On Saturday, Sept. 4, five* political activists were arrested in Belgrade on trumped up charges. The five, Tadej Kurepa, Ivan Vulović, Sanja Dojkić, Ratibor Trivunac and Nikola Mitrovic, are activists in or associates of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative, the Serbian section of the International Workers' Association (IWA). (* The sixth person sought by police, Ivan Savic, was also arrested some days later.)

The arrests are allegedly related to a direct action which took place at the Greek Embassy on Aug. 25. Negligible damage was done; a crack in one window, a tiny burn mark on the facade and a circled A graffiti on the embassy as a act of symbolic solidarity with Thodoros Iliopoulos. All six deny the charges. These peaceful, trade-union anarchists have been arrested and charged in a classic case of rounding up the "usual suspects."

The Belgrade 6, arrested and held in confinement since 5th September, are to be tried for international terrorism. They face 15 years in prison.

In the meanwhile, they are not allowed contact with the outside world.

Members of ASI have clearly and publically declared that they knew nothing of the action, which was claimed by a group nobody has heard of, Crni Ilja.

It is quite clear that the main reason the activists from ASI have been arrested in political. In addition, we may see that the government is quite hypocritical and selective about who they repress; as members of ASI pointed out, when a much more serious incident occurred at the American Embassy a year earlier, the government did not bother to start a campaign of repression.

Since the arrest of the comrades, protests have taken play in many parts of the world. Thousands of people have sent letters of protest to the Serbian government.

For more information, check out this english language website:

http://belgradesolidarity.org/