The appeal trial of comrades Vangelis Stathopoulos and Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis is currently ongoing for the case of the robbery of a betting office and alleged association to the Organization: “Revolutionary Self-Defense”. During their initial trial they were sentenced to 19 (Vangelis) and 16 years (Dimitris) in prison. All started in October 2019, after a robbery in a betting office, where one of the two participants was injured. In November 2019, armament was allegedly found and attributed, according to the police, to the Organization “Revolutionary Self-Defense”. Then, Vangelis Stathopoulos and another person were arrested by “anti-terror” police and remanded into custody. Vangelis Stathopoulos denied any involvement in the organization “Revolutionary Self-Defense”, but had admitted to helping the injured anarchist Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis with a medical emergency.

Without any involvement in the original robbery of the betting shop, the prosecution chose to punish comrade Vangelis, because he showed his solidarity in practice when helping the wounded anarchist Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis. Thus, he was taken to the prison in Larissa, where he is kept until today. Meanwhile, Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis went underground and participated in the public political debate, defending the revolutionary action. On August 9, 2021, unfortunately he was arrested after an armed bank robbery in Thessaloniki and today he is being held in prison in Domokos.