Roupakias describes Fyssas’ murder as ‘simple homicide’

Giorgos Roupakias, the man charged with the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013, described the incident as a “simple homicide” which has been “blown out of proportion” in his testimony before a panel of judges in Athens.

Roupakias, a self-professed member of Golden Dawn (GD), tried to refute the charge that the killing was premeditated, claiming that he had never heard of Fyssas before the night of September 18, and that he was heading to another incident when he drove outside the cafe where the victim was sitting with friends.

“Everything happened very fast,” he told the court, proceeding to claim that as soon as he parked his car, Fyssas approached him with three or four other men and started beating him.

He said he had a knife in the glove compartment, which he used to “defend” himself from Fyssas’ alleged punches.

However, Roupakias could not explain why a forensic investigator failed to find any signs that he had defended himself or been hit in an altercation.

He then said he first stabbed Fyssas in the leg and then in his heart, “as he went down.”

Roupakias was released from custody under strict conditions on March 2016 as had completed the maximum of 18 months in pretrial detention.

More than four years after the trial against GD started in April 2015, the court proceedings entered a new phase in June, with the defendants finally taking the stand.

The trial is expected to continue until the end of July and will then adjourn until September.