Prosecutor rejects criticism over ‘lenient’ charges for Koukaki anarchists

The head of Athens’ Proseutors office Evangelos Ioannidis on Tuesday pushed back against accusations that the misdemeanor charges filed against twenty people arrested last Saturday in an operation to remove anarchists from two squats in central Athens were too lenient.

“The charges…were brought following an evaluation of the evidence presented to the prosecutors and collected as part of the police pre-trial investigation,” he said in a statement, stressing that “the only one with the competence to assess the indictment is the criminal court.”

The charges brought against the squatters include disturbance of the peace, attempt to inflict serious bodily damage, serious damage of property and violence against police.

Six police officers were injured during the operation in the district of Koukaki where anarchists returned to two buildings cleared by squatters last December.

The union of Attica police’s special guards said Monday that they taking legal action to try to change the charge of attempting to inflict bodily damage to attempted homicide.