A public prosecutor visited the 13 suspected members of November 17 in pre-trial detention in Korydallos Prison yesterday to investigate a complaint by the group’s alleged leader.

Deputy appeals court prosecutor Aristidis Frangiadakis found that conditions were in accordance with the law and would improve in the next few days. Prison authorities, sources said, were planning to improve communication between the detainees and their lawyers and to return their personal effects, including their watches. They will also be allowed newspapers, television and radio and a phone facility.

On Thursday, Alexandros Yotopoulos (photo) mentioned these issues and complained in a statement that he and other detainees were being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, with one hour of exercise — again in isolation. “In general, we are living under conditions that violate the very dignity of a human being and are also illegal. If this situation continues, our personalities will be weakened and we will not be able to defend ourselves. In which case we cannot talk about a fair trial,” he charged.

Supreme Court Prosecutor Evangelos Kroustallakis immediately ordered an investigation into conditions at the specially built cells.

“The conditions under which the detainees in the terrorism case are being kept at Korydallos Prison, given the special nature of the case and the necessary security measures, is in accordance with the existing code governing prisons,” Frangiadakis said. “Small deficiencies in the installations and also of a technical nature, caused by the fact that the detention areas were constructed very recently, will be dealt with in the next few days.”

Yotopoulos’s lawyer, Yiannis Rahiotis, told Mega Channel TV yesterday: “He is suffering the worst form of psychological torture that a prisoner can be subjected to, solitary confinement.”

Yotopoulos exercises alone, the others in twos and threes.