehabilitation.».
Doctors describe his condition as extremely critical, while his case has sparked reactions within the anarchist and anti-authoritarian communities—and beyond. «We will exhaust every avenue of the judicial system at every level in the hope that common sense will prevail, since for us the stakes are that a human life not be lost,» the 33-year-old’s defense attorneys stated in their announcement yesterday.
Yiannis Souliotis
