Thursday 4 July marks one calendar month since Kostas Sakkas – a
29-year-old anarchist arrested in Athens in December 2010 and held in
prison without a trial since – started a hunger strike, demanding an end
to his detention. According to Greek law, pre-trial detentions can
extend to 18 months, or 30 in exceptional circumstances. On 4 June,
having already reached his legal maximum time in pre-trial detention,
Sakkas had it extended by another six months by an Athens court of
appeal.
[...]
Sakkas's case encapsulates precisely the nature of the injustice that
reigns over daily life in Greece – and further afield. Across Europe,
stories of police violence, governmental injustice and intrusion into
citizens' lives are rapidly turning into a banality; an alienation, even
an outright rupture between state and society is building up fast. In
our fast-moving times, a month feels like a lifetime. For Sakkas, it has
become precisely that: he has now put his own life on the line.
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