An open letter towards European and Greek authorities and the public at large, from a citizen of both Greece and the United States. This open letter contains serious and documented allegations of breach of justice, abuse of power, impunity, corruption, intimidation, and possible bribery, all for what should have been an open-and-shut legal case in the Greek islands of Karpathos and Rhodes. It provides a clear picture of how justice is often blatantly abused, and injustice covered up, by the otherwise "pro-European" government and authorities in Greece.
An open letter:
Dear Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Justice,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Council of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy,
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly,
European Parliament president Martin Schulz
At 12:30 pm on 16 May 2013, Athanasios Moutzouris, judge at the Civil Court of Karpathos, attorneys Georgios Kakakios and Minas Tserkis of Rhodes, and Konstantinos Papakostas, secretary of the Court of First Instance in Rhodes, criminally violated their duties and abused their powers against me and my son inside an empty room in the Civil Court of Karpathos, with no regard for the law. They deliberately lured me and my son into the empty and locked courtroom at a time when the court was not in session, in an effort to force me to accept an unlawful, staged hearing of my civil case, which had already been officially tried and completed just a few hours earlier, at 10:30 am that same day. What followed afterwards in that courtroom is a travesty to justice; an intentional and premeditated criminal act, that was inflicted by the above individuals against me and my son, in total disregard for the law and our civil, human and legal rights. They abused their power, violated their duties, used physical force, intimidated, terrorized, harassed, manipulated, bullied, and humiliated and me and my son, forcing us to unjustly endure terror, physical abuse, physical threats, coercion, force, intimidation, cruelty, bullying, and immeasurable pain and suffering.
On 21 May 2013, I filed a complaint and reported the criminal acts against me by the above named individuals, in person at the Greek Ministry of Justice, and specifically, at the office of the Minister of Justice (protocol number 2357), and with the general secretary of the ministry (protocol number 47005). However, the Greek Ministry of Justice grossly violated its duties, by not investigating my truthful complaint, by dismissing it, and by choosing to cover it up completely.
The lack of an official investigation into my complaint from the Greek Ministry of Justice left me no choice but to contact the Supreme Court of Greece, the Areios Pagos. On 18 December 2013, I filed a complaint via e-mail and fax, with the office of the President of the Areios Pagos (protocol number 1029), and with the Areios Pagos public prosecutor's office (protocol number 5805/13). Weeks went by without receiving a response from either office. On 12 January 2014, I contacted the Prosecutor's office at the Areios Pagos and was told that Areios Pagos prosecutor Euterpi Koutzamani was planning to send my complaint to the public prosecutor's office at the Court of First Instance of Rhodes! On 13 January 2014, I again contacted, via fax and e-mail, both offices at the Areios Pagos, and to the attention of prosecutor Euterpi Koutzamani, requesting a reply and attaching additional information and facts to my complaint.
As of today, 23 May 2014, the Areios Pagos has not responded to me at or to my complaint, and has left me to believe that my serious allegations have been dismissed, ignored, or covered up.
Dear Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Justice,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Council of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy,
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly,
European Parliament president Martin Schulz
On 16 May 2013, I became another victim in the plethora of legal injustices in Greece, a true and sad fact for the country that invented democracy and that is the motherland of Solon. Unfortunately, what happened to me is apparently a very common judicial (or para-judicial, as many in Greece call it) practice in Greece. Corrupt attorneys on opposite sides conspire with each other and with corrupt judges, corrupt court officials, and other willing and unscrupulous participants, to scheme and execute legal fraud, in favor of the paying party, which has offered the appropriate recompense. These corrupt individuals often abuse their power and position further via coercion and threats of reprisal against the victim that plans to report them. Furthermore, when a victim of judicial injustice files a complaint to the Greek judicial authorities, the victim is very often ignored, or the victim’s complaint goes uninvestigated or is covered up completely, depending on who the perpetrators are.
Many people in Greece, and Greeks from the diaspora like myself, often find themselves in similar situations as mine, battling for years ruthless and corrupt judges, notaries, attorneys, and other criminal collaborators. Usually their criminal actions include manipulating the victim, deliberately delaying their case for years, or executing criminal and illegal para-judicial actions against the victim, often resulting in illegal and criminal court decisions against the victim. At other times, they stage trials against the unsuspecting victim, or the victim is deliberately tried in absentia and (without knowledge) while away from Greece. They are “masters” at “stringing along” the unsuspecting victim for years, while they are receiving (or even demanding) bribes from the opposite side. Many times, victims who are tired of waiting or who are financially unable to continue their pursuit for justice, give up the fight entirely. At other times, when a victim of judicial injustice reports (as I have done) corrupt judges, attorneys, prosecutors, notaries, and other collaborators, to the judicial authorities of Greece, the victim is frequently victimized further by the Greek judicial authorities, as I have experienced in my case. Greek-Americans and Hellenes of the diaspora, due to their physical distance from Greece and their unfamiliarity with the Greek legal system, are especially vulnerable and very often fall victims not only to greedy property-snatching Greek relatives and neighbors, but to corrupt, ruthless and lawless attorneys, judges, prosecutors and notaries as well, who exploit and manipulate their “weakness," while enriching themselves in the process.
