Trial of ‘quack doctor’ for 12 murders gets underway

The trial of a 48-year-old quack doctor on 12 counts of murder and 14 attempted murders of cancer patients to whom he prescribed unauthorized herbal remedies had to be postponed on its first day on Friday after the accused declared he was too ill to leave his cell.

An Athens court said that the main defendant would have to authorize his lawyer to represent him.

The trial will resume on November 23.

The first day of the trial, in which there are 16 co-defendants, one of them a nun, was taken up with other procedural matters, such as moving the trial to a larger venue.

In statements to the press outside the court, one cancer patient of the self-styled doctor said he asked him for €17,000 for his treatments, with included vitamins and hallucinogens.

The son of another victim said the main defendant, who claimed to be a Swiss-trained doctor, asked for €10,000-15,000 to treat his father with herbs.

The lawyer of families whose underage children died while being treated by the 48-year-old underlined that his clients “have absolute confidence in the Greek justice. They want the exemplary punishment of the accused.”