Prosecutor intervention in Koulouris’ case

While there is strong concern in the ranks of field officers of the Police about what happened last Saturday night with the incident between officers and Kimon Koulouris, this morning the minister of citizen protection Christos Papoutsis received the four policemen of the DI.AS. team who on Saturday, January 7, stopped the former MP to check for violations of the traffic code.

The minister congratulated the officers on their attitude in honoring their mission. According to the announcement by the ministry, by the symbolic nature of this gesture, Christos Papoutsis made it clear that all citizens are equal before the law. And it is the responsibility of the management of the Security Forces to act in accordance with the law, without discrimination and with full respect for the rights of citizens as stipulated by the Constitution.

It is interesting that earlier this morning, the Police had virtually condemned the special guards, who have called for the prosecution of the former PASOK minister. In its relevant letter, the Police stated that "one can never use the depiction of reality as a 'cover-up' or 'special treatment' or 'unequal treatment of citizens', as described by the authors of the Press Release of the Association of Special Police Guards of Attica."

And this comes from the same Police Force that explained the incident with the former minister as a traffic accident, thus not requiring an arrest procedure.

The prosecutor’s intervention

Protothema.gr has been in favor of the prosecutor’s intervention since Sunday morning and indeed the head of Appeals Court, Eleni Raikou, ordered a preliminary examination, in response to a letter/report sent by the DI.AS. group to investigate liability on the part of both the former minister and the police.

According to Ms Raikou’s letter, the investigation will examine:

-   if there were crimes such as resisting arrest (which requires immediate apprehension), grievous bodily harm and obstruction of traffic by Koulouris
-   if police officers bear responsibilities, both those present in the incident and those in the Kaisariani police station, which is where the former minister was taken.

Raikou’s letter stresses that the investigation must show whether the special guards acted within their official duties.