The Greek Ministry of Justice and the Areios Pagos chose not to investigate or take action against the individuals who committed the criminal acts against me and my son, and have repeatedly and systematically violated their duties and the Greek law by silencing and covering up my complaint. As a result and by their illegal, criminal and condemnable choices, they have become accomplices to the injustice I have suffered, and I am therefore holding the Areios Pagos, and the Greek Ministry of Justice responsible and accountable for the crimes committed against me, my son and my case. As a result, the total lack of justice by the Greek Ministry of Justice and the Areios Pagos and their subsequent cover up of my complaint, has left me no choice but to contact the European Court of Justice, the European Commission, the European Council, and the European Ombudsman. Kindly allow me to explain not only what took place on 16 and 17 May 2013 and afterwards, but also go back much further and detail previous events that are related to the above crime against me, my son and my case.
In 2007 I launched a civil case against Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis. My civil case against them involved my share of property that, lawfully, and undisputedly belonged to me, on the island of Karpathos. The property was owned by my late father, Konstantinos I. Hapsis, who legally purchased it years before his passing in 1976. My father died without a will and as a result, under Greek law, his entire estate (land, homes, bank accounts, and assets of any kind) legally was now inherited equally by his legal heirs, witch included myself and three others (Giannis Hapsis, Fotini Hapsis, and Maria Ingilis). In 1995, Maria Ingilis and Fotini Hapsis, who are now the defendants in my civil case, in total secrecy and in collusion with one another, defrauded the Karpathos civil court, enabling Maria Ingilis to gain single ownership of my late father’s property in Karpathos.
This scam came to my attention in 2007 while visiting Karpathos as part of my annual check-up of my property, when I became aware that a new but yet unfinished building had been erected within the boundaries of the above property. The building was not there the year before (2006). Almost everyone on the island knew that the property legally belonged to my father, and that after his death in 1976, it was now equally and legally shared by me as well. In fact, Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, Giannis Hapsis, and I, accepted, recognized, and signed, the lawful official and certified by the Monomeles Court of Rhodes, total estate inherence, ruling (number 55/2000) that we were the equal and sole heirs of my late fathers total estate and total assets. There was never any dispute between any of us, regarding any of my late father’s property, and moreover, none of the other heirs ever expressed any interest in buying any of my fathers' inherited property shares from his estate. That was the understanding between all of us, up until 2007, when I discovered that Maria Ingilis and Fotini Hapsis secretively, fraudulently, criminally and illegally took illegal actions against me that resulted in the theft, by them, of my inherited share of property in Karpathos.
Rumors from locals came to my attention that the defendants Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis were behind the illegal and criminal theft of my share, and the illegal and criminal construction of the building. Quite a few locals suggested to me that with regards to my property, fraud and payoffs had most likely occurred, and they pointed the finger not only at Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis, but also to the Karpathos civil court, among others. As a result of these illegal actions against me, I was forced to hire an attorney, Polyvios Galioudakis, to assist me in discovering what happened. Finding out took months, because not only did the defendants premeditatedly and criminally took intentional steps to concealed their illegal acts, but also because of a long and suspicious delay in obtaining documentation and proof of what happened, from the civil court of Karpathos. Galioudakis had requested copies of Maria Ingilis’s illegal case "against" Fotini Hapsis, from the court of Karpathos, however the municipal court of Karpathos did not comply with Galioudakis’ repeated requests, forcing us to apply for and obtain a compliance order from the Rhodes prosecutor’s office, against the Karpathos civil court.
It turns out that in 1995, the defendant (Maria Ingilis) "sued" her mother, Fotini Hapsis (case #44/1995), claiming that in 1970, she purchased the property from Fotini Hapsis via a private transaction between them. Maria Ingilis was exactly 6 years old in 1970! Although she was “suing” her mother, the two of them were actually in collusion, and had planned this “lawsuit” between them, in order to defraud and befool the Karpathos municipal court, into granting Maria Ingilis, single ownership of the said property! Maria Ingilis further claimed, in her fraudulent "lawsuit," that after she purchased the property from Fotini Hapsis, she was the rightful owner continuously up and until 1995, when her mother Fotini Hapsis suddenly "reclaimed" the property as her own! The civil court of Karpathos accepted Maria Ingilis' absurd lawsuit against her mother, without researching her claims, as the court is obligated to do by law, and without obtaining any tangible evidence from her in order to substantiate her claims. The court also accepted Fotini Hapsis' equally fraudulent claims that she was the owner of the property, and that she had sold it to Maria Ingilis, without providing any proof to the court to validate her bogus and fabricated claims. Additionally, no witnesses testified on their behalf in order to support or confirm their devious, untrue, and criminal claims.
