Constantopoulos to sue over ‘wife beating’
The former head of Greece’s fourth-largest political party said yesterday he would seek to clear his name in court against claims, by the head of a Church shelter for abused women, that he had severely beaten his ex-wife. Nikos Constantopoulos, 63, a Synaspismos Left Coalition MP who led the party from 1993-2004, claimed he had been targeted by «people who appear to be annoyed by my very existence,» but did not directly deny the allegation. This followed the assertion, on a radio program, by Irini Dorkofiki that Constantopoulos had severely abused his former wife, Fotini Tomai. As head of the Archbishopric of Athens’s Shelter for Abused Women and Family Protection, Dorkofiki told a parliamentary committee in January that a female MP and the wives of two deputies, all unnamed, had sought her aid. The Church sacked Dorkofiki on Monday, and apologized to Constantopoulos.
