Yiannis Maggos: “The court’s decision has cracked judicial protection of police violence”

“The court’s decision has cracked judicial protection of police violence and arbitrariness. It achieved something that once seemed impossible: convicting police officers for beating a citizen. This decision also reflects society’s demand for justice,” he said.
The court found officers Bakoyannis Theofanis, Skrimpas Ioannis, and Balamotis Stylianos-Rafael guilty of dangerous bodily harm for the violent assault on Vasilis Maggos on June 14, 2020, outside the Volos Courthouse. They were each sentenced to two years in prison, with their conviction exposing the unlawful conduct of their service.
Maggos noted that while the ruling was a step forward, it came only after significant public pressure: “From the outset, the case was covered up, downgraded judicially, and sent to a Single-Member Court—a decision that I, along with the Coordination of Collectives and many others, immediately denounced. But the scale of mobilisation across Greece yielded results.”
Public outcry and relentless activism led to the case being reopened and the charges upgraded. The Council of Misdemeanour Courts is now expected to approve the prosecution’s proposal to escalate the charges against six police officers to felonies.
Beyond the legal battle, Maggos stressed the broader political dimension of the case:
“The main reason Vasilis was beaten and tortured was his participation in protests against Lafarge’s incineration of garbage. It was his views, as he publicly expressed in his complaint against the police officers who assaulted him. It was his overall political activism.”
He highlighted that the movement surrounding the case had turned Vasilis into a symbol of resistance: “Society embraced Vasilis as one of its own. And that, in itself, is a form of justice—social and political justice. In recent days, we have witnessed the sheer force of solidarity sweeping across the country like an angry river, demanding accountability.”
Maggos also condemned the systemic cover-ups that follow cases of police violence, linking them to a wider pattern of state abuses:
“Through our fight for Vasilis and all victims of injustice, we expose not just police brutality but the deep corruption of the system. We expose the dirty role of multinationals like Lafarge and the officials who protect them. Cover-ups are a common denominator in every case—from Tempe to Pylos, from Nikos Sampanis to Zak Kostopoulos and Kostis Manioudakis.”
He underscored that the struggle for justice is not confined to the courts but is deeply political:
“The fight for Vasilis aligns with the long tradition of popular resistance in Greece—from the National Resistance and Civil War to the struggle against the junta. We hold our heads high, looking history squarely in the eye. We fight for every innocent victim. We fight for a just and equal society. The struggle continues.”
It is recalled that on Monday, February 3, the three police officers accused of the savage beating of Vasilis Maggos were found guilty. As he left the courtroom, Yiannis Maggos turned to the crowd and declared: “So, the torturers are guilty!”
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