Two Rouvikonas members tied to Egyptian’s murder
Two key members of the Rouvikonas anti-establishment group, Giorgos Kalaitzidis and Nikos Matarangas, are to face an investigating magistrate on Friday charged in connection with the murder of a 36-year-old Egyptian man in the downtown Athens district of Exarchia in June 2016.
The 36-year-old victim, an alleged drug dealer known as “Habibi,” was gunned down at the intersection of Themistokleous and Eressos streets, with a group calling itself Armed Militia Groups subsequently claiming responsibility for the murder.
Matarangas faces murder charges based on the testimony of two witnesses who claim to have recognized him even though the two men on the motorcycle from which the shots were fired were both masked.
Kalaitzidis, who claims the 36-year-old tried to stab him during a scuffle four months before the shooting, is being charged as a moral accomplice.
The pair deny the charges and refer to a “frame-up by the state.”
