What he claimed did not convince the magistrates. According to court sources, evidence gathered against him in the case file is irrefutable. At his expense, he was persecuted for manslaughter intentionally in a calm mental state.
On the morning of Wednesday 20 April, mother, brother and aunt of Takis Vazakopoulos, accompanied by their lawyer, Mr. Alexis Kougias, appeared at the Ancestry and Prosecutor’s Office of Naxos and declared a political action.
In his statements, the attorney of the 25-year-old Bulgarian Eleutherios Gavrilis complained to the police about the beating of his client.
“You have overcome the limits”
Alexis Kougias responded with a press release issued on Friday, April 22. He spoke of an extreme attempt to neutralize the spontaneous confession of the perpetrator, but also of statements touching the limits of disrespect.
The prominent lawyer responded to the accused’s “harsh statements”.
He stressed that Mr. Eleftherios Gavrilis’s repeated statements in the media “may cause legitimate reactions against him both by the police officers who carried out the preliminary investigation and by the Chief Investigator and Prosecutor of Naxos” to which he is attacking.
The trial
After two postponements, the trial in Samos was finally launched for the murder of the young musician in Santorini.
Early in the morning of Friday 1 September 2017, the mother, brother and aunt of Takis Vazakopoulos, 21, together with their lawyer Alexis Kugia, were found at the Court.
In the dock sat the “friend” of the unfortunate young man, with his heavy homicide charge intentionally in a calm mental state.
Key witnesses did not appear in court citing illness and their violent surrender in the coming days was considered. The headquarters decided to start the trial by looking at the unlucky mother’s mother.
On Tuesday, September 12, the aunt of Takis Vazakopoulos, Argyro Georgiou, testified before the Mixed Court of Samos.
Obviously plagued by the long-suffering family affair she asked to know where her nephew is buried, she claimed that the accused was the last person to see him.
She added that all these years and Takis’ family have been humiliated by the alleged killer and his relatives. He also said that in the beginning he was pretending to be a “friend”, and then he not only stopped speaking, but he was mocking them at every opportunity.
Then the accused’s parents felt in contradictions. In an effort to convince the court that their son is innocent, they claimed that the police officers received his confession about the murder of the young musician after intense psychological and physical violence. The father claimed that his son had a mark on his left cheek, while the mother on the right. In reply to questions from the headquarters, both said they did not have any obvious signs!
When the prosecutor asked them if they knew why their son was originally summoned to file with the police, they said that he was logical since he was a “friendly” friend with Takis. But then they claimed they did not know if they did hang out.
Asked by the headquarters whether they visited the victim’s mother when the disappearance came to light, they responded that they had no reason to do so.
The defense then demanded that the police officer who was the head of the investigations for moral reasons should not lodge, something the spokesman of the victim’s family Alexis Kougias also agreed with. The court, although initially believed that his testimony could highlight important aspects of the case, eventually accepted the request.
The actor’s apology
In his apology, he accused for the murder of Takis Vazakopoulos in Santorinihe claimed he had last seen Takis on August 5, 2014, two days before his disappearance.
Although testimonies reported that on August 7 they saw him taking him with a motorcycle from a central point of the island, he told the court that he did not remember whether on that day he was driving his motorcycle or his car.
In related questions he replied that he went only once with Takis in the dump of the island, long before he disappeared.
He argued that when the police officers were asked to testify for the case, they threatened him with a gun and had a strong psychological and physical violence. They then forced him to sign documents that had been prepared beforehand, and in this way they extracted his original confession.
He admitted that he had a close relationship with Vazakopoulos but throughout his apology he had no reason to be compassionate about the victim or his family.
Catapult the Prosecutor for the accused
Bulgarian Prosecutor Ivan Mitev for the murder of Takis Vazakopoulos has requested the Prosecutor of the Joint Court of Samos.
“Everything shows that he is the killer. There is no doubt that it is manslaughter and even intentionally, ” he said. He spoke extensively about the contradictions the defendant had committed at first, while he spoke of the authorities’ delay in conducting investigations in the first critical period. He also stressed that despite the precious time that was lost, the “Light at the Tunnel” show and Alex Kougias’ lawyer contributed the most to shine the truth about the case.
The defense attorney in his speech argued that his client should be relieved because of doubts.
From the victim’s family, their legal representative stressed that when the trial is over, her minutes should go to the Naxos Prosecution Office to launch a new investigation round to convict two more people who appear to be involved in the case.
Leave a Reply