69th Hearing, Women’s Wing, Korydallos Prison, June 28th, 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 weren’t many spectators at this hearing, apart from members of the press and the Fyssas family.

2. Presence and representation of the defendants

Present at the start of the hearing were 16 out of 18 defendants that have been ordered to personally appear to the court. Michalaros’ spouse appeared in court in lieu of her husband, without a supporting document, to state that her husband wasn’t able to get a leave of absence from his employer, while the counsels for Komianos, who was also absent, stated that he was en route. The rest of the defendants were represented by their counsels.

3. Continuation of testimony of witness Michail Ksypolitos – Examination by the civil action and defense counsels

The examination of the witness by the civil action counsels was concluded with questions by Eleni Zafeiriou. Responding to questions by the civil action counsel the witness testified that Golden Dawn follows a fascist and nazi ideology and that the symbols used by the assault squads and the GD Party are the swastika and the meander. Both the Party and the assault squads employ the Nazi salute.

It was the turn of the defense to examine the witness. First to take the floor was N. Kontovazenitis (for Anadiotis). Responding to questions by the defense counsel the witness stated that the distance between Koralli Café and Kefallinias St. is one block, while from the intersection to the location of the murder is half that, and that he doesn’t believe that Koralli has any visibility to the location of the murder.

Responding to questions by defense counsel Oplantzakis the witness stated that he is a friend of Mantas and acquainted with Melachrinopoulos and Seirlis, while to a question by the defense counsel concerning a contradiction with his preliminary testimony, where he said that the Fyssas group were fans of Olympiakos and he admitted to supporting AEK, he said that he answered the investigator’s question about the people who were following soccer, and mainly Pavlos, because the witness was not that interested in soccer. Responding to a question about whether the song of Fyssas “Siga min Klapso” is antifascist, he said of course it is since it speaks about the trampling of freedoms.

Responding to questions by defense counsel Velentza the witness stated that in the song “Out of Control” Fyssas was referring to the death of Grigoropoulos by a policeman, and to Giuliani, and that he knows that Fyssas had gone to demonstrations but he never participated in riots.

Defense counsel Tsagas attempted to proceed with photos obtained from Facebook, claiming that they were taken from the account of the witness that testified in the previous hearing. The civil action counsel Ch. Papadopoulou says “Mantas told us here yesterday that his account has been closed, if not then it might be fake”, Karydomatis attacked the civil action counsel “and what do you claim to be, the witness’s defense counsel?”, Michalolias showed his mobile phone saying “here, his Facebook account is open”. The presiding judge called for a 10-minute recess to restore order in the court.

The hearing continues 11:37

TSAGAS

I proceed with the public and active fFcebook account.

He will tell us what he sees.

Ksyp: It’s the profile of Mantas.

Pr: How can you tell?

Ksyp: I can see his name and nickname.

TS: In your preliminary testimony you said that “they were obviously on standby fearing an attack on the local chapter of Golden Dawn”. What made you think that?

Ksyp: I imagined they were on standby because there had been an antifascist demonstration organized for that day.

Ts: Was it logical for them to be afraid?

Ksyp: I don’t know, it’s possible that that was what they were afraid of.

Ts: Attack from who?

Ksyp: From antifascists that had gathered in the area, something that of course didn’t happen.

First to take the floor were the civil action counsels for the Fyssas family. Responding to questions by A. Tzellis the witness stated that the negotiator told them that the “others” didn’t want any trouble and told them to leave another way, which proved to be a dark alley, and that the witness was left with the impression that he knew them from the neighborhood. Then Fyssas told him, “I’m from here, too, and we don’t any trouble either.” The witness also testified that whoever does not agree with the Golden Dawn ideology is a possible target and that until Fyssas and his friends got to Kefallinias St. they saw no policemen.

Responding to questions by civil action counsel Kougiatsou he stated that he was left with the impression that Golden Dawners had been on standby due to the antifascist demo that had taken place in the area on that day, and that they managed to assemble a whole battalion in no time, something that shows the automated processes and operational speed of Golden Dawn.

Responding to civil action counsel Christodoulou the witness testified that he knew from various discussions he had with people he knew that had been there, the exact way they had attacked the PAME members and that he was overcome with fear the instant he came out of Koralli.

Papadopoulou showed the witness photographs in which he identified himself, wounded, outside the Nikaia General Hospital on the first day of the trial. At this point, and while the counsel attempted to show the witness a few photographs so that he could identify perpetrators among members of Golden Dawn, the defense objected to the procedure, the presiding judge overruled and allowed the showing of photographs so that the witness could identify only those that had been involved in the events of September 17th.

Responding to a question by civil action counsel Tobatzoglou the witness referred to the slogans and videos by Golden Dawn and stated that the goal of Golden Dawn was to throw the lackeys of PAME to the wolves, as he saw them say in a video, and that instead they had attacked PAME with bats and clubs, and that its goal was to have its own trade union in the Perama Shipping Yards.

Responding to a question by civil action counsel Zotos, who was not allowed to ask the witness who he believes was the one to point them out on that night, he said that surely that night Michalaros and the other three had seen them in Koralli Café.

Responding to questions by civil action counsel Kabagiannis he said that the Golden Dawn attacks aimed to send a message and that a characteristic of the organization that was common in the attacks it carried out as well, was the quick and organized movements, that suddenly many people attack few people, and they depart right away, their only aim being violence.

At that point and while civil action counsel T. Sapountzakis was trying to examine the witness, and the presiding judge rejected his questions, the counsel said that the defense gets ample time to submit their questions, while the civil action counsels are constantly interrupted. Both sides kept protesting. After many questions by the civil action counsels for PAME the witness answered that they called the police because they were the victims of an attack, but they were treated differently by the police officers, and that part of their testimony at the police station was given in front of Roupakias.

The presiding judge adjourned for Friday, June 28th, at the Women’s Wing of Korydallos Prison.