At the Joint Appeal Court in Athens on Thursday, 10 January, the victim’s mother, his relatives and friends, were asking to find out where the unfortunate young man’s remains are.
Once again, one of the two sons of the main accused, for whom was ordered to be violently brought in, did not appear. He did not appear, nor was he found at four consecutive meetings.
During the proceeding, the Police informed the Court that it had not been possible to execute the warrant . The judges decided that the order for his violent surrender was still in force and was re-transmitted to the Police Station of Nea Smirni, which oversees his residence.
Of particular interest was the examination of a witness that arose from a recent filing of another person on the case, who is now accused of perjury and referred to a regular trial.
This particular witness at the start of his examination on December 19th, shortly before the court stopped because of the secretariat’s strike, did not give clear answers to the key questions of the Chair and had a strong and provocative tone. When asked by the civil action for the journey made by road on a controversial date with a mastermind’s co-worker carrying “coals”, he said they were heading to Thebes. At a previous meeting another witness who filed for the same trip claimed to have gone to Kamena Vourla. His attitude and responses caused the react of the judges.
At the meeting on Thursday, January 10th, when the hearing began he insisted that they did not go to Kamena Vourla and when he was asked if they burned something with the charcoals they carried, he replied negatively.
In the persistent questions of civilian policy to clarify the exact route that followed, the witness broke out and claimed that he had never gone to Kamena Vourla and that he did not know why the other witness and cousin of his who was now accused of perjury said something like that. With the same intense attitude, addressing the lawyer of the victim’s family, he said:
“I do not lie, sir, these are your own myths!”
He claimed that with the main accused they have met only four times to date. For its part, the defense did not ask him questions. At the end of his testimony, the civil action filed a request for a cross-examinations with the witness who did not convince the court of his words and was accused of perjury.
Then the cousin of the victim went up to step, saying that one day after Marios’s kidnapping she was found in the house of the main accused. She stressed that while the two women were alone in the kitchen, his wife said that she “felt better because she was sure that Marios was well.” The main accused then addressed to the witness, said in a provocative tone:
“I was also there and you told me that he must pay for his fault” implying that the witness referred to Mario and his own fault for his kidnapping !
This intervention caused tension to the audience. The victim’s mother, Varvara Theodorakis, started crying to him:
“Liar, tell me where is my child ?”.
Shortly before she collapsed, the relatives took her out of the room, while the court broke off for a while until the spirits were calm.
Then followed Marios uncle examination. As soon as he finished, another person was called up for the first time and came up after the filing of a previous witness accused of perjury. In key policy inquiries about phone conversations between himself and the mastermind for the car that used the night of kidnapping by the main accused, he was unable to give clear explanations.
He claimed he was asking for “favors” from the mastemind and in return he was repairing his cars. The president urged him to tell the truth “not to confuse things in his mind”. Then the witness said he knew the victim and described him as a perfect young man. He added that he appeared in court to testify to help the court get to the truth.
Addressing the witness, the president of the court said:
“All the witnesses seem to be afraid. Did the defendant have such power to terrify you all?”
The trial was stopped and the hearing of the last-mentioned witness would continue at the next meeting on Wednesday 16 January.
Angeliki Nikolouli, whose investigation has helped change the indictment for the main accused and sentenced to life imprisonment for the manslaughter of the unfortunate young man, will also testify.
See frame by frame the developments around the case, here.
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