its assurance that all measures have been taken for coverage of the trial. Nineteen defendants, a case brief of 50,000 pages, and an estimated trial duration of 6 months.

to the use of new technologies in education, the so-called "electronic enlightenment", and the need for cooperation in the "know-how" sector was stressed.

press services, including the Associated Press, Reuters, BBC and "Le Monde", which are present and covering the trial. Security measures are extreme, as was expected, while any car coming within 500 meters of the courthouse is searched thoroughly by special canine police units. Cameras have been installed within the courtroom, while its bulletproof windows have been insta lled. The charges According to the ruling of the Appeals' Council, Alexandros Giotopoulos is considered the instigator of all the organization's actions and has been indicted for approximately 1000 crimes. Among others, he is accused of being an accessory in 6 murders, one

attempted murder, one bombing, one attempted bombing and two robberies. Dimitris Koufontinas is implicated as the perpetrator or an accessory in 84 cases, Savvas Xeros in 78, while both have been charged with more than 200 crimes and according to the indictment they are responsible for most of N17's killings. "The historians of the future will place this trial next to those of the fighters (for the liberation of Greece from Ottoman rule) of 1821, next to the trials of the communists during the civil war, next to the mass trials of the fighters against the junta". "It is ridic ulous to talk of fair trials, just of convictions of innocent and guilty parties alike. Convictions that have already been announced", underlined Dimitris Koufontinas in statements to the "Eleftherotypia" newspaper. Finally, the only woman of the organization, Aggeliki Sotiropoulou, has been indicted as an accessory to the murder of Steven Saunders and the 2002 bombing in Piraeus harbor. The witnesses In total 334 witnesses have been subpoenaed by the prosecution, eyewitnesses and non, victims or relatives of victims called by the DA to speak on each separate case. They include 29 Americans, 7 Turks, 2 Germans and 7 of other nationalities. The cases will be tried chronologically depending on when the crimes were committed, starting with the attempted murder of US Seargeant Robert Chad, which took place on April 3, 1984. Robert Chad will also be the first witness to be called to testify agai nst "N17". It should be noted that two witnesses will testify in a special room over the courtroom, in the framework of the new anti-terrorism law, since they do not want their identities to be made known. On the other hand, more than 150 defense witnesses are expected to be called during the trial, most of whom are friends or family members of the defendants. Specifically, approximately 20 people will support Alexandros Giotopoulos, including his companion

Marie Peinot, Polytechnic School Professor Venios Aggelopoulos, as well as academicians and friends of his from Paris. Thirty people are expected to defend Theologos Psaradelis, among which are French EuroMP Alain Crivin, who has known him since 1972, and Professor of Patra University Giannis Papamichael. Giannis Serifis is also expected to receive a lot of supported in the courtroom, as former Minister of Justice Evaggelos Giannopoulos expressed his willingness to attend as a defense witness. Finally, journalist Maria Gerogianni and Makis Servos, of the Network for Civic Rights, are two of Savvas Xeros' defense witnesses. Defense attorneys are expected to pick from three lines of defense: Denial of participation, refutation of initial testimonies or honest remorse for their actions. At the same time, the trial has attracted the interest of more than 30 international organizations, many of which are expected to attend the trial as observers. Those include the "Rights' Union" and "Young Attorneys", from France.

the judges, as was announced prior to the beginning of the trial. Specifically, the objections will concern, among other things, the recent law forbidding radio and television coverage, which was characterized as unconstitutional by the defense attorneys, as, in their opinion, it limits the right of publicity. In order for the court to decide on the radio and television coverage of the trial, there must be consent from all the participants of the trial. The law will be put into effect and the cameras will stay outside the courtroom if even one of the trial part icipants refuses to allow television coverage. Another objection will concern the pertinence of the court, with the rationale that this is a political trial, as it concerns political crimes and not common criminal law, and as such should be tried by a 7-member Joint Grand Jury.

Objections on the invalidity of the preliminary examinations will also occupy the court, as will objections on the placing of bulletproof glass in front of the area to function as a stand for the 19 defendants. There is also the issue of the selection of judges in the trial. Specifically, according to law 3090 of November, which was passed specifically for this trial, selection was random by means of a lottery, but after a preselection. Initially, there were 345

eligible judges, of whom 30 were preselected to participate in the lottery. The other 315 were excepted either due to work overload, or because they were going to retire shortly, or due to health problems. All 200 judges who claimed to be facing health p roblems will be required to supply evidence of those problems. Concerning the radio and television coverage of the trial, the board of the Journalists' Union met with the President of the court M. Margaritis this morning. Immediately following their meeting, Union President Panos Sobolos stated that several of the pr oblems journalists were facing have been solved, however the issue of the trial's television coverage is still unsolved. Despite the several options presented to the President of the court concerning television coverage, he did not take a position on the issue. Nonetheless, President of the court Michalis Margaritis has made an excellent impression on observers and participants in the trial with his organization, self-control and sense of humor. "The President is directing the case very wisely and humanely", stated former Minister of Finance Giannis Paleokrassas, who was present at the courtroom to file a lawsuit in the case. Earlier, Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyanni, whose husband fell victim to N17, and her daughter, also filed a lawsuit, but did not wish to make any comments. The widow of N17 victim British Brigadier Steven Saunders also arrived at the courthouse shortly after 11, in order to attend the trial. Meanwhile, the suspected leader of N17, Alexandros Giotopoulos, was isolated and silent during the beginning of the trial this morning. Although all the defendants are talking with each other, none have talked with Giotopoulos, who has been seated alone o n the third row of seats in the glass cage. Giotopoulous is facing 1000 charges, while all N17 suspects are facing a whopping total of 2000 charges.

Macedonian Press Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article