In Brief
N17 DEFENSE
Suspects ‘not common criminals, did not profit from robbery proceeds’ The rejection of appeals by November 17 defendants to be tried for political rather than criminal offences «equated them with common criminals… which is a mistake» the lawyer representing N17 suspect Vassilis Tzortzatos said yesterday. Dimitris Paraskevopoulos also ridiculed speculation about where the proceeds of N17’s bank robberies were spent. «Divide 800 million drachmas (approximately 2.35 million euros) among the members over 25 or 30 years and you will see that each of them had just enough to pay for a couple of cigarette packs and their travel costs,» he said. The N17 trial resumes on Monday as courts are closed today in observance of the festival of St Dionysios Areopagitis, the patron saint of justice. PUBLISHER’S RELEASE Michalopoulos to leave temporary custody due to health problems Far-right publisher Grigoris Michalopoulos will be able to walk free from pre-trial custody after a council of judges yesterday accepted his appeal for release due to heart problems. Michalopoulos, whose release is expected on Monday, must pay 40,000 euros in bail and report to his local police station regularly, according to the ruling. The 65-year-old publisher was remanded in custody in June pending trial for allegedly blackmailing leading industrialists and churchmen, many of whom he is believed to have threatened with execution by the November 17 terrorist organization. NIGERIAN KILLING Two Iraqis, Greek woman charged Two Iraqi nationals, aged 20 and 21, have been charged with the fatal beating of a 35-year-old Nigerian man off central Omonia Square on Wednesday night, while a 24-year-old Greek woman faces charges of complicity. Mohammed Ali Said and Adel Mohammed Gafur allegedly started beating the Nigerian man with bricks and bottles after he got involved in an argument with their friend Anna Gavala, for reasons that were unclear. Religious dialogue The ecumenical patriarch’s emissary, Ioannis, Bishop of Pergamos, yesterday told opposition New Democracy leader Costas Karamanlis that Vartholomaios has accepted Archbishop Christodoulos’s invitation to meet, noting however that an exact time and place for the meeting has yet to be set. The two churchmen are to broach the thorny subject of the control of more than 30 northern Greek and Aegean sees liberated from the Turks after 1912. Greek-Turkish talks Senior Greek and Turkish diplomats met in Ankara yesterday for a 15th round of exploratory talks on bilateral issues. Cop charged A Corfu policeman has been charged with bribe-taking and violation of duty following his arrest by fellow officers late on Wednesday night. The policeman, who was not named, was caught in the act of receiving 900 euros in marked bills from a 36-year-old woman he had allegedly promised to help in connection with a criminal case she was implicated in. Antiquities haul Three men were charged yesterday with illegally trading in antiquities following the confiscation of several valuable ancient artifacts from their Glyfada homes on Wednesday. The three had been negotiating the sale of several items – including an oak wreath in gold, dating to Hellenistic times, three pieces of gold jewelry dating from between the archaic and Hellenistic period and a rare silver coin dating to 670 BC – for 500,000 euros, according to police. Mitsotakis office There is no truth in a press report yesterday that former Prime Minister, and honorary chairman of New Democracy, Constantine Mitsotakis has shut down his political office, according to a statement issued by the office. The report drew the wrong conclusions from certain staff changes, according to the statement. Migrants detained Coast guards on Lesvos on Wednesday night detained a group of 38 illegal immigrants, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The 13 Somalians, 12 Pakistanis, seven Afghans, five Iraqis and one Moroccan had reached the island’s southern coast in a seven-meter sailing boat, the ministry said.