It is worth noting that Maria Ingilis and Fotini Hapsis have lived together in the U.S.A., since 1972, as permanent U.S. citizens, and they still live together in the U.S.A. to this day.
Maria Ingilis did not even bother to appear in court herself, but, instead she was represented by her then-attorney Minas S. Oikonomidis, who seems to have also accepted her 1995 case without checking if her story was factual or not, or if can hold up in court! The court also never questioned the mother-daughter relationship or the fact that Maria Ingilis was 6 years old in 1970, the year she claimed to have "purchased" the property from her mother Fotini Hapsis! Despite the lack of evidence or witnesses, the Karpathos civil court judge Xrisa Athanasopoulou unlawfully and criminally granted Maria Ingilis ownership of the said property in 1995 (Case No. 96/1995)! Maria Ingilis never and at any time came into contact with me, and never notified me at any time, verbally or in writing, of her intentional and criminal actions against me.
After the Karpathos civil court unlawfully gave Maria Ingilis illegal ownership of my property, she purposely did not register the property with the Karpathos land registry office, because she wanted her intentional and criminal actions against me to remain a secret. By not registering the property, however, Maria Ingilis, was also not registered as the "legal owner" of the property!
Later, on 15 November 2000, Maria Ingilis and her husband Assimakis Ingilis, purchased as equal owners in common, property adjacent to the stolen, by Maria Ingilis, property against me, from seller Rodopi Tsaousopoulou-Dana. Prior to that, in October 2000, Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis, issued a power of attorney from the Greek Consulate's office in New York City, to Fotini Hapsis to represent and act on their behalf, in issuing them ownership title as equal owners in common of their purchased land. On 2 December 2002, Fotini Hapsis appeared at the office of notary Hristina Karida Papanikitas for this purpose, and when the said notary was issuing their title, and proceeded with description of the neighboring properties and owners, and more specifically the illegally "owned" by Maria Ingilis property, notary Hristina Karida Papanikitas inadvertently but correctly stated in their official title, that it belonged to my father! When the notary finished writing their title, she proceeded to verbally recite it to Fotini Hapsis, and when she finished reading it, Fotini Hapsis, approved its content and signed it on their behalf! The notary then officially approved it, signed it, and afterwards, Fotini Hapsis took their title on their behalf to the Karpathos land registry office and registered it.
The attorney, who represented and had prepared the purchasing contract for Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis, was Nikolaos G. Papanikitas from Rhodes/Karpathos. The attorney representing the seller, Rodopi Tsaousopoulou Dana, was Minas Oikonomidis, who, as mentioned previously, represented Maria Ingilis in her fraudulent, illegal 1995 case "against" her mother Fotini Hapsis, that resulted in the theft of my property)!
On 8 January 2002, Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis, issued another power of attorney from the Greek Consulate in New York City, this time to Paraskevas Papadimitriou, a civil engineer and civil servant with the Karpathos buildings department, who in October 2002, illegally produced a property survey for Maria Ingilis and Asimakis Ingilis,, which combined the property stolen from me by Maria Ingilis, and their newly-purchased property, as one unified property! It should be mentioned that Papadimitriou is listed as a defendant in my complaint filed with the Greek Ministry of Justice and the Areios Pagos prosecutors' office, as during the illegal closed-doors hearing of 16 May 2013 in Karpathos, Papadimitriou, who appeared as a purported "witness" for the defendants, intentionally and criminally injured my son by tripping him with his foot as my son was exiting the courtroom, injuring my son.
On 2 December 2002, Papadimitriou appeared at the office of Karpathos notary Christina Karida Papanikitas, and requested on behalf of Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis, the unification of the two aforementioned properties. The notary Christina Karida Papanikitas accepted Papadimitrious’s invalid October 2002 land survey which combined the two properties as one, and proceeded with the illegal merger.
When it came time for Christina Kariada Papanikitas to describe in their title, how the defendants, Maria Hapsis and Assimakis Ingilis, obtained ownership of the stolen property, it seems that Hristina Karida Papanikitas, accepted someone else's (an individual totally unrelated in any way to Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis), ownership title as proof of ownership for the property which had been stolen from me! The title which was provided as "proof of ownership" was from the completely unrelated decision of the Karpathos civil court (decision 65/1995), concerning the case of Kalliopi Diakogeorgiou v. Kalliopi Vasiliadis!
As mentioned previously, Maria Ingilis did not register the illegally-issued 1995 Karpathos civil court decision granting her "ownership" of the stolen property,, with the Karpathos land registry office. As a result, Maria Ingilis did not hold title of the said property, as was officially confirmed by Emanouil Diakonis of the Karpathos land registry office on 23 June 2011.
