Father turns detective
Six months ago Costas Antoniou was about to send his 20-year-old son to study in France. Instead, he now pays him visits in Korydallos Prison, spends days in courtrooms or chases after drug dealers. In a phone call from the police one night, he heard that his son and five other youths had been arrested in an Argyroupolis cafe in possession of 10 ecstasy pills. «The police had to present its case within 24 hours,» he told Kathimerini. «What sort of investigation could they carry out in that time? Could they possibly find out whether this was just a case of drug use? No, the procedures are a formality. «My son was accused of dealing drugs because money was found in his pockets, but I always used to give him some when he went out,» said Antoniou. His son was described as being «particularly dangerous.» If any of the charges against him stand, he risks a life sentence. However, a trial cannot be expected anytime soon. So Antoniou began what has become a personal odyssey. «I tried to find the dealers, but also to see how the judges treated these cases,» he said. «What I saw enraged me – I saw judges that were asleep! People’s lives are at stake here! Life sentences were handed out without any incriminating evidence being given, but because one of the accused testified against another in order to get a lighter sentence. I realized that the first court simply rests its case on the police files, which have not been checked. In fact, no proper investigation is carried out at any stage of the process.» Meanwhile, Antoniou’s son was in prison awaiting trial. It takes two years for an appeals trial to take place. «The defendant might be innocent or might just be a user, but he has to stay in prison for the duration,» Antoniou said. «The appeals court rarely acquits anyone, it might just reduce the sentence. Yes, justice is blind – it can’t see in front of it. «The law says that within the first 24 hours after arrest the accused has to be examined by a forensic scientist. My son was only examined after three months and without a urine test. The forensic scientist was paid 150 euros and left. That is how people’s fates are decided,» said Antoniou, who decided to carry out his own investigation. «I hired detectives and within three months we had found the gang pushing drugs in Argyroupolis, in possession of thousands of pills. We took the evidence to the prosecutor and they were caught.» The arrests had no effect on his son’s case. «It’s our fault as well,» Antoniou said. «We look to our jobs, we watch television; we don’t notice what is going on in our own homes. But why should the state give the deal the final blow?»
