Speaking to Open, she asked whether the aim was ‘to make us stop coming and stop dealing with the trial’, agreeing that the relatives had been turned into ‘test subjects for the manipulation of public opinion’.
‘We were expecting to see a proper large courtroom. How is it possible to cram more than 650 people into a room with a capacity of 400?’ she said, adding that perhaps the aim was to delay the trial.
‘We cannot accept being sent down to the lower floor to watch the trial on television. They are incompetent. Others do not want the trial to begin,’ she said, referring to claims that the relatives themselves do not want the proceedings to go ahead.
On the distinction frequently drawn between her role as a bereaved mother and her identity as a political figure, Karystianou replied: ‘I am Marthi’s mother, I always will be, and I am also a citizen who tries in every way to do justice to her memory.’ She went on to accuse the Greek judiciary of lacking independence and being ‘completely controlled by politicians.’
‘What I have seen as a mother is what led me to get here. The movement that is being organised is this: we must finally have a rule of law,’ she concluded.
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