No word from UK on student
London has not responded yet to Greece’s demarche concerning the 12-day secret detention on terrorism charges of a young Greek in northern England, the government said yesterday. Haralambos Dousemetzis, 25, a former student at Northumbria University who has lived in the UK for the past eight years, was arrested on February 25 on charges that carry a maximum 10-year sentence. Athens, which has still to receive any official information on the matter, said it was «really annoyed» and lodged a formal complaint. «We have had no response,» acting government spokesman Telemachos Hytiris said yesterday. He added that Greece’s consul-general in London would attend a preliminary court hearing on Tuesday in Newcastle, where Dousemetzis was arrested. The young Greek allegedly possessed literature concerning November 17 and praised the terrorist group in Internet chatrooms. Yesterday, government spokesman Christos Protopappas, who is in London, said a Scotland Yard spokesman had «expressed his regret» at the British authorities’ failure to brief Athens on the matter.