After the illegal and criminal merger of the two properties took place was finalized, the notary proceeded (as per their request) to illegally exchange and transfer shares from the two properties! More precisely, Maria Ingilis illegally and criminally transferred a 23,07% share from the stolen from me property, to Assimakis Ingilis, and Assimakis Ingilis illegally and criminally transferred a 23,07% share of their newly-purchased and equally-owned property, to Maria Ingilis! As a result, Maria Ingilis illegally became the "shareholder" of 73,07% of the merged property, while Assimakis Ingilis now held a 26,93% share of the merged properties as tenants in common! When notary Christina Karida Papanikitas was finished preparing their "title," she proceeded to read it clearly and out loud to Paraskevas Papadimitriou, who had been granted power of attorney by the Ingilis', and to their respective attorneys: Nikolaos G. Papanikitas for Assimakis Ingilis, and Minas S. Oikonimidis for Maria Ingilis! Finally, the illegal title was approved and signed by Paraskevas Papadimitriou, their attorneys, and the notary Christina Karida Papanikitas!
As I have mentioned previously, attorney Minas Oikonomidis represented Maria Ingilis in her fraudulent and illegal 1995 case "against" her mother Fotini Hapsis, that resulted in the theft of my property. Later, on 15 April 2003, Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis registered the fraudulent and illegal "title" of the merged property with the Karpathos land registry office!
Early on and while I was still learning the details of the illegal scheme by Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis against me, I had asked my then-attorney, Polyvios Galioudakis, to apply for an injunction in order to halt further construction of the illegal building, something which Galioudakis failed to do within the statue of limitations permitted for such injunctions. While Galioudakis failed to stop the continued construction of the illegal building, he however send Maria Ingilis a legal notice ("exodiko") informing her that we had become aware of their intentional deceptive, fraudulent and criminal swindle against me and against my inheritance rights, and advising them to immediately correct their illegal and criminal actions against me upon receipt of the said notice in order to avoid criminal prosecution. Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis chose, however, to totally ignore my warning, which was sent in good faith, and as a result I was forced to proceed with legal action against them, resulting in case number 95/2008.
Galioudakis drafted my case, witch was then submitted to the Civil Court of Karpathos, and a hearing date was scheduled for June 2010. Galioudakis also sent a subpoena to defendants Maria Ingilis and Assimakis Ingilis at their address in New York, as they are permanent United States residents, thru the Court of First Instance of Rhodes, which utilized a company known as PFI (Process Forwarding International) for delivery of the subpoena in New York. On 14 April 2009, PFI attempted to serve the papers to the defendants, however the process server quite suspiciously "was not able to find" the defendants, although the correct address was provided and their names were clearly posted next to their doorbell. No second attempt was made by PFI, and on 27 April 2009 PFI notified the Court of First Instance of Rhodes that they were unsuccessful in locating the defendants. Later, but before the scheduled 2010 hearing date, Galioudakis confirmed that the defendants Maria Ingilis, Fotini hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis, were served. I had no reason not to believe him at that time, and so I never became aware that the defendants were not served! (More on that further into my letter).
In June 2010, I traveled with my son to Greece to be present at the trial of my Karpathos case against the defendants Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis. Before the hearing date, I met with Galioudakis at his office in Rhodes, and while I was there, Galoudakis informed me that my case will be now legally represented by his new associate, attorney Georgios Kakakios, who he proceeded to introduce us to. Kakakios, in the presence of Galioudakis and my son, said that he had already accepted my case from Gialoudakis, had studied It before my arrival to Greece, and that he was 100% sure that I will win my case at the hearing, just a couple of days away. Up and until that point I had fully paid Galioudakis all of the legal fees related to my case. Kakakios confirmed that there were no other pending legal fees due for my case, apart from his travel expenses to Karpathos in order to try my case.
A couple of days later, we met Kakakios at the Karpathos civil court. When the judge announced my case, Kakakios approached the judges bench. I immediately noticed that there was no attorney present for defendants, and that the defendants themselves were not present either. Immediately, the judge announced that my case had to be postponed because "the defendants were not notified" and proceeded to reschedule my case for 2011! Despite being surprised and confused by the judge’s announcement, I attempted to ask the judge what happened, however the judge totally dismissed me and continued on by announcing the next case! Kakakios said nothing else to the judge and we exited the courtroom.
I immediately asked Kakakios to explain to us what happened. He said that he was not sure what happened, other than what the judge had said. My response was that this was absurd, and I asked him to call Galioudakis. Kakakios left us for a few minutes and when he returned, he showed us a couple of pages, sent by PFI to the Court of First Instance of Rhodes, dated 27 April 2009, stating that the defendants were not located in the USA! I stated that this was preposterous, but Kakakios kept insisting that Galioudakis was to blame and that he had no idea! I demanded answers, and Kakakios said that he "would remedy the issue when he returned to Rhodes, however, for now there was nothing else that he can do." I asked Kakakios how he could even come to try my case without first ensuring that the defendants had been notified, but Kakakios kept repeating that he would "look into the issue," while also promising several other legal actions that he would take in order to expedite the 2011 hearing and to resend the subpoenas to the defendants in the United States. As I found out later, Kakakios did not follow through on any of these promises.
