Bank robber ‘did not shoot’
Bank robber Yiannis Dimitrakis admitted yesterday to his part in a bloody bank robbery in central Athens last January but denied firing any of the shots that injured three guards during the shootout. On the first day of his trial, which is taking place under tight security, Dimitrakis denied the other charges against him, which include four counts of attempted murder, participation in seven bank robberies and money laundering. Dimitrakis is alleged to have been a member of the notorious «Robbers in Black» gang that struck a number of banks in Athens. He was shot and injured during the raid on a National Bank branch in January 2006. Police said they also found 43,000 euros in cash in a post office box in Dimitrakis’s name. Three other people – Grigoris Tsironis and brothers Simeon and Marios Seisidis – have been charged with being the remaining members in the gang but they remain at large. Some 100 youths gathered outside the court yesterday and chanted slogans in support of the accused.
