NEWS

IKA murder trial begins

The man accused of killing Yiannis Vartholomaios, the former head of the Social Security Foundation (IKA), 13 months ago went on trial for murder yesterday. Dimitris Vrakatselis denies the charge and will base his defense on the belief that Vartholomaios died due to a heart problem, not as the result of blows he allegedly received during a fight between the two men. The late IKA chief is alleged to have been having an affair with Vrakatselis’s wife, Thomais, who witnessed the fight. The incident occurred outside her apartment in Athens. Vrakatselis told the court yesterday that he had gone to the apartment so that the three of them could talk through their differences. A coroner found that 66-year-old Vartholomaios was struck several times over the head with a blunt instrument. They said that his death was not linked to his heart condition nor a stimulant he had taken shortly before his death. The trial is due to continue next Wednesday.

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