Bonanno arrested in Greece on suspicion of involvement in armed bank robbery
Submitted by husunzi on Oct 3 2009 15:29
tags:
According to Kathimerini, the famous Italian anarchist Alfredo M. Bonanno was arrested yesterday (October 1) in Trikala, Greece, on suspicion of driving the getaway car for an armed bank robbery by a Greek man named Christos Stratigopoulos. This arrest occurs in the midst of a wave of government repression against anarchists in the name of "anti-terrorism."
The report says a witness informed the police of the car's license plate, and the police stopped them and found the money in the car.
The report reminds us that Bonanno, now age 72, "has served 18 months in jail for his 1998 essay called “Anarchist Tension” and was also given a six-year term in 2003 for armed robbery and other crimes when he was found to be the ideological leader of an armed group."
Oct 4 2009 05:52
#2
Thanks for the correction. So if he "was also given a six-year term in 2003," does that mean he just got out this year before being arrested again?
admin edit - this paragraph was originally part of the article text
I find it an interesting coincidence that this happened right at a time when the outgoing government has been violently repressing anarchists and suspected anarchists in the name of "anti-terrorism." It makes me wonder whether there's a connection. For example, might this be a false accusation or a set-up? Unfortunately, a google news search yields only one more English report, and that doesn't give any more information. Does anyone know anything else about this?
Oct 4 2009 08:41
#3
It's nice to see a theorist sticking to his guns.
Oct 4 2009 21:19
#4
he was already released few years ago due to health reason, but quick google news did not gave me the exact date. Also he spent some time in custody after Marini raids so that also means that he had not 6 years to do in the first place.
Oct 5 2009 21:23
#5
Just a quick editing note, this is written in quite an informal opinion/comments style, so it's not really appropriate for our news section. However, it's ideal as a blog piece, so I've made it a blog entry, and given new blogging rights if you wish to do future comment style pieces.
Also, the tag "Greece" should be chosen from the drop-down list entitled "regions" rather than written in as a free text tag, so I fixed that. Thanks for posting though, will be very interesting to see how this pans out, if it's just a fit up or what.
Oct 6 2009 21:36
#6
Thanks - didn't understand that style issue. I would have been content to just omit the informal paragraph, but since you've already set up a blog, I may keep using it for other stuff unrelated to China (don't want to take traffic away from CSG 
Meanwhile, an important new detail about this case has been leaked:
At the time of the incident the robber (allegedly Christos Stratigopoulos) was "camouflaged with a wig and a mustache and wearing myopia glasses and a jockey hat."
The plot thickens...
According to Collin Sick at Infoshop News, the "Conspiracy Cells of Fire" - who claimed responsibility for the October 2 bombing of Prime Minister Karamanlis - "send their revolutionary greetings" to Bonnano and Stratigopoulos, and Collin calls for solidarity actions. Or maybe he means that the bombing was a solidarity action - that happened to take place two days earlier? Or maybe he's just describing the Cells' greetings as a solidarity action. In any case, seems a little premature...
And a fascinating debate has erupted on Anarchist News over whether a septuagenerian is capable of participating in armed robbery. The person who initially expressed such doubt has duly been accused of "ageism."
Oct 7 2009 09:32
#7
I imagine myopia is an ailment a lot of insurrectionists suffer from.
I may mistake, but I think Bonanno's 18 months stint was in 70's for "armed joy", not for "anarchist tension" which was originally published in Italian in 1996. I think he also did some time in 80's but I may mistake.