Marfin: “The defendants have not been identified” – The questions surrounding the case

According to the lawyers representing those arrested, the evidence in the case file against the three suspects consists of an anonymous email sent to the authorities in early April and a report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations concluding that the perpetrators cannot be identified. The two defendants are due to appear before the investigating magistrate tomorrow morning.

The lawyers recalled that an identical procedure is being followed for the third time. In 2012, three people associated with the anarchist movement were arrested over the Marfin case, in an investigation that began with an anonymous note sent to the authorities naming them. At the time, they said, the case ended in a fiasco, as it was proven that none of them had any connection to the incident, despite police leaks claiming that the case was “100% watertight.”

Then, in 2020, proceedings were launched against other individuals, different from those named in 2012. This time, the case began with an anonymous phone call.

“At the time, the police had compiled a 300-page report concluding that the people named in the anonymous phone call matched specific individuals in photographs. They even carried out analyses claiming that the person shown in the photographs was a particular individual — different from the person being named today. That case also mysteriously went nowhere, because nothing was proven,” said Dimitris Katsaris, defence lawyer for the defendants who were acquitted in the 2012 case.

“Today, we have a new development. This time, we begin with an anonymous email sent to the Security Police, but no one is investigating who sent it,” he added.

“I will read you just one excerpt from this email, which is included in the case file. It was sent to the police but is addressed to a prosecutor: ‘I thought long and hard, Mr Prosecutor, about whether to send you this letter. For 16 years, I have kept a secret inside me that will not let me rest.’ That is how it begins. It is ridiculous even to read it, but do not forget that this absurd note has been built on the graves of three people who burned to death that day. The question is who came up with it.”

“The report says the perpetrators cannot be identified – Movable objects are being examined”

Anny Paparousou, lawyer for two of those arrested, who are due to testify tomorrow, pointed out that the main elements in the case file are the anonymous email and an investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations concluding that the alleged perpetrators cannot be identified.

“So, in the end, we are investigating only movable objects, and the report says that although we cannot reach an absolute identification, we must rely on those objects. The case is being used for reasons other than establishing the truth. Under criminal procedure, the case should be closed and placed on file. The authorities are not even attempting to identify the person who sent the email so that they can contribute to the case through testimony. It bears the hallmarks of a frame-up,” Paparousou said.

Thanasis Kampagiannis, lawyer for one of those arrested, added:

“The media game being played is unacceptable. We are forced to speak because a situation is being created in the media through statements by officials, who should be more careful about how they express themselves, and through police leaks to journalists. They are speaking as though the case has been solved. Apart from violating the presumption of innocence, this is also dangerous for our clients, who are appearing before the investigating magistrate in an already established climate.

“An atmosphere is being created in which any investigating magistrate or prosecutor who does not order their pre-trial detention will face severe consequences.”

“Officials are leaking lies to the media”

The lawyer also stressed that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations report does not refer to any identification of the individuals.

“Those leaking this know that it is false. And there are many willing journalists who repeat it,” he said.

“The Directorate carried out the identification procedure on the basis of an American protocol and compared faces and photographs. If there is a pyramid, with identification at the top and exclusion at the bottom, the people who have been arrested are in the middle of that pyramid.

“My client falls under the category ‘no conclusion.’ The other two suspects fall under the categories ‘limited,’ ‘moderate’ and ‘resemblance.’ Above those categories are ‘strong,’ ‘very strong’ and ‘identification,’ and none of those arrested falls into any of them,” Kampagiannis clarified.

He said that various games were being played involving movable objects.

“Not even clothing. And it is on the basis of those objects that we are expected to answer questions tomorrow. We are not surprised, when only recently Romanos was acquitted after being accused on the basis of a movable object, a plastic bag, and when we have the case of Theofilou.”

“The issue of artificial intelligence is being repeated by journalists”

Lawyer Anny Paparousou also referred to reports about the use of artificial intelligence in the case file.

“There has been talk of the use of artificial intelligence, and I wonder whether there may have been interference with the material being analysed. Otherwise, at the level of the forensic laboratory reports, I see nothing unusual. I see no difference compared with previous years.

“Unless we are admitting that artificial intelligence was used to alter the results because it was not possible to identify the perpetrators as the defendants. References to AI are being made very intensively only in journalistic reports. I do not know why journalists are placing so much emphasis on it,” she said.

The lawyer concluded:

“We hope that tomorrow, during the investigative procedure, despite the heavy atmosphere and despite journalists speaking of a very strong case, the judiciary will resist the pressure surrounding a case with very weak evidence, release the defendants and bring the prosecutions to an end.”

“They arrested the woman shortly before she was due to fly to Greece and present herself to the authorities”

Anny Paparousou pointed out that the third person arrested in connection with the case, a 46-year-old woman who has lived in Britain in recent years, had said from the day the news broke and her name became involved that she had nothing to do with the case and would voluntarily return to present herself to the authorities.

“She contacted the authorities herself and informed them that she was returning to Greece in order to prove her innocence,” Paparousou said.

“Shortly before she was due to board her easyJet flight to Greece, the British authorities arrested her, and extradition proceedings must now take place. We do not know how long that will take. She had booked her ticket and we had arranged an appointment with the investigating magistrate.

“That is also an issue. Once again, journalists receiving police leaks are portraying her as though she intended to flee, even though she had written an open letter saying that she was coming to stand trial because she had no connection to the incident.”

“We welcome Mr Chrysochoidis to reality”

Thanasis Kampagiannis added:

“I heard Mr Chrysochoidis say that the claims about an email are myths. We welcome Mr Chrysochoidis to reality. But the email itself is in the case file.

“We would have expected a prosecutorial order requesting identification from the email provider. Nothing of the sort happened. The minister wanted to take all the credit and believed that the email was taking that credit away from him. He should not have said it, because this particular email is the reason the case file was reopened.

“I remind you that Mr Samaras has filed a lawsuit over the wiretapping scandal, but that was not enough for that case file to be reopened. Yet this anonymous email was enough for the Marfin case file to be reopened, as has been demonstrated.”

“We have an anonymous letter in 2012, resulting in a frame-up against people from the anarchist movement. In 2020, an anonymous phone call. Now, an anonymous email. The comparison is yours to make.

“The entire case file is based on this appalling email. We did not place it in the case file. There are three people fighting against this disgrace, and three graves over which some people are dancing in order to build careers,” lawyer Dimitris Katsaris added.

“History is repeating itself as tragedy”

Finally, one of the people arrested and charged in 2012, who was later proven to have had no involvement in the case, was also present at the press conference.

Speaking on the issue, he said:

“That anonymous note marked the beginning of five years of extreme suffering. We faced multiple murder charges, the police raided our homes and our lives were put on hold.

“The frame-up cost us materially, socially and morally. We had to prove to friends, colleagues and neighbours that we were not guilty and that we were not responsible for the fabrications of the State Security Service.

“Fifteen years later, history is repeating itself as tragedy, with the same flawed methodology, the same flawed leaks and people facing an uphill struggle to prove their innocence, against a government resorting to manoeuvres in order to save itself because it is nearing its end.”