The defense of the Greek MEP Eva Kaili has today asked the council chamber of the Brussels court for her immediate release "under electronic surveillance by means of a bracelet", her lawyer André Risopoulos declared today at the exit of the hearing . "Mrs. Kaili is actively participating in the investigation and denies any corruption on her part" but "we have decided not to communicate about the dossier" so as not to harm the ongoing investigations," he added before denouncing the "unprecedented" leaks that have been in this dossier.
The Belgian Public Ministry will communicate before the end of the day the decision of the judge on the preventive detention of Kaili, who, given the impossibility of attending in person the hearing held with the rest of the detainees in Brussels, saw his appearance postponed until today, Thursday, December 22. . Last week, Judge Michel Claise decided to keep both Kaili's partner, Francesco Giorgi, and the alleged mastermind of the plot, Antonio Panzeri, in preventive detention, while Niccolo Figà-Talamanca, the director of an NGO peppered by scandal.
"The fate of Mrs. Kaili is in the hands of Belgian justice," concluded Risopoulos, the Belgian lawyer of Greek origin who represents Kaili in this case, along with another lawyer from Athens, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, who today participated in the view. "Risopoulos and I have agreed not to say anything else. We must respect the legal process, which is secret. I will only say that Eva Kaili is innocent and has not been corrupted," Dimitrakopoulos added, repeating the last sentence in French and in English. "No, I didn't know anything" about the money, he has responded concisely to questions from the press.
Several lawyers have complained about the extensive leaks to the press about the case. The newspapers Le Soir and La Reppublica, whose journalists are protected by the secrecy of sources, have published extensive excerpts from Giorgi and Panzeri's statements. "I have never seen such a frontal violation of the secrecy of the investigation," Risopoulos complained, recalling that the Belgian Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation in this regard. The aforementioned media have disseminated extracts of the arrest and surrender order issued by Judge Claise to the Belgian judicial authorities, the statements of various defendants and even the wiretaps carried out by the Belgian police.
