An eye witness has argued in court on Friday that the Golden Dawn attack that resulted in the death of anti-fascist activist and rapper Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini had been planned by the neo-Nazi party.
On Friday the courts heard Paraskevi Karagiannidou explain how she saw a group of 20-30 people gather in he area outside the café where Fyssas and his friends had been watching a football match. The witness stated that the group appeared threatening and was making a lot of noise.
She then told the courts how the larger group mostly scattered on command, with about 10-15 carrying on assaulting Fyssas and his friends. She estimated that at least two to three of the gang – all of whom had short hair and were dressed in the same black combat fatigues with white writing – were attacking each of those in Fyssas’ group. A second attack was carried out later on, with the group being ambushed from behind a dumpster.
The eye witness also testified that she saw a car arrive, with driver [the self-confessed murdered Giorgos Roupakias] going straight for Fyssas, who was being assaulted by others. The driver grabbed him and made some motions with his right hand, before going back to his car. The police arrived as he was about to drive off.
Later on in her testimony the eye witness described how Roupakias wandered around in the police station without handcuffs, until a police director appeared and told him to sit down and close the door.
Defense lawyer assaults audience members
During a break in court proceedings, lawyer Stathis Karydomatis – who is defending Anastasios Pantazis in the trial – attacked two members in the audience, a Turkish German freelance journalist and a woman. According to witness reports Karydomatis ‘demanded’ that the journalist leave the court room and then slapped the woman who came to the journalist’s defense.
The court president stated that since the attack occured during a break it will not be documented in the court record. This in turn prompted reactions from the prosecution, which threatened the leave in protest and called the president to ensure the necessary security conditions so that the trial may proceed.