A few days later I returned to the United States, but before leaving Greece, I tried reaching Galioudakis by phone a few times but was unsuccessful. In the coming weeks I also tried several times to get in touch with Kakakios, also unsuccessfully. My e-mails to Kakakios also went unanswered. Months had gone by and 2011 was approaching. I was ready to travel to Greece in order to find out what was going on, when finally Kakakios contacted me. According to Kakakios, he had sustained a broken hand in an injury at his home, however, "my case was in order, notifications were sent to the defendants in the USA, and that the defendants were this time successfully located and served." I then said to him that I was planning to come to Greece for the 2011 trial of my case. He urged me not to "because the defendants are entitled to ask for one postponement, and they will." When I said that they already received a postponement in June of 2010, Kakakios told me that the 2010 hearing didn't count, since they had not been notified in time.
Kakakios made several more promises over the phone, for the "good of my case," and he told me that he planned to be at the Karpathos civil court the day of the coming rescheduled trial date of my case. Accepting Kakakios' words in good faith, I decided not to travel to Greece for the 2011 trial against the defendants. After the 2011 trial date, Kakakios notified me that he had travelled to Karpathos for the trial and that he now knew who the attorney for the opposing side was. According to Kakakios, their attorney was named Minas Tserkis, and he had been present at the court at my hearing, requesting and receiving a postponement. Kakakios finally informed me that my hearing had now been rescheduled for 2012!
Later, in June 2011, I traveled to Rhodes, as part of my annual visits to check up on my property in Greece. I was also planning to meet with Kakakios to discuss filing an additional criminal lawsuit against Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis, for the criminal and illegal theft of my property. Upon my arrival in Rhodes, I called Kakakios and asked to see him at his office. For the first time he informed me that he is no longer an associate at Gailoudakis' office, and that he had relocated to the office of another attorney, Sergios Anastasiadis, taking my case and the associated case files with him. The next day, along with my son, we met Kakakios in his new office. Kakakios introduced me and my son to Anastasiadis, and I proceeded to request from both attorneys the filing of criminal charges against the defendants, Maria Ingilis Asimakis Ingilis and Fotini Hapsis, for the property theft, and illegal construction within the stolen property, perpetrated against me, with the prosecutor's office in Rhodes. Kakakios and Athanasiadis promised to immediately file it, but then they also informed me that my civil case had now been split into two separate cases.
According to Anastasiadis and Kakakios, the first case would aim to throw out the illegal 1995 decision of the Karpathos civil court, thus restoring my legal inherited share of the stolen property. The second part was to be tried at the Polymeles court in Rhodes later on, aiming to win back legal physical access to the stolen property. I asked Kakakios and Anastasiadis why this had not been done previously. According to Kakakios, Galioudakis was to blame, and Galioudakis’ case was not winnable. When I pressed Kakakios to explain why he had accepted an "unwinnable" case, he did not give me a clear answer and instead attempted to place further blame on Galioudakis. At this point I really was not certain whether the attorneys' new strategy for my case was in my interests or not, but as I was only going to remain in Greece for a few more days prior to my return to the United States, I did not have enough time to get another legal opinion or to find another attorney. Moreover, I had invested a lot of time and money into my case up until that point with both Galioudakis and Kakakios, and I believed that finding a new attorney would only set me back further, both in terms of money and time. My physical distance from Greece left me with no viable option but to continue with Kakakios and now with Anastasiadis as well. As I came to discover, being a permanent overseas resident of the United States worked against me, and was used by Kakakios to manipulate me and my case.
Before I left their office, the attorneys requested money, claiming that the changes that they had made to my case resulted in additional expenses that had not been included in my payments up until then. The amount they requested seemed quite steep, considering what I had already paid, the simple nature of my case, and the fact that I had not seen any tangible results after three years. I traveled to Karpathos for an overnight stay the next day, and upon my return to Rhodes, Kakakios and Anastasiadis presented the new criminal case that they had prepared against defendants Maria Ingilis and Fotini Hapsis, which they proceeded to file with the prosecutor's office at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes. Kakakios and Anastasiadis also requested a power of attorney to be granted to them from me, claiming that it would allow them to proceed immediately with the filing of the criminal and civil cases on my behalf. Kakakios also showed me a revised draft of my Karpathos civil case, and explained that he would file both parts of my case in the coming days, in the respective court in Karpathos and Rhodes. Prior to leaving their office, I provided them with full payment for the aforementioned actions, and a few days later, I returned to the United States.
As the 2012 court date was approaching, I received an e-mail from Kakakios informing me that I needed to send more money and he proceeded to outline the so-called unpaid expanses to my civil case! He now claimed that the total money I gave them in June 2011 was for the drafting of the criminal case I requested, and not for the civil case! I sensed more manipulation from Kakakios and Anastasiadis, however as I mentioned previously, I was basically at their mercy, being so far away. They never agreed to a written contract, the same way they never provided me with receipts, although I requested both from them on numerous occasions. Attorneys in Greece unfortunately have a "way" of manipulating clients, especially clients from the United States and abroad. Greek-Americans in Greece are often referred to as "gullible Americans" or "stupid Americans," who lack the "street smarts" and "cleverness" of those in Greece.
