Announcement by K. Papadakis, legal representative of M. Seisides
Today I was appointed as the defense attorney of the arrestee Marios Seisides who has been targeted for the past decade, having been characterized by the authorities and the media as a member of the gang ”robbers in black” and was outlawed in October 2009 by former minister Michalis Chrysochoides who set a 600000 euro reward for Marios.
Despite the fact that the three out of the four defendants in that case were found not-guilty on all counts (Simos Seisides, Gregoris Tsironis and Demetrakis who was convicted only on the one he was arrested for) and the fourth has not been tried yet, the media and the police insist on propagating the ”robbers in black” theory even in today’s news. This is an obsession offering one-sided information in complete disregard of the previous rulings and in blatant violation of the presumption of innocence, a strategy which serves obvious communicational and not only, goals.
The counsels of Marios Seisides along with the movement of support will fight the battle of truth, wishing and hoping that TV crews will report on the court ruling as fervently as they did with his arrest. Regarding the conditions of yesterday’s arrest and detention in Sparta, Marios Seisides along with Kostas Sakkas have already filed a complaint that:
1) they were persecuted by police officers who opened fire despite the fact that they did not use or have any weapons in their possession and did not act violently or resist their arrest
2) The police demanded to get Marios Seisides’ finger prints and provide his personal information without allowing him to contact his lawyer first and he refused to comply as he had every right to do. As a retaliation he was brutally assaulted by a number of police officers who caused him serious injuries that required urgent hospitalization. He has already requested to be examined by a forensic pathologist and asked for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.
It seems that policing has not changed much in terms of ethics.
There will be a future announcement regarding the charges he is facing after case file is made available.
Athens August 5th, 2016
Kostas Papadakis
