Communique for the action against “To Horiatiko” and “Attika Bakeries” in Athens

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  “To Horiatiko” and “Attika Bakeries” stink of violence against women and trafficking

On Saturday March 15, we paid a visit to three bakeries of the franchising company “TO HORIATIKO” in Omonia square and “ATTIKA BAKERIES” in Euaggelismos and Monastiraki in Athens. We approached the bakeries, we used of stink bombs in order to sabotage the food production, whereas at the same time we distributed flyers inside the venue to inform customers and people passing by about the background of the owners of the bakeries and what lies behind these companies.

In the following, we present the text from the flyers thrown into the bakeries:

Bakeries “TO HORIATIKO”, owned by Giannakopoulos brothers, are the show case of a money-laundry network that washes money from forced women’s prostitution, from strip clubs and “massage parlors”.

Bakeries “TO HORIATIKO” and “ATTIKI FURNI” stink of forced prostitution

Aggelos and Antonis Giannakopoulos, brothers/businessmen and owners of 20 and more bakeries of the franchising company “TO HORIATIKO” and “ATTIKI FURNI”, have been arrested or escaped twice in the past, on the charges of coordinating a network of forced prostitution, women slavery and human trafficking that controls 80% of prostitution in Greece. In 2008 and 2010, during the police operation Lefkos Artos  (white bread) together with the Greek IRS, the headquarters of “TO HORIATIKO” and other venues owned by Giannakopoulos brothers were raided. In these venues, the police found among other things stamps of the offshore company “Desena Limited”, located on Cyprus, which has under its control five strip clubs in Athens, including “Alcatraz” on Sygrou Av. and “Star” on Irakliou Av. Those businessmen/pimps also owned a building on Irakliou Av. 29 where they kept hostages women that their clients raped for money.

In this mafia enterprise, apart from guards, “smugglers”, acountants and so on, there was also a veteran cop involved, Konstantinos Kyros, who worked for them. Kyros has been dismissed due to a misappropriation of 70 million drachmas [T/N: around 200.000 euros] from the Immigration Department’s fund. This particular cop had a significant role in the pimps’ organisation as, through his contacts, he could provide papers for the imprisoned women.

Kyros currently is responsible for the HR department of the bakeries “To Horiatiko”. Despite 31 arrests (among others, Antonis Giannakopoulos who was in remand for a year), raids, detentions and prosecutions during the first police operation in 2008 , the members of the network were released and they immediately continued with women trafficking and forced prostitution. A woman who escaped the pimp network, an anonymous letter and a phonecall to the Polish Embassy from an imprisoned woman, were the triggering events that led the police to launch the operation Lefkos Artos No.2, in 2010, and to arrest 17 people. None of these cases have closed and the pimps/human traffickers continue with their business plans blessed by the state and judges.

Comrades

Source: https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1519142