Without having much of a choice at this point, I reluctantly agreed to send Kakakios the money in installments with the final payment to be paid after the Karpathos civil case was over. Kakakios agreed, however, he failed to mention during that time, that he had purposely not filed (with the appropriate courts) my revised two-part civil case yet! It was not until much later that I realized that Kakakios, filed my Karpathos civil court case in March 2012, while he filed the second part of my civil case in June 2012. He purposely waited over 9 months to file the Karpathos portion of my civil case, and he purposely waited one year to file the second part of my case with the Polymeles Court of Rhodes.
Just before my 2012 civil Karpathos case trial, Kakakios informed me that he planned to be at the Karpathos court, however due to several judicial strikes that were occurring throughout Greece at that time, he asked me not to come to Greece, claiming that it was likely that my case would be again postponed due to the strikes. Ultimately, and according to Kakakios, because of the strike, the Karpathos trial of my civil case was rescheduled for 2013!
2013 was approaching and I was planning to travel to Greece for my Karpathos civil case hearing, scheduled for 17 April 2013. As had often been the case in the past, Kakakios was not returning my calls and not responding to my e-mails for weeks at a time. When he would finally respond, an excuse was always ready, whether it was an "accident" or an "illness" or some other story. Weeks before the scheduled April 2013 hearing date, I purchased an airline ticket for Greece, and I informed Kakakios that I was planning to be at the hearing. For weeks there was no response up until 8 days before the trial, when I received an e-mail from Kakakios telling me not to come to Greece, because "the Karpathos civil court will definitely give the defendants another postponement"! When I replied to Kakakios’ e-mail and asked him how he knew that before the actual trial, Kakakios, sensing that I did not believe his story, claimed that he had written the e-mail in haste!
A few days later, I traveled to Greece, and on 17 April 2013, I appeared with my son at the civil court of Karpathos. Kakakios was there, however Tserkis was not, instead being represented by another attorney of his office, Elli Beliadi. My case was announced, and Beliadi, arrogantly smirking and chuckling while looking at me, requested from justice Athanasios Moutzouris another postponement. Kakakios barely uttered a word, and Moutzouris granted the defendants another abusive postponement against me, rescheduling the hearing for 2014! There was no objection from Kakakios, who just stood there shaking and perspiring. Beliadi, cockier that before and looking in my direction, mumbled a few incomprehensible words. We exited the courtroom, however, once outside, I asked Kakakios to file an official complaint and at the same time request the trial for the next day. He was not pleased with my request, however, sensing that I was not going to relent, he agreed to request a nearer hearing date from Moutzouris.
When the court recessed for the day, Kakakios, along with my son and I, entered the court secretary’s office, where I proceeded to request from Moutzouris to try my case the next day, telling Moutzouris that I am a working person and had travelled all the way from the USA in order to be present at my hearing. Also present in the room were Vasilios Sofianopoulos, secretary with the Court of First Instance of Rhodes, local attorney Yiannis Christodoulakis, and Beliadi. Kakakios sweating and shaking stood there like an average bystander, while, Beliadi once again, sarcastically and mockingly mumbled incomprehensible words in my direction. Moutzouris was totally indifferent to my request. I pressed Moutzouris further, and fearing that I might report him for misconduct, he grudgingly rescheduled my case for the next month, 16 May 2013.
That evening I departed with my son for Athens. Moutzouris illegally granted the defense another abusive postponement, and as a result, he was forcing me to make a decision: go back to USA or stay in Greece at my expense, and away from my family and work, to wait for the next hearing date of my case on 16 May 2013. Although I wanted to return back home to my family and to my work, I chose to remain in Greece until the new hearing date because I was sure that something illicit and deceptive was going to take place from the defendants side, and that this would be even more likely if I was not present. In the weeks leading up to the new hearing, I came in contact with Kakakios several times by phone and by e-mail, and based on his ongoing unprofessional conduct and behavior, I became even more convinced that he was manipulating me further.
Kakakios' suspicious behavior was more obvious that before and I justifiably had reasons to believe that he would "sell me out" again. The best option for me at this point was to watch Kakakios very closely, stay the course, and fight for my justice.
Dear Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Justice,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Council of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy,
European Parliament president Martin Schulz,
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly,
Kindly allow me to detail the premeditated, planned, illegal and criminal actions against me, my son, and my case that occurred on 16 and 17 May 2013 and afterwards.
After several abusive and deliberate postponements by the Karpathos civil court, on 16 May 2013, shortly after 10:00 am, my civil case against Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis, and Assimakis Ingilis, was scheduled to begin during the regular open public court session at the Civil Court of Karpathos. I was present along with my son and my attorney Georgios Kakakios. The courtroom was filed with spectators and attorneys (a few attorneys that I recall been there that morning were, Mihalis Ioannidis, Yiannis Christodoulakis, Ioannis and Nikolaos Gialousis, Stamatia Filiou, and a few others). The defendants, Maria Ingilis, Fotini Hapsis and Assimakis Ingilis, were not present but their attorney (Tserkis) was there. (A few days later, I found out that Fotini Hapis was actually in Karpathos, but chose to remain in "hiding" instead of facing me in court).
