Witness identifies N17 duo
A prosecution witness at the November 17 trial yesterday said she had seen the only woman among the 19 terrorism defendants in the company of one of the group’s alleged hit men two days before the Piraeus explosion that led to N17’s downfall. Evangelia Sagri, who had been waiting for a ferry early on June 28, 2002, said Angeliki Sotiropoulou had been sitting in a coffee shop on the dock with Savvas Xeros just after midnight. On the night of the 29th, a bomb carried by Xeros, a 41-year-old icon painter, exploded prematurely in his hands in Piraeus. His arrest led to N17’s dismantling. Sotiropoulou, who on a previous occasion threatened to beat up a witness who identified her in a similar, pre-attack context, took the offensive in asking Sagri whether she was not ashamed of herself. «Me?» the witness countered. «Were you not ashamed when you killed people?» Sotiropoulou, who married fellow defendant Dimitris Koufodinas in prison and has a child with Xeros, has denied any link with N17.
