Citizens are signing a petition called ‘ No to criminalization of politics – hands off Yanis Varoufakis’ in support of former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in the wake of treason charges laid against him after a legal suit was by two citizens was forwarded to the Greek parliament. The signatures have reached 1000 up to now and are on the rise, according to Eleni Portalliou an Athens University Professor who drew up the petition.  People from all around the world have so far signed the petition. Here is the full text:

During the last few days, fearful and resentful, we watched in the heart of Greek society a process of intense demonization  of the “defenders of the alternative solution,” who are being slandered by calling them the “defenders of the drachma.” According to the TV networks, anyone who defends a solution outside the euro should be treated like members of a criminal organization or as having committed a crime punishable by law.

Freedom of expression and opinion, even the exercise of a legitimate governmental policy outside the limits set by the euro, are treated almost as crimes of high treason, when it is the exact opposite of what is happening in reality: the country is crushed and humiliated, exactly in the name of the dogma that it must remain within the euro.

The culmination of this cabal is the preparation of a criminal prosecution against Yanis Varoufakis, even the indignity of submitting him to an inquest … by the Parliamentary Commission of Investigation of the responsibility for the imposition of the Memorandums, for which the only reason given is that he explicitly mentioned that he had a Plan B (what is involved is a plan that was to initially be put in place within the framework of the euro) and that he had tried to organize its potential application. In other words the former finance minister faces the risks of investigation for having done his duty.
What is involved here is exactly an attempt – probably on orders of the creditors- to criminalize freedom of speech, of political action, even of the carrying out of his governmental duties by the former finance minister who was responsible for such work. Beyond that, the objective of this attempt is to create a protective shield for a total subordination to the Troika of authorities such as the General Secretariat of Public Revenue. This attempt at criminalization must stop here if we are to prevent the clouds of totalitarianism from thickening around us.