At around 10:10 am, Moutzouris announced my case. Tserkis requested another postponement and was denied. We presented four sworn witness testimonies to the judge, while the defendants had no witnesses or sworn statements. At this point, Tserkis stated that he would not try the case. Kakakios presented my case file to Moutzouris, who accepted it in open court, and before 10:30 am Moutzouris publicly announced that my hearing was now over, pending decision by the court. Immediately afterwards, Kakakios, my son and I left the court, and the three of us went for coffee at the lobby of our hotel nearby. At a few minutes past noon, and while we were still having our coffee, Kakakios received a call on his cell phone, and he then asked my son and me to accompany him back to the court "to pick up a fax" from the court's secretary’s office. The fax that Kakakios was supposedly going to pick up was the sworn statement from one of my witnesses that was given at 8:30 am that morning to a notary in Rhodes. It seemed odd that Kakakios did not have this sworn statement earlier, considering the time it was given, and it was also odd that he chose to receive the fax at the courthouse, and not at our hotel or at the office of Maria Diakogeorgiou, his colleague, both a few feet away from the courthouse, and considering that the court was scheduled to promptly shut down at 12:00 noon that day due to a nationwide strike called by the court secretaries' union. Still not suspecting what was to follow, we agreed to accompany Kakakios to the courthouse.
When we arrived at the court secretary's office, I noticed that Moutzouris, Papakostas, and Tserkis were all sitting around, cozily and casually engaged in what seemed to be a hush-hush conversation. Kakakios requested the fax and Papakostas proceeded to "look for it." While this was taking place, I decided along with my son to wait for Kakakios downstairs, outside the courthouse. The court was now closed and no one else was around the courthouse. A few minutes later, Kakakios, Moutzouris, Papakostas and Tserkis came out of the court secretary's office together and walked down the stairs, to where I was standing with my son. Kakakios motioned me to follow them into the courtroom. He was walking ahead of us, and I called out to ask him why, but he motioned again to follow him into the courtroom. Not knowing what was going on, we entered the deserted courtroom and were told by Moutzouris to sit down and not to talk. The room was empty; nobody was around due to the strike that had been called. Moutzouris and Papakostas took the bench, while Kakakios and Tserkis stood opposite each other in front of the judge's bench.
Kakakios was not speaking, his face was flushed beet red, and he was shaking and sweating profusely. Stunned and confused, we had no idea what was going on. At this time, someone else appeared from the adjacent room, and stood with his back to the wall at the rear of the courtroom. I didn’t recognize him, but I heard Tserkis addressed him colloquially as "Paris." Later, I learned he was the aforementioned Paraskevas Papadimitriou. He stood there in a "bouncer-like" position, his hands crossed on his chest and with an intimidating smirk on his face. Meanwhile, Tserkis began to harass me and my son with various remarks, mocking and intimidating both of us. He was walking up and down, at times coming toward us, giving orders, and acting like he owned the courtroom and everyone in it. Moutzouris just sat in his chair, staring at us, without interrupting Tserkis. Moutzouris at some point asked Tserkis if his witness was there, and Tserkis pointed at Papadimitriou!
I sensed danger, felt trapped, set up, and at their mercy; I called on Kakakios, but he completely ignored me. As they continued to terrorize, harass and intimidate us, I stood up and told Moutzouris that I will not accept their criminal extortion, and then tried to exit the closed room with my son. At the end of the corridor in front of me and the others, my son was forcefully and violently tripped by Papadimitriou, falling to the floor of the courtroom and injuring his hand! I stared to yell, but Tserkis and Papadimitriou laughed at us, mocking and provoking my son while he was in pain and lying on the floor! Terrorized and in fear for our lives, I helped my son to get up and both of us went for the exit, and out to the courtyard. Papadimitriou came after us, continuing to intimidate, bully, provoke, and harass us with nasty remarks and threatening gestures!
Shortly afterward, Kakakios, Moutzouris and Papakostas came out of the courtroom together. Moutzouris and Papakostas left immediately, while Tserkis and Papadimitriou stood a few feet away from us continuing to mock and harass us. Kakakios said nothing, and did not even come over to see if my son was injured! His clothes visibly drenched in sweat, Kakakios was busy speaking on his cell phone a few feet away from us. At some point Kakakios ended his conversation and came over to us. I asked him to accompany us to the police station to report what just happened to us. He refused! He warned us not to report it because, as he said, the police would not believe us and claim we were making up the story, and that Moutzouris, Papakostas, and Papadimitriou would file charges against us and use their power to dismiss our case. I then asked Kakakios to submit a formal complaint to the prosecutor’s office in Rhodes, and/or to the Greek Ministry of Justice. He refused again! Appalled with Kakakios' attitude, and lack of ethical and moral responsibility to my case and to the law, I proceeded to warn him that I will report all of them including Kakakios when I returned to Athens. He replied and warned me "not to submit a complaint because Moutzouris will definitely dismiss my case"!
