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Day 193: Defense councels requested court officer to be present during protected witnesses’ testimonies

193rd Hearing, Women’s Wing, Korydallos Prison, October 30th, 2017

I. Access to the Court

The courtroom remains open to the public upon presentation of a state ID card, which is retained by court authorities for the duration of the session, until all audience seats in the courtroom are filled. There were many journalists in the courtroom due to the scheduled testimony of the first protected witness.

II. Presence of defendants

None of the defendants was present at the hearing.

III. Proceedings

In today’s hearing the following defense counsels took the floor to protest the decision of the presiding judge to keep the protected witnesses under the provisions of the Witness Protection Program: Michalolias Takis, Papadellis, Pantazi, Gavelas, Michalolias Nikos, Karydomatis, Michalolias Giorgos, Kassis, Velentza, and Alexiadis. They proceeded to support their argument: The defense counsels maintained that an officer of the court should always be present in the room where the protected witnesses are giving their testimony, in order to make sure that there are no other people there that would provide the witnesses with alternative answers to the questions.

Defense counsel Pantazi diverged from the rest of the counsels and motioned to have [in the room with the protected witnesses] an alternate member of the court as well as counsels, since, as she said, a counsel is not automatically guaranteed to espouse the beliefs of his client. The defense counsel also argued that under the present circumstances there are no procedural safeguards in place that would allow them to evaluate the credibility of each witness, or that would enable them to object to possible procedural oversights.

The counsels also claimed that the names of the witnesses are already known to them and that no one has been harmed, nor will they be harmed in the future, and so the decision of the presiding judge should either be revoked or the court should allow an officer of the court and counsels in the room where the protected witnesses will give their testimonies. The state prosecutor also motioned to allow an officer of the court to be present at the testimony of the protected witnesses.

The presiding judge reserved her judgment and adjourned for November 1st, 2017, in the Court of Appeals.

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