{"id":2625,"date":"2016-11-29T14:24:29","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T12:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/?p=2625"},"modified":"2017-02-17T19:14:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T17:14:00","slug":"day-106-testimony-of-witness-and-plaintiff-michail-vaxevanis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/trial\/day-106-testimony-of-witness-and-plaintiff-michail-vaxevanis\/","title":{"rendered":"DAY 106: TESTIMONY OF WITNESS AND PLAINTIFF MICHAIL VAXEVANIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

106th Hearing, Criminal Appeals Court, November 29th, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Access to the Court<\/strong><\/p>\n

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. There were journalists and a number of spectators present in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

2. Presence of defendants<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the start of the proceedings there were only two (2) defendants present, I. Kastrinos<\/em> and I.-V. Komianos.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Proceedings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Examination of witness and plaintiff Michail Vaxevanis<\/em> by the court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The witness testified that he works as a welder in the Perama Shipping Yards [S\/Y] since 2000. He is a member of the Metalworkers\u2019 Union administrative council and for the years 2012-2014 he served as its Second Vice-President. The witness stated that the union numbers about 8,000 members, of which about 4,000 are active.<\/p>\n

On September 12th, 2013, at about 22:30, the witness with a few colleagues, members of KKE (of which he is also a member) and friends, 20 people all in all, gathered in the S\/Y to put up posters about the upcoming festival of KNE. They rode in three cars and 3-4 motorbikes (one of which was the witness\u2019s own) and they made 4-5 stops in total. The last stop was outside the Papilas shipping yard, around 00:00. The witness and his colleagues had been at this spot for about 3 minutes when they saw two groups approaching them, consisting of about 20-25 persons each. Almost everyone in the two groups was holding some kind of wooden bat or club. He noted that 5-7 people were wearing helmets and holding big clubs with metal protrusions added at the end.<\/p>\n

A few of these had covered the lower half of their faces with the collars of their t-shirts, but their eyes were still showing. The two groups marched towards the PAME members and merged, in the process encircling them. It was impossible for them to escape. At that point the witness heard 2-3 of them shout \u201cWhere\u2019s Poulikogiannis?\u201d<\/em> One of the two leaders was Chatzidakis<\/em>, whom the witness recognized because he knew him from before, when the union had made an intervention at a workplace. The other one was Pantazis<\/em> \u201cthe balloon man\u201d<\/em>, whom the witness recognized on sight, even though they hadn\u2019t been acquainted. He had heard that he had participated in the attack against the Egyptian fishermen. These two persons weren\u2019t wearing helmets or carrying weapons.<\/p>\n

The people at the rear of the -by now merged- groups that had encircled the PAME members were shouting and swearing at them. Then, the two leaders, Chatzidakis<\/em> and Pantazis<\/em>, speaking on behalf of the rest said, \u201cget lost because now it\u2019s us, Golden Dawn, that call the shots around here\u201d<\/em>. They weren\u2019t asking of the PAME members to depart from the scene of the attack, but from the S\/Y in general, because they were bothered by the union activity. Lagos<\/em> [:a Golden Dawn MP] had made some statements on the matter a while back.<\/p>\n

The PAME members got close together. The witness was standing three feet behind Poulikogiannis<\/em> and could see the leaders of the group, Pantazis, Chatzidakis<\/em>, and Antonakopoulos<\/em> -whom he knew as a colleague-, who pushed and swore at him. At that point the attack commenced. The witness didn\u2019t hear an order given. He managed to avoid a hit to the head, however he suffered a hit on the elbow and another on the shoulder blade. While trying to turn around he saw Poulikogiannis<\/em> on the ground drenched in blood, blood gushing from his head, lying there like he was dead. The witness did not see -neither does he rule out the possibility- whether Poulikogiannis<\/em> was hit by a club with metal protrusions. The witness fell on top of him to protect him and tried to drag him away from further blows. Poulikogiannis<\/em> was out of it, he was babbling \u201cwhy are you hitting us?\u201d until he fainted. The blows now fell upon the cars. The witness then heard someone say \u201cThose from Perama this way…\u201d<\/em>, probably Chatzidakis.<\/em> The assailants threw stones and wooden beams and left the scene of the attack. It was around that time that Poulikogiannis<\/em> regained consciousness.<\/p>\n

Poulikogiannis<\/em> was the assailants\u2019 primary target, being the president of the union. As he was laying down drenched in blood, the assailants didn\u2019t know whether they had killed him or not. If he had been murdered, the union would still exist, since he would have been replaced, but the ship workers would be working in a climate of terror.<\/p>\n

The attack lasted about 5-6\u2019 during which no cars passed – the flow of traffic had been cut off by Golden Dawn members, as the witness later learned. The ambulance arrived about 5\u2019 later and collected those with more serious wounds, six persons in all. The witness was taken to the hospital by one of his comrades. The witness stated that before the attack commenced he saw about 50 m away four white helmets, which must have been a DIAS team who \u201cdid nothing, they just sat and watched\u201d. After the attack a police force arrived on the scene.<\/p>\n

