ELA 3 set to be free next week
The trial of five suspected members of the Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) group, which began on February 9, suffered another reverse yesterday, as the court did not hear the prosecutor’s scheduled summing-up. With the 18-month time limit defendants can be held in pre-trial detention expiring on Monday, the three suspects who are in detention are expected to be released. Two other suspects have been attending the trial in a Korydallos prison courtroom while out on bail. Last Thursday, presiding judge Elissavet Brilli declared an end to testimony and the prosecutor was to begin his summation yesterday. But the court yesterday accepted the demand of most of the defense lawyers that anti-terror squad documents published by the Avriani newspaper be considered as evidence. These purport to show that an ELA operative with the code name «George» was not defendant Angeletos Kanas but what the paper said was a Lebanese CIA agent called Jamal Darwish. The code name «Andrew» belonged to a Romanian and not to defendant Christos Tsigaridas, the paper claimed.
