26
Aug, 2008
In the current issue of Private Eye the case of Andrew Symeou is discussed. The Eye has seen the evidence assembled against him by the Greek police, which it describes as "flawed, contradictory and in places ludicrous."If Private Eye is correct in its assessment of the evidence, then it shows the Greek authorities in an embarrassingly poor light. What is clear is that it is highly likely that neither the family of Jonny Hiles nor Andrew Symeou are likely to see justice at the hands of the Greek authorities. This is exactly why we used to have extradition procedures so that British citizens were not extradited to countries whose system of law was seen as being very different to ours and whose idea of justice fell far short of our ideals, without an examination of the facts.
The Eye raises many issues such as:
- The main stay of the Greek prosecution's evidence is statements obtained from two of Andrew's friends after "they had been beaten, threatened and detained for more than eight hours. The pair complained to British Consular officials that in their terrified state they repeated whatever the police or interpreter told them to say - and that they had no idea what they signed."
- The Greek authorities made no attempt to contact Andrew Symeou for nearly a year.
- Initial statements by Jonny Hiles' friends describe the assailant as considerably different to Andrew.
- Statements taken in Greece, supposedly at different times by different witnesses, are identical and differ markedly from later statements taken in the UK.
- CCTV that should confirm that Andrew wasn't in the club at the time of the assault has gone missing.
The full Private Eye article is well worth reading as it should give anyone real cause for concern over the slow changes that are happening within our legal system to bring it into line with the alien continental systems of the EU. Private Eye ends it's report thus:
None of this is any consolation to Jonny Hiles's grieving family, who want to see justice for their son and learn the truth about his death. On the evidence so far, there's little chance that the trial of Andrew Symeou will achieve anything of the kind.
Category: Law
This private eye article says it all. No to the extradition of Andrew Symeou, Yes to a fair trial in a British court!
Well said, Alfred the Ordinary!
I agree completely with your view that there is a process of subversion of British justice underway that has been going on for a number of years.
I have been warning that this would happen since 1993, as part of the plan for the United State of Europe.
Its purpose is to bring us in line with the utterly alien systems of so-called "justice" in use on the continent.
"Corpus Juris" is the Commission's blueprint for an "embryo European criminal code" on entirely inquisitorial principles which are the antithesis of ours. It was published in April 1997, and presented to a selected audience of 141 European jurists at an unpublicised seminar in Spain.
They have been trying to enact it ever since, and with Lisbon, which for the first time transfers competence on Justice & Home Affairs to Brussels, I fear they will achieve their aim.
If a crime has been committed in a country then the accused should stand trial in that country. The British people would expect a trial in the UK if a crime is committed here so we should give other countries the same respect and trust that a fair trial will be given to the accused. Why do the British people always think they are so superior to other countries?! (and for the record I'm a born and bred Brit!)