According to the witness the attack had been planned in advance and the assailants had deadly intent, since the PAME members had been trapped by an assault squad which stated it was Golden Dawn, carried unusual weaponry, and aimed for the head. As the witness said, \u201cthey were out for blood\u201d<\/em>. The motive behind the attack was \u201cto rid the S\/Y of communists. It\u2019s been clear since 8\/8. To get rid of the \u2018abscess\u2019 of KKE\u201d. <\/em>According to the witness, some of the employers at the S\/Y started an indictment \u201cassembly line\u201d against the union, to promote cheaper labor. Some of them are still pending, some went to trial and the union members were found innocent. Golden Dawn founded its own union, \u201cAgios Nikolaos\u201d, which is active, but has few members and does not pressure the employers – contrary to the Piraeus Metalworkers Union, which has won many battles against the employers.<\/p>\n

4. Examination of witness and plaintiff Michail Vaxevanis<\/em> by the civil action counsels<\/strong><\/p>\n

The witness was examined by the civil action counsels in the following order: Strati, Sapountzakis, Malagaris, Zafeiriou, Antanasiotis, Vrettos, Theodoropoulos, Kougiatsou, Christodoulou, Tobatzoglou, Kabagiannis,<\/em> and Papadakis<\/em>. More specifically, he gave some clarifications concerning what he said during his examination by the court.<\/p>\n

According to the witness there were 9 wounded, and more could have been seriously injured, apart from Poulikogiannis<\/em>, such as Zymaris<\/em> and Diamantakis<\/em>, or even killed. The clubs that the assailants were carrying \u201ccannot be bought at the store. They were made to kill.\u201d<\/em> The witness said that when he said during the preliminary testimony that the assailants had \u201cscaled down\u201d, he meant that the attackers saw Poulikogiannis<\/em> on the ground and thought they had succeeded in their goal, and given the time that had elapsed from the start of the incident, left the scene.<\/p>\n

Civil action counsel Zafeiriou<\/em> showed the witness some photographs. Defense counsel Velentza<\/em> protested as to the purpose of showing photographs, and defense counsel Roussopoulos<\/em> objected, requesting that the civil action counsels mention the photographs\u2019 sources and dates. The witness went on to say that he knew that the photographs in question depicted leading members of Golden Dawn (Michaloliakos, Kasidiaris, Pappas<\/em>, etc.) giving a Nazi salute and bearing tattoos with Nazi symbols. The witness was asked about the assault squads, at which point tension was caused by defense counsel Velentza<\/em> and the court was recessed for some time.<\/p>\n

The witness went on to comment on the motives behind the attack and its consequences on the union\u2019s activity, as well as the fear it caused. He also referred to the sms messages sent by Lagos<\/em> concerning the attack, and to relevant statements he had made about the S\/Y and the union. The witness believes that Golden Dawn covered up the attack and rewarded the perpetrators, issuing a press release the following day that said the incident never happened and had been fabricated.<\/p>\n

The witness was a co-worker of Pavlos Fyssas<\/em> and knew him from the union, and as an artist. Responding to a question by civil action counsel Kougiatsou<\/em> the witness said that \u201che was a young man, full of life, creativity, intelligence, he had the power and the will to live\u201d.<\/em> The witness mentioned other incidents -which also took place under cover of night-, such as the murder of P. Fyssas<\/em>, the attack against the Egyptian fishermen, and the murder of Shahzad Luqman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The witness believes that the fact that the union issued a press release in June 2012 prevented the members of Golden Dawn from committing criminal offenses against them until September 2013. He commented on the Fuhrer Principle and the assault squads, that \u201cthey have a liquidating role. They come to clean up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Examination of witness and plaintiff Michail Vaxevanis<\/em> by the defense counsels<\/strong><\/p>\n

The witness was examined by defense counsel Alygizakis<\/em> concerning Antonakopoulos<\/em> and Chatzidakis<\/em>. The witness didn\u2019t know whether they were members of Golden Dawn. He went on to talk about their role during the attack, and about certain points that had been stated differently during the preliminary testimonies, providing explanations for the discrepancies.<\/p>\n

The witness was questioned by defense counsel Anastasopoulou<\/em> whether he would have recognized Kastrinos<\/em> if he had seen him during the attack. The witness answered in the affirmative although he hadn\u2019t noticed whether the defendant was present at the attack.<\/p>\n

At this point the hearing was adjourned for Thursday, December 1st, 2016, when the witness\u2019s cross-examination by the defense counsels will continue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

106th Hearing, Criminal Appeals Court, November 29th, 2016 1. 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. There were journalists and a number of spectators present in the courtroom. 2. Presence of defendants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[158],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trial","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goldendawnwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}