Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 02-08-07

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

From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] GIOTOPOULOS ACCUSED OF 80 FELONIES

[02] "ECHELON" TRACES SECOND CALL TO KOS

[01] GIOTOPOULOS ACCUSED OF 80 FELONIES

The suspected leader of November 17, Alexandros Giotopoulos has been charged with at least 80 felonies, according to the long indictment filed against him. The charges against Giotopoulos include at least 9 murders, 20 attempted murders, 19 bombings, 9 robberies, 13 charges of grand theft, 7 charges of arms possession, 3 charges of damages to private property, forest arson and violence against a political party.

It should be noted that the murder charges against Lambros Giotopoulos' code-name are only dated back to 1985, with the Momferatos Roussetis murder, as the statue of limitations has run out on the previous charges.

The indictment was drawn up based on the testimony of Savvas Xeros, while it is quite possible that after Xeros' additional testimony to the DA, further charges will be pressed.

Meanwhile, the N17 suspects held in Corydallos are still contending violations of their human rights and illegal holding conditions there. P. Serifis, a case suspect, asked the Special Examining Judge, via his attorney I. Stamoulis, to grant him access to copies of all the N17 case brief documents, mainly calling on Article 6 on the European Treaty for Human Rights (the right to fair trial).

His attorney mentioned that he asked for the necessary, by his judgement, documents from the Special Examining Judge, but he refused, calling on regulation 101 of Penal Procedure.

However, the suspects awaiting trial in the special holding cells at the Corydallos penitentiary, will be granted access to newspapers, while their demand for access to radio, television and communication with their families through the use of card-phones, have not yet been met.

According to information, the suspects will be given more time to cooperate with their attorneys in the next few days, while it is quite possible that card-phones will be placed in public areas. However, according to what A. Giotopoulos' attorney told the Avgi newspaper, the only demand to be met immediately is access to newspapers.

Scotland Yard annoyed?

The men of the Scotland Yard detachment in Greece are very annoyed with press publications, both concerning the way they were published as well as concerning the crucial evidence about the N17 investigations published therein, according to the Express newspaper on-line edition. Furthermore, they have contacted supreme Greek Police officials and expressed their deepest dissatisfaction with the event, characteristically saying that some people do not want us here, perhaps we should leave, according to a Greek Police official present during the conversation.

In fact, the British officials warned that the publication of top secret documents hampers their work in other sectors, such as the hunt for other organizations like the IRA, stressing that these revelations may put peoples' lives in danger as well as spoil years of planning operations.

On its side, the Greek Police added its evident worries, mainly due to the leaks, as well as to political involvement in the investigations, considering that a possible British departure may have detrimental effects on the investigations, because the Greek Police is not yet ready to stand alone in handling such investigations. Police sources consider the publications a sabotage to stop the Scotland Yard investigations, which may have reached the point of becoming annoying to some.

[02] "ECHELON" TRACES SECOND CALL TO KOS

A valuable piece of information in the possession of the Greek Police, is the identity of the second telephone call that was placed on Monday, very early in the morning, to the Kos police station, which repeated that the weapons had been taken from the island's military base by November 17. The telephone's owner was traced through the Echelon satellite surveillance system.

The Greek Police is avoiding giving out the slightest piece of information concerning the identity of the caller, and did not specify if Greek Police leadership considers it an important finding which may lead to the capture of the suspects.

Questions

However, the position of the Greek Police is noteworthy, which initially expressed its certainty that it was an inside job, involving camp personnel, excluding the possibility of terrorist involvement, while now there questions concerning the extensions the case may have.

Both the Military as well as the Police denied the statement made by Lt. General St. Adrianis that the culprits had been identified within the camp. Unfortunately we are not near the culprits, commented a supreme General Army Staff official.

The four-day quarantine of the camp had not bore any results till late last night, while neither did the questioning of the soldiers, during which a Greek police officer who had training in the US used FBI know-how for the first time. Yesterday, 140 men tried to pass through the 34cm by 42cm hole, connecting the garment warehouse with the arms warehouse, in order to reduce the number of suspects.

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