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Maziotis, Roupa appeal starts in Athens prison court

Maziotis, Roupa appeal starts in Athens prison court

An Athens court of appeals on Tuesday started hearing an appeal by convicted urban terrorists Nikos Maziotis and Pola Roupa against their 50-year sentence.

The pair, who have a child together, sat side-by-side in the specially designed courtroom at the capital’s Korydallos Prison, where they are both serving maximum sentences for leading the actions of Revolutionary Struggle, which include attacks on the US Embassy, on banks, police and state buildings, as well as the 2003 bombing of a courthouse in which one police officer was killed.

They are also charged with attempted murder and for skipping bail after they were released from pre-trial custody in 2012.

Both defendants addressed the court with what local press has labeled a “manifesto,” declaring that their incarceration will not hamper Revolutionary Struggle’s war on capitalism and the establishment.

Roupa made a particularly vehement statement, vowing revenge against authorities for keeping the couple’s young son at a psychiatric clinic while arranging who would get custody following her arrest last month.

“However many years go by, I will get out and rip out their hearts for shutting my boy up in a psychiatric hospital when he was perfectly healthy,” Roupa said of the counterterrorism officers who arrested her.

Maziotis also adopted a polemic tone, saying that “arrests mean nothing, we will persevere another way and at some point we will get out.”

A special courtroom has been designed at the Greek capital’s Korydallos Prison to hear high-profile cases that have sparked protests and violence.

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