March for Justice for Mark and Andreas Saturday 20th October

"Mark and Andreas are two young Albanian brothers who have been wrongly condemned by failures in the Cretan justice system to 18 years imprisonment. Their nightmare began in September 2010 by simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and as a result, they have spent the past 18 months incarcerated in Neapoli Prison in Crete, Greece.

In January 2012 the two men were convicted of ten armed robberies, the theft of 12 cars and being a member of an armed criminal gang despite the lack of any evidence whatsoever and on the contrary substantial evidence and alibis to prove they could not have been involved in any of the crimes. Even official documentation to prove Mark was in Ireland when the majority of these crimes took place. Mark is the husband of an Irish Citizen and had permanent residency in Ireland.

The trial has been described as a “trial of purpose” to restore faith in the abilities of the Greek police and authorities. Without any intervention from the Albanian, Irish or EU authorities, the actions of the court have gone unquestioned or unchallenged publicly…. UNTIL NOW…

Please visit the rest of the support website at  Justice for Mark and Andreas and subscribe to their blog to find out about the injustices that have occurred to just two young men and their families who until now have been powerless to speak out about a system and culture in which racism is a part of daily life".

Update and details of the March from Julie Marku

 "Hi Everyone

Thank you for taking the time to sign our petition , I am glad to inform you that our on-line petition has reached 1013 signatures altogether.  The written petitions are almost at 2000 signatures. We plan to present the petition along with a letter signed by nearly 50 political figures to the Greek Ambassador next Thursday, who will send them to the Prime Minister of Greece and the Greek Minister for Justice.

We are also planning a protest march, MARCH FOR JUSTICE, on Saturday the 20th October @ 12 noon, starting at Leinster House on Kildare street, taking in the Department of Foreign Affairs at Stephen's Green and on towards the Greek Embassy. We want to highlight the grave miscarriage of
justice by the Greek Justice System and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs lack of interest and support for our fight. It has been far too easy for them to dismiss us on the ground's my husband is not an Irish citizen. WE WANT TO STOP THIS.

Julie Marku and Paul Murphy outside the Greek Embassy

We are requesting your presence at our march, we are desperate for as many people and voices there to make our campaign BIGGER & LOUDER.

We desperately need people to physically get behind our campaign and use their voices for Mark and Andreas.

If you know either of the boys, you will know they would have done anything for anybody, so I am asking you to give a few hours of your time to do the same for them in their hour (or years) of need.

You may already know that we received notice of our appeal date, the 19th January 2013, so we only have three months to make the Greek courts.  Please please show your support and come along on the day, its only a couple of hours and it really could make all the difference. 

I hope to see you all there"

Julie Marku
A very desperate wife

Sign the petition here