Thessaloniki court oversees investigation into assault against LGBT individuals

The nine adults out of 21 arrested for attacking two transgender individuals late on Saturday were released after being presented before the first instance court in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Monday. 

The Thessaloniki court postponed the trial due to the absence of witnesses.

Earlier on Monday, Greece’s Supreme Court requested the Thessaloniki court oversee the police investigation of the incident, as well as the verbal assault on main opposition party SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis, which also took place on Saturday in the port city.

The nine arrested adults from the attack against the two transgender youths face charges of serial verbal abuse with racist motives, with two additionally charged with attempted serial simple bodily harm, also with racist motives. Twelve of the detained were minors and were released on Monday.

The other incident that took place in Thessaloniki late on Saturday was against Kasselakis, who was verbally assaulted by a masked individual as he entered Thessaloniki’s Olympion theater for the Documentary Film Festival. Shortly after, a group of individuals wearing motorcycle helmets physically assaulted a police officer stationed at the theater’s entrance. The officer sustained minor injuries and was transferred to the 424 military hospital.

Greece’s Supreme Court intervened on Monday, ordering a preliminary investigation by Thessaloniki’s first instance court to probe offenses including violence and disturbance of peace related to Saturday’s incident against the two transgender individuals, as well as the assaults against Kasselakis and the police officer.