13 on trial for getting Ocalan in
Retired naval officer Antonis Naxakis, Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and 11 other people are to be tried for their involvement in sneaking Ocalan into Greece three years ago. A council of appeals court judges rejected the appeal by Naxakis and two women aides of Ocalan against their indictment on felony charges. In a report published yesterday, the council ratified the magistrate court’s indictment, accepting that Naxakis, Yiakar Cendikiz and Kaya Aifer should be tried on charges of endangering Greece’s peace. Ocalan himself, who is on death row on a Turkish prison island, faces misdemeanor charges of illegal entry into Greece. Another seven people are charged as accomplices. They include the police and secret service officers on duty at Athens airport when Ocalan entered, and as the pilot of his plane. Writer Voula Damianakou and her daughter Eleni Vassilopoulou are charged with shelter ing an illegal immigrant. The first 50 Greek troops are scheduled to leave for Afghanistan by the end of January. The full contingent is expected to number under 200 people.
