Trial of Petros Filippidis: Complainant seeks return of substituted jury – Raises issue of invalidity

The defense of one of the three women who accuse the accused of sexual violence is asking for the return to the Seat of the Mixed Jury Court that is trying the actor Petros Filippidis of the jury that was replaced a few days ago by an alternate member.

The lawyer of the complaining actress, Haris Saloustros, at the beginning of the proceedings raised an issue with the replacement of the jury that was made in the previous session.

This is an employee of the Ministry of Defense, who had asked to be relieved of her duties at the MOD, presenting to the court an official document that confirmed that her presence in the process of manufacturing war material, critical on the islands of the Eastern Aegean and in Evros, is important.

Mr. Saloustros, after pointing out that “this particular juror had shown particular interest in the performance of her duties”, requested the revocation of the substitution decision, stressing that the position of the Prosecutor of the Office must be heard on this matter.

He also asked the court to contact the Ministry of Defense, in order to return the juror to the seat since she left the previous session.

According to the advocate of the second complainant, there is a question of absolute nullity of the decision to withdraw the juror in question, for which, as he said, there was no discussion in court with the positioning of the Prosecutor and the parties, but the replacement was announced by the president.

“I consider that there is a question of absolute invalidity of this withdrawal. The documents I have read show executive branch intervention in a pending trial to keep the jury at work. That’s not the reason! For the executive power to intervene in the court that is judging, without providing any facility even while the completion of the trial is imminent. I think your court should first settle the matter. It is impermissible for the ministry to intervene. Other services could do it too. If another juror asks to leave, the trial will be postponed. This is deprivation of the natural judge. It’s interference. All this stuff is done abusively. It is a matter of both moral and legal order. I reserve the right to take legal action for this intervention,” said Mr. Saloustros, justifying the invalidity issue he raised.

The president told the advocate that she has studied other similar decisions and interpretations by professors, while she emphasized that a similar jury replacement was also done in the “Doctor Kontos” trial, which also has a long duration.

The defense disagreed with Mr. Saloustro while the court is in adjournment for the Prosecutor to propose on the request.

Present in court are the actors Zeta Makripoulia, Tassos Chalkias and Rania Schiza who have been called to testify in today’s trial.

RES-EMP

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