Man faces charges of attempted violence against politicians over threatening messages
Α 63-year-old man who was arrested late Monday night for allegedly sending threatening messages to lawmakers who have said they will support the Prespes deal will appear before a prosecutor on Tuesday to face charges of attempted violence against a political body, the government or its members and incitement to commit a crime.
The suspect, a former Navy officer, expressed extreme-right and nationalist views, according to police sources cited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA, but he claimed he is not a member of any political party.
According to the same sources, the man told police he decided to send the messages after a post he saw on social media by a New Democracy official who urged citizens to put pressure on lawmakers planning to support the name deal signed with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The suspect reportedly told police he sent numerous messages to MPs but the charges are mainly based on a message he sent on January 13 in which he calls lawmakers who back the name deal “traitors who will be executed if they vote the agreement.”
He was arrested in the central Athenian district of Pangrati and sent to the Attica’s Security Police headquarters for questioning.
ANEL MP Thanassis Papachristopoulos had told news website news247.gr last Saturday that he had deleted “more than 200 messages” on his mobile phone and received phone calls by someone telling him “his head will be found in a ditch” if he voted in favour of the name deal in Parliament.
Other lawmakers had received similar messages, the website said.
