Parents testify in Alex case
The parents of the five schoolboys accused of killing 11-year-old Alex Meshivili in Veria last year began testifying yesterday before a magistrate in Thessaloniki as the judicial investigation of the case entered its final phase. The first to testify were the parents of a 13-year-old boy who denies killing Alex in February last year. The boy’s parents told magistrate Michalakis Georgiou that their son had revealed to them he had been involved in Alex’s disappearance four months after the event. They backed their son’s claim that the five boys had disposed of Alex’s body in a nearby stream and claimed that the family had been threatened after the 13-year-old testified to police in Veria, northern Greece. «As a father, I guarantee my son’s absolute honesty,» the boy’s father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told reporters. «We were busy with demanding jobs. It was a mistake to put so much trust in our child,» he added. The magistrate is due to question another boy’s parents today.
