Eleven people in dock over 2021 headmaster abduction

The trial of 11 members of the self-proclaimed group Guardians of the Constitution accused of abducting a high school principal in December 2021 in Pieria, northern Greece, will resume in the coming days after its adjournment on Wednesday at the Thessaloniki Court of Criminal Appeals. 

Three of those accused are temporarily detained in pretrial custody. The indictment charges them with having immobilized the headmaster as he was arriving at the school and, after handcuffing him, forcibly taking him to a police station, demanding his arrest because he upheld Covid safety regulations in his school at the height of the pandemic.

Describing the incident, the headmaster said that “10 people came to the school and surrounded me. I felt terrified.” He added, “No one apologized to me for the incident.”

The group has been described as a far-right, fringe, anti-vax group that harassed medics and citizens at vaccination centers.