An Athens bench prosecutor on Monday recommended guilty verdicts against 14 defendants in an explosive trial involving charges of repeated sexual assault and trafficking of a 12-year-old local girl.
The case, dubbed the “Kolonos” investigation and subsequent trial, is named after the inner-city and working-class Athens district where the abuse allegedly occurred and where the victim lived. The case generated intense public opinion and media scrutiny and continues to be closed followed.
A total of 17 defendants are charged in the case, with a closed-door trial before a mixed jurist-juror composition nearing a conclusion.
Closing statements by defense attorneys and lawyers advocating for the accusers are pending.
The ongoing second, appellate level trial was commenced shortly before an 18-month remand period for defendants was to expire, which would have meant bail for the latter.
An earlier first instance level trial also handed down guilty verdicts and maximum sentences for the defendents.
In the same argument, the trial’s bench prosecutor recommended the acquittal of three of the 17 defendants due to reasonable doubt.
The teenager identified as the victim in the case was 12 years old during the period that the indictment states she was repeatedly raped and trafficked to other adult men by a mini market owner in the Kolonos district. The main suspect’s name and likeness have been widely circulated in the press and social media.
Police were initially notified by the girl’s aunt, who saw lewd images and messages on her niece’s cell phone.
