The Greek crisis is no longer headline news, but the Greek people continue to suffer from the relentless austerity imposed for more than eight years. Those who oppose bailout policies are facing escalating repression. Actions opposing the foreclosure of properties are especially targeted. During the last two years, the Syriza government, complying with the dictates of the lenders to Greece, have intensified tremendously the pressure on home owners to help private banks collect on loans. Special legislation was adopted in December 2017 potentially imposing penalties of up to six months of prison for those opposing foreclosures. Furthermore, the government has moved auction procedures away from courtrooms to an electronic platform activated by solicitors within the closed doors of their offices.

Since the start of the year dozens of activists across the country have faced charges and several trials are already in progress. Among them, Panagiotis Lafazanis, former minister of energy in the first Syriza government and now secretary of the political party Popular Unity; as well as Elias and Leonidas Papadopoulos, both of whom are founding figures of the I Won’t Pay campaign and Elias Smilios, municipal councilor in the region of Thessaloniki.

It is the first time since the fall of the dictatorship that the leader of a democratic political party has faced persecution for political activities. Moreover, the charges against these activists have been initiated by a special branch of the security services, the Department for the Protection of the State and of the Democratic Polity, which has no record of action against the fascist Golden Dawn or other far-right activists. These activists face potential prison sentences up to eight and half years.