However, the court does not deal with nor does it judge in its essence the individual snapshot that saw the light of day and shows a police officer repeatedly hitting the 23-year-old on the head with a globe, since this aspect was not related to the case under trial.
The court in this case had the power to hear only the complaint of the two police officers involved in the knife incident, while the globe incident will deal with another lawsuit with criminal charges against the police officers shown in the video. The judges took into account the snapshot in question only to the extent that they were allowed to, in order to conclude that the detainee was rightly annoyed at some point and then handcuffed for at least 3,5 hours, did not help him communicate with a lawyer and did not provide him with medical care.
The first phase
The episode, as described in the court decision, unfolded in two phases. YKAN had secured a search warrant for the 23-year-old's residence or car, citing information that he was in possession of drugs, and around 6 pm on February 10, police officers Stavros Neophytou and Vladimiros Anaxagorou located him parking his vehicle in the area of Prodromiou-Lats. to enter an apartment complex. The accused's version in this regard was that he was approached by two burly men in civilian clothes who had gotten out of a car he did not wear discreetly (it was not disputed that this was the case), who snatched him by the arms and said "you know who we are".
The 23-year-old admits that as soon as this happened he started to react because he did not know who they were and then the police, after handcuffing him in one hand, dragged him in such a way to the car where his body was in the back seats and his head between the pillows of the driver and front passenger. His arm was torn from the handcuffs and he suffered shoulder pain, while the police called for reinforcements and in a subsequent check they did not find anything illegal either in his possession or in his car. It was also his claim that no one informed him of the search warrant.
The version of the police now was that Anaxagorou showed the 23-year-old his police ID, informed him about the search warrant and expressed his intention to investigate him physically. Then the young man replied "this is not happening" and at the same time grabbed Anaxagorou by the neck with both his hands, preventing him from investigating him. In the attempt of the police to start the control, according to their allegations, the young man continued to beat and scratch Anaxagoros with his fingernails, while when Neophytou managed to catch him from behind, he continued to kick his chest and leg. Anaxagorou. Eventually they manage to put him in the car and take him to the Polis Chrysochous police station. In this regard, in combination with medical certificates confirming that Anaxagorou had abrasions and bruises on various parts of his body, the court accepted the version of the police and rejected that of the accused.
Phase
The second phase takes place at the police station, where police officers S. Pafitis and P. Polydorou were on duty. There, Pafitis puts the 23-year-old under control without detecting anything illegal and after informing him about his rights (according to what was said in the court decision), the young man states in writing that he wants to be examined by a doctor. At the same time, however, he denies the right to contact a lawyer. Then Pafitis, while the detainee is still handcuffed, takes his deposition for about half an hour and then, around 9.30 pm, they take him to the lobby of the detention center to lock him in a cell. They do not take him to the hospital, nor do they call a doctor at the station, while according to Pafitis' testimony, the possibility of releasing him did not even bother them because when someone attacks a police officer, he remains in custody until the next day, when the case is registered. in the court.
From this point on, the judges begin to describe the whole video. For about 20 minutes and while they are handcuffing him, Pafitis and Polydorou seem to be trying "patiently" to persuade him to hand over his personal belongings. But the young man complains and keeps telling them that he needs a doctor because he has a problem with his torn left arm. At the same time, the camera shows him repeatedly trying to contact someone from his mobile phone, informing the police that he is now looking for a classmate in order to find a lawyer. However, he does not have a card and so all his efforts fail, which the court criticizes for not helping him to contact a lawyer since he had changed his mind.
The 23-year-old's refusal to hand over his personal belongings leads the police to open the door to get out of the detention hall (apparently to ask for help) and then the young man seems to follow them to the exit, "obviously" to escape , as the court says. Then Pafitis and while the young man now seems very irritated, pushes him towards the inside of the vestibule and at this moment Polydorou starts to hit him repeatedly on the head and back with the handcuffs (six blows were counted). Polydoros' version was that this was done in an attempt to free his colleague who was trapped under the young man's legs, but the court points out that some violence may have been justified, but not to such an extent.
The use of a knife
Then the camera shows Pafitis getting up from the floor and in collaboration with Polydorou they try to catch the young man from the legs that were raised up, while his back was on the ground. At this time, various objects fall out of his pocket, including a keychain that had a built-in knife and carried his keys. The version that he bought it from Rome as a souvenir in 2013 was not disputed and so the court characterizes as "certain" that he did not have it with him for the purpose of the attack. Around 21.50 the camera shows the young man getting up from the floor with purely aggressive behavior and initially trying to attack Polydorou. He maneuvers and manages to escape, while the young man pushes Pafitis into a corner and begins to inflict multiple blows with the knife, mainly on the face and hands (a total of 17 stitches were needed). The episode ends when the policeman manages to escape from the young man's hands and get out of the vestibule, which Polydorou had done earlier.
The excerpt from the video that circulates concerns the third phase of the incident, that is, when two other police officers enter the detention center and one of them starts beating the young man with a globe on the head. It is noted that at the request of the police, the young man was forcibly hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital.
Source: "POLITIS" newspaper