Nikos Romanos on Ampelokipoi: “I have no connection to the case”

“I am here for a choice I did not make, whereas in the past I always took responsibility for my actions and defended them by explaining the reasons behind them.” With these words, Nikos Romanos referred to the reasons he found himself accused in the trial over the explosion in Ampelokipoi.

Testifying about a partial fingerprint found on a bag, he recounted his life after his release from prison in 2019, saying among other things: “A person who comes out after seven years in prison, in a country of frozen time, tries to face a reality that may have changed rapidly and tries to shoulder burdens he had not carried before. I tried to overcome all these difficulties of adjustment. I tried to find a job, build social relationships and essentially be able to make plans for my life. At the same time, I also had a public political presence, participating in demonstrations and events, most notably the restoration of the Alexandros Grigoropoulos memorial, to rehabilitate a monument that had fallen into decay.”

Nikos Romanos also referred in detail to the only piece of evidence linking him to the case, namely the partial fingerprint on a bag in which a weapon had been packaged. “I have nothing else to contribute. I am not in a position to know the path of the bag; I can only make assumptions. I have no connection to the case. The choices I have made, I have paid for more than enough, and what is happening now is unjust,” he stressed, noting that he does not know any of the co-defendants except one who is also accused over a partial fingerprint.

President: There are three versions: the first is the prosecution’s, that some people handled the bag, placed the weapon inside and passed it on; the second is that it circulated randomly and, by chance, ended up in the apartment; and the third is that it was planted. I am not afraid to say it, and the court must examine all possibilities.

Defendant: I can rule out that I handled a weapon and packaged it. As for the other two versions, I cannot exclude either, which is why I turned to a technical advisor. I cannot confirm either of them.

“I am not linked to anything criminally punishable”

The testimonies of two other co-defendants had preceded his, both denying any criminal involvement in the case.

First, the second defendant, Dimitra Z., who is implicated because she and the third defendant had possession of the apartment keys before the explosion, argued that the only thing linking her to the case is her personal relationships with her co-defendant Marianna Manoura and Kyriakos Xymitiris, who lost his life in the explosion on Arkadias Street.

“As far as I am concerned, in criminal terms, this is a case file with which I am not connected to anything criminally punishable,” she explained, and addressing the court added: “You said that justice was fair and works because we brought witnesses who had been accused in the past and were later acquitted. But have you considered what the before and after of acquittal means? That you abduct me from my life and throw me into prison? This must end today, but what happens afterwards? Where will I go? Will I continue my PhD? This is not right. The civil justice you say works does not work. Spend a day in prison to see what happens… what it means to be incarcerated.”

The defendant also referred to Kyriakos Xymitiris, saying: “For you, October 31 is pages in a case file; for me, it is the day I lost the anarchist armed militant, friend and companion Kyriakos Xymitiris, and we were right, Marianna and I, to speak here about him so that he passes into revolutionary memory as he deserves.”

“I have no connection to any of this”

This was followed by the testimony of Dimitris P., who categorically denied any connection to the case, claiming that he became involved because of his relationship with Dimitra Z.

“I am sorry that I have unwillingly become involved in this story and that a young man lost his life. I have no connection to any of this, nor did I have any intention of doing what is described in the indictment. From day one, I deny all the charges,” he stated, adding elsewhere: “I have never come into contact with explosives or weapons. These are things foreign to me.

And I have never visited the apartment on Arkadias Street. (…) I was asked to do a favor—not by a stranger, but by my partner—to return a pair of keys, not to a stranger but to the mother of a friend. And for that, I have been in prison for 17 months.”

The defendant reiterated that he knows Marianna Manoura and Kyriakos Xymitiris, though not closely, and described how in mid-October he accompanied his partner to collect the apartment keys from the mother of a mutual friend. When his partner returned abroad, where she lived, he undertook to return the keys on October 31, but as he explained, this did not happen due to the explosion.

He also described as a mistake the fact that, when he realized he was involved in the case concerning the apartment where weapons were found, he discarded a SIM card that ultimately belonged to a foreign national. “I panicked; from the shock I lost my composure and made the mistake of throwing away the SIM. It was a reaction out of panic, and I did not discard anything else—neither the keys nor anything else. It was an impulsive move that had no logic. I made my position worse in my panic, and that is why I told everything from the investigation stage,” he said, noting that the very next day he voluntarily presented himself to the police.

President: You have no connection to that space…

Defendant: No, I do not assign myself any label…

President: You mentioned the SIM card. You are knowledgeable about technology, more than the average person, which places a greater burden on you. You knew that by throwing away a SIM you achieve nothing. It is not logical… How did you do that? Throwing it away suggests you wanted to eliminate a trace…

Defendant: You said a key word—“logic.” I don’t know if you have ever been in a state of panic and shock… there was no logic…

President: The SIM card has not been found to this day. Where was it discarded?

Defendant: I was in such shock that I do not remember what I did with it or where I threw it… I wish I remembered so I could hand it over… even the next day I was still in panic. I was driving to go to GADA and I don’t even remember how I got there from my home.