Athens, Thursday
TALES of the murder, rape, and torture of young women by members of a
satanic cult gripped Greece today as witnesses began testifying in one
of the country's most gruesome trials in decades.
The three main defendants are charged with the abduction, rape, and
murder of two women and a 15-year-old girl, in satanic rituals at
deserted buildings near the Greek capital.
The presiding judge of the Athens court moved the trial to a larger
room and allowed television cameras to cover the hearing. Viewers have
been glued to their televisions since the trial opened yesterday.
Asimakis Katsoulas, 22, and Manos Dimitrokalis, 21, pleaded guilty to
kidnapping 30-year-old hotel maid Garufalia Giourga on her way home from
work, and repeatedly raping and torturing her at an abandoned winery
before crushing her skull.
They pleaded innocent to the other murders. The other six defendants,
including cult leader Katsoulas's then girlfriend Dimitra Marieti, 20,
pleaded innocent to all charges.
''I'm sorry I did not have the courage to reveal what was going on,''
Marieti told the court.
Katsoulas and Dimitrokalis, also known by their ritual names of Amon
and Enigma, confessed after their arrest in December 1993 that they led
a 20-member satanic cult conducting animal and human sacrifices in the
outskirts of Athens for three years.
The case shocked the nation and led to a series of revelations of
Satan worship in Greece.
The trial is expected to take weeks. The main defendants face life in
prison if convicted.
Baseball star
has new liver
DALLAS: US baseball legend Mickey Mantle, 63, had an emergency liver
transplant yesterday. Doctors said the surgery had gone well.
The former New York Yankee, who openly acknowledged that he was a
heavy drinker for four decades, had contracted cancer, hepatitis, and
cirrhosis.
When news of his failing health emerged this week, collectors anxious
to cash in on his possible death set phones ringing at stores across the
US in search of baseball cards, autographed balls, and other Mantle
memorabilia.--Reuter.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article