Publisher to answer blackmail charges
A far right-wing publisher is to testify before an Athens investigating magistrate on Monday in connection with criminal charges of blackmail and attempted fraud brought against him in February. Grigoris Michalopoulos, 65, who owns the Eleftheri Ora daily, allegedly tried to extort money from at least five leading industrialists and churchmen, several of whom he is believed to have threatened with execution by the November 17 terrorist group. Michalopoulos had initially been summoned to testify today, but the hearing was postponed as his lawyer was unable to attend. The charges followed an investigation launched after it was alleged that industrialist Dimitrios Angelopoulos, whom N17 killed in 1986, had been blackmailed by the publisher in 1985. At the time, Michalopoulos had allegedly promised to remove Angelopoulos from the group’s hit list.
