Special Court: What Stelios Manolis and Costas Vaxevanis testified for Papagelopoulos – Touloupakis

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The Vaxevanis deposition at the Special Court – What was filed for Dimitris Papagelopoulos and prosecutor Eleni Raikou.

By Ioanna Mandrou

With witness statements, the trial continued before the Special Court with the former minister as the main defendant Dimitris Papagelopoulos, while the prosecutor is on trial with him Eleni Touloupaki.

During the testimony of the partner of the former corruption prosecutor, Stelios Manolis, who was examined first during the hearing, Mr. Manolis stated that KINAL’s reports about the Minister of Health under SYRIZA Pan. Kuroubles did not recommend lawsuits, did not mention a specific political person, were of an informative nature, and therefore should not – as was done – be forwarded directly to the Parliament.

The testimony of Mr. Manolis related to the accusation faced by the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki that he sent the disputed petitions to the Parliament after the fact, when any offenses had been statute-barred, while on the contrary the ten political figures who had been named by the protected witnesses as being involved in the illegal practices of Novartis acted otherwise.

When asked by the president of the Special Court, Vasilikis Iliopoulos, if the name of the politician who was denounced in the reports of the KINAL deputies could be found, Mr. Manolis answered “yes”, but the reports did not have the character of a witness. He also said that the information about the ten political figures that were finally sent to the Parliament emerged after the completion of the testimony of the protected witnesses, previously they could not forward the case file to the parliament.

To a relevant question from the president of the Special Court, Mr. Manolis replied that he only met Mr. Papagelopoulos twice. One was when there was a ceremonial visit of the former Minister of Justice together with the then president of the Supreme Court to Mrs. Touloupaki’s office and the second was during the cutting of the New Year’s pie.

Testimony of Kostas Vaxevanis

Afterwards, journalist Kostas Vaxevanis, the editor of the newspaper “Dokumento”, was examined as a witness at the Special Court, who referred extensively to the former head of the Corruption Prosecution, prosecutor Eleni Raikou, talking about forgotten case files, when the prosecutor was the head of the Corruption Prosecution, bringing back the complaints at the time of the investigator Iliana Zamanika against Raikou, for concealing information, which was however checked and finally entered into the file.

The journalist emphasized that Mr. Papagelopoulos did not provide him with any information on which to base an article from the Documento newspaper.

Indicative questions of the President of the Court and the answers Vaxevani:

President: In March 2017, your newspaper published an article about prosecutor Eleni Raikou, that investigator Iliana Zamanika had filed a report against her for some forgotten case files. Here the accusation is that the accused Papagelopoulos channeled it to you.

Kostas Vaxevanis: This must be proven by someone who says it. I too was sought to be dragged into this court with fabrications and cases of allegedly receiving something without proof. I request that what I testify concerning Eleni Raikou and prosecutor Georgia Tsatani be forwarded to a prosecutor so that they can be prosecuted for perjury.

President: Madam Raikou never said such a thing…

Kostas Vaxevanis: We reversed the operation of Justice and the rule of law in order to bring people to court without evidence. I have suffered three years with character assassination. You also have the historical responsibility of truth, these two ladies Tsatani and Raikou have both received journalistic criticism and I have also recorded their scandalous involvement in various matters. So they found themselves saying that Papagelopoulos gave them to me. And I say that the person who made the photocopies gave me this information. My word against her word. She must prove what she says.

President: Why would you write something like that against a prosecutor who was respected by her colleagues at a time when they were handling such a serious case?

Kostas Vaxevanis: To reverse the question. That is, not to write something about a politician, a judge because he is handling a case. I didn’t report her, a colleague reported her.

President: She (Eleni Raikou) said that this publication led her to the decision to resign….

Kostas Vaxevanis: Before the newspaper could be published, she submitted her resignation, saying that vested interests have targeted her because she handles the Novartis case. Then the narrative changes and first says about political interests and interests of pharmaceuticals and then it says about Papagelopoulos. Did a corruption prosecutor resign from a trailer that is? What do I have to do with Ms. Raiku’s disciplinary actions? I posted a true fact.

President: Do you know about this conversation that Mr. Papagelopoulos allegedly had with Mrs. Raikou?

Kostas Vaxevanis: I don’t know about them, I think they are more intense and deeper than what is described in the indictment. Ms. Raiku, after not doing what she should have done as a prosecutor, offered herself up to create a political game and bring some people to trial, including me. Raikou chose to be a victim instead of answering for what happened in the case of businessman Thomas Liakounakou.

Vaxevani’s testimony will continue on Monday.

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