Brussels, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Agencies – Greek MEP at the centre of the European Parliament corruption scandal was denied release request today and will stay at least one more month in Jail as investigations continue. The decision was taken by a Belgian judge after Kaili showed up for a hearing on Thursday.
“In its order this morning, the pre-council chamber confirmed the pre-trial detention of E.K.,” said a short press release by the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, using the accused’s initials.
Kaili has the right to appeal the decision within 24 hours.
During the hearing, Kaili appeared exhausted and couldn’t hold back tears when talking about her 23-month-old daughter, a source with knowledge of the judicial process told Euronews, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, complaints about torture and medieval conditions of detention were made by Eva Kaili’s lawyers, speaking after the completion of the hearing and pending the decision of the judicial council.
Mr. Dimitrakopoulos and Mr. Rizopoulos said their client was kept in solitary confinement for sixteen hours with interrogations in between, without being able to warm up or take care of herself, complaining of torture reminiscent of the Middle Ages and spoke of a violation of human rights.
At the same time, in her apology, she mentioned the fact that she has a 22-month-old child who cannot live alone, as she only sees him once a month.
As for her defense line, she said that there can be no double standards, stressing that other MEPs are free and preparing their defense line, while she is in prison.
Mr. Dimitrakopoulos emphasized at the same time that with the experience I have, I am not optimistic.
In particular, Mr. Dimitrakopoulos stated:
“First of all, I want to thank you for your interest in Mrs. Eva Kaili. I will keep saying that Eva Kaili is innocent. Eva Kaili asked me to convey the following to you. Eva Kaili had no professional collaboration with Mr. Pantseri. And now the difficult and sad part: Eva Kaili from Wednesday January 11 to Friday January 13 was in solitary confinement by decision of the investigator. For 16 hours she was in a cell at the Police, not in prison, with a cold, she asked for a second blanket and they didn’t give it to her, they took her coat. This is torture. The light was constantly on, she couldn’t sleep for a minute, she had a very bloody period and was not allowed to wash. This constitutes torture. Eva Kaili is accused but there is always the presumption of innocence, we are in Europe! These acts violate the European Convention on Human Rights, they are torture, they are medieval. Please everyone, make these public, publicity is the soul of justice. I hope for a fair trial, we are in Europe!”
