Reported by Petros Yiotis (kontra)

05/12/2005

2^nd meeting 

On the ground of the absence of technical infrastructure, the court rejected the demand for officially recorded minutes of the proceeding of the trial. Despite this, a private company, sponsored by the Union of owners of Daily Newspapers, was allowed into the courtroom to record and publish the proceedings, for the media. This is however informal.

Objections were submitted by the defence, regarding the unacceptability of the appeal by the public prosecutors in the case of initially acquitted defendants, on the grounds that the appeals do not include specific and thorough arguments, as requires by the law. Objections were submitted by the advocates of defence of Aggeliki Sotiropoulou and Yiannis Serifis, that  had been acquitted initially, as well as Nikos Papanastasiou and Patroklos Tselentis, that had been initially acquitted for certain actions. The public prosecutors proposed the rejection of the objections The himself and the political education. It should be noted that in case Yiannis Serifis the public prosecutors of the first trial appealed against their own proposal. They had proposed that he was acquitted due to prescription, the court acquitted him because of doubts, and the prosecutors appealed this ruling asking that he be declared guilty!!

When the defence advocate Yianna Kourtovic reported that she had become aware of pressures on the judges from various directions. The public prosecutor felt offended and protested.

Dimitris Koufontinas intervened with an intense statement. Addressing the court he said:

"It is true, however, that there have been pressures. In a political trial, political pressures are practised. We are in an environment of multiple pressures from Americans, from the British and from the government. The minister himself practises pressures. I also heard Mr Mitsotakis threaten you. "The chairman should be careful", were the exact words used by the former prime minister.