Objection to TV at N17 trial
A prosecutor in the appeals trial of convicted members of the November 17 terror group yesterday called for the rejection of demands by all but one of the defendants for television coverage of proceedings. The presiding judge did not rule on the matter but the sole objection by defendant Patroklos Tselentis is sufficient to guarantee that TV cameras will be barred from the courtroom at Korydallos Prison, as was the case with the original N17 trial in 2003. The defendants’ lawyers had claimed that media coverage of the proceedings would be «in the public interest,» with Alexandros Yotopoulos’s advocate saying his client wanted media coverage «to demonstrate the absurdity of his conviction as moral instigator of the group’s activities.» Prosecutor Efterpi Goutzamani countered that an absence of TV coverage did not violate the public’s right to information. «Anyone can attend the proceedings unhindered and form their opinion,» she said. Meanwhile, relatives of the group’s victims condemned the «murderers of N17» for referring to their trial as «political» in nature.
