In Brief
Police ‘abuse’
Officers accused of beating Chilean face magistrate Three policemen alleged to have beaten up a 30-year-old Chilean detainee in a central Athens police precinct on New Year’s Eve were due to defend themselves before an investigating magistrate yesterday after being charged with abuse of power and torturing a detainee. Another two officers, who are alleged to have stood by during the beating, were conditionally released on Tuesday. According to sources, they claimed to have seen their colleagues start hitting the Chilean but to have left the precinct before the attack intensified. Meanwhile, the parents of four schoolboys on the Aegean island of Patmos yesterday took legal action against local police officers who are alleged to have verbally abused the boys after accusing them of vandalizing a police motorcycle. Siemens scandal Investigating judge named Christos Chasiotis was yesterday appointed as the investigating magistrate who will examine the way that the probe into the Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal was handled. Chasiotis will be expected to ascertain whether the magistrate who previously headed the inquiry, Nikos Zagorianos, had handled the investigation properly. Zagorianos has already been accused of breach of duty and abuse of power as regards the lengthy investigation he conducted but which did not result in any convictions. Captain released A Greek sea captain who had been in detention in Iran for 14 months returned to Athens yesterday following negotiations between Greek government officials and their Iranian counterparts to secure his release. Angelos Alexiou was met at Athens International Airport by high-ranking representatives of the Foreign Ministry. Tolls appeal The prefect’s office for eastern Attica yesterday lodged an appeal with the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, against plans for the creation of tollbooths on exit roads leading off the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway. Local authorities object to the additional cost the tollbooths will add to the daily journeys of local residents. Armed raids Police in Kyparissia in the Peloponnese yesterday were seeking two robbers who netted some 4,000 euros in an armed raid on a local gas station on Tuesday night. The employee who was working at the gas station at the time of the raid said the intruders fled with his car after forcing him to hand over the contents of the cash register. Gambling den Two women alleged to have been running an illegal gambling den in the town of Volos in central Greece were in detention yesterday after police raided the premises. Officers also arrested two men believed to have been placing illegal bets at the establishment. The women are alleged to have run the gambling den for three years without attracting the attention of the police.
