Similar court for ELA, N17 suspects?
Two men and one woman arrested in Athens over the weekend and remanded on suspicion of participation in the Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) left-wing terrorist group are to testify tomorrow before the examining magistrate who handled the November 17 investigation. ELA killed two people and injured dozens in over 100 attacks between 1975 and 1995. Kimolos Mayor Angeletos Kanas, 52, civil engineer Constantinos Agapiou, 56, and tourist agency employee Irini Athanassaki, 49, have been officially charged with membership of ELA – which all three deny. The wording of the charges notes that the group, which suspended its activities in 1995, is considered to be still active as «it was not formally made known that the group had dissolved.» This means that the three suspects – and another two or three people expected to be arrested for ELA membership over the next few days – will be tried under the new anti-terrorism law which denies terrorist suspects the right to trial by jury. In accordance with this law, the 19 November 17 suspects detained between June and January are to be tried by a three-judge criminal court, in a trial starting on March 3. Yesterday, the appeals court judges who will conduct the trial were selected by lot. The president will be Michalis Margaritis, assisted by Nikos Zairis and Vassilis Kourkakis, while Christos Lambrou will serve as prosecutor. Some 330 witnesses will testify, while 75 lawyers are representing defendants and families of victims who have filed civil suits against suspects.
