The ongoing trial of the six men who are accused of the double robbery in Velvento of Kozani and participating in the Conspiracy of Fire Cells group continued with the cross-examination of three witnesses.

The three witnesses, a betting shop owner, a bank client and a post office clerk, were unable to identify any of six suspects, N. Romanos, G. Michailidis, F. Harisis, D. Bourzoukos, A. Dalios and D. Politis.

During the cross examination in court, the witnesses revealed that they were also unable to identify the suspects during their initial testimony. The betting shop owner stated in court that “one of the three robbers was outside the bank, telling people ‘we don’t have a problem with you, but with the bank’. Everything went smooth, without every feeling threatened”.

After the arrest of the suspects, the witness explained that he was “impressed” with how “beaten and deformed” their faces were when he was asked to identify them by the police. He also added that “I could not identify them in any case, even if I had seen their faces before, which was not the case since the robbers I saw had their faces covered”.

In his police statement the witness claimed that the identified two of the defendants “by 50%, based on body size”. When asked by the prosecutor what that means, the witness explained that he meant that the robbers had an “average body type” and revealed that “there was great pressure on the police’s behalf” during their examination.

Overall the witnesses stated that they did not feel threatened during the robbery or able to identify the suspects. A key-witness in the robberies reported that he felt a great relief when he realized that «these were not common thieves«.