His cell phone rang again, and he walked away from us, coming back a few minutes later and telling us he was on the phone with Konstantinos Sarris, the president of the Bar Association of Rhodes. Kakakios handed me his cell phone and I tried desperately to tell Sarris what just happened, however he cut me off and he repeatedly said to me, "you should do as your attorney tells you," and he hung up. I asked Kakakios why he agreed to go into the courtroom, why he didn't refuse, why he allowed this to happen. Kakakios claimed that he had been forced by Moutzouris and that he had no choice but to accept his orders. I responded to Kakakios saying that he was an attorney and had the right to refuse, that the hearing had already taken place that morning in front of many witnesses. Kakakios claimed that nobody would testify to that, and he refused to report what had happened to the prosecutor's office, claiming that the prosecutor's office would do nothing. I repeated to Kakakios that my case had been tried in open court that morning and that he was obligated by law to report what had happened, but Kakakios refused to respond. It was evidently clear that I was up against ruthless individuals, and I therefore decided not to go to the local police station, because we felt that they had that base covered as well. I did, however, tell Kakakios that I had recorded all of the proceedings in the courtroom. Kakakios' face turned pale, and though he initially said nothing, after a few moments he asked if he could hear the recordings, to which I responded "maybe some other time." There was no local hospital to go to, but fortunately my son's hand, although bruised and in pain, was not broken.
We returned to the hotel and sat at the lobby café. At some point he left us to go to his room, as he said. Kakakios returned about 20 minutes later, looking flushed and "ticked off", and stared to blame Tserkis for the criminal and staged trial, using various unprintable epithets against him in the process, stating that "Tserkis and Moutzouris are enjoying lobsters as we speak," "Tserkis is controlling Moutzouris," and so on. I pleaded once again to Kakakios to report what happened, but he refused again, this time saying that he couldn't report it because no one would believe him, that Papakostas did not keep any minutes from that morning's proceedings. Kakakios said that we had to appear in court the next morning, and that if we reported this, Moutzouris and Tserkis would retaliate and go after him. I asked Kakakios how they could do that, and how they could force me to appear in court again the next morning, reminding him that his colleagues, who had been present in court that morning, could testify as to the truth. Kakakios said that his colleagues would not go against Moutzouris, because he would use it against them on their cases.
I decided to walk to the center of Karpathos town with my son, but Kakakios insisted on coming along with us. There we saw one of our witnesses, and she asked how the hearing went. I explained to her what had happened, and she wasn't surprised at all, even when I mentioned the criminal and violent events of that afternoon. She told us that she had a similar experience with a local land dispute case years ago, a case which lasted 20 years, reaching the Areios Pagos. Kakakios just stood by, listening to our conversation without saying a word. A local attorney, Yiannis Christodoulakis, who was present at the original open hearing that morning, walked by, and Kakakios motioned him to come over. When Cristodoulakis approached us, Kakakios said to him, "You are not going to believe what happened to my case, I went back to the court to pick up a fax, and Moutzouris announced to me that my case was not over...you were there, the hearing had finished, I gave Moutzouris the case file, and he accepted it announcing that it was over." Christodoulakis did not say anything, he gave me look of compassion, and left a few minutes later.
As a result of what happened, I was forced to remain in Karpathos for another night, at additional expense, despite having originally made arrangements to return to Athens. This was a night of agony as we had no idea what they were capable of further doing to us or to my case, and what might lie ahead for the next day. At 9:00 am the next morning, I was present with my son at the court. Just before we entered the courtroom, Kakakios, flushed and visibly nervous, approached the other attorneys that were present, telling them "imagine if I hadn’t come back to the court to pick up my fax, Moutzouris would had dismissed my case," but there was no word from Kakakios of what really happened. Kakakios was shamelessly trying to appear as Moutzouris’ "victim" while attempting to excuse his presence to the court again for the hearing that had ended yesterday morning.
Inside the courtroom, many of the same attorneys and spectators from the previous morning were again present, however, the perpetrator that violently tripped my son, Papadimitriou, did not appear. It was hard not to notice the many bewilder looks on some of the faces in the courtroom, as they were wondering why we were there again this morning. My case was once again announced by Moutzouris, and Kakakios asked to make a statement in open court. He started detailing events from my public hearing from the previous morning, stating that "he gave Moutzouris my case folder and that Moutzouris accepted it publicly, and announcing that my case was over pending the court's decision." He then added that "later, at about 12:00 pm, having returned to the court to pick up a fax, it was announced to me by Moutzouris that my case was still pending." He ended his statement there, and again not a word was said about what transpired in the locked courtroom. Kakakios also did not bring up the fact that Tserkis stated in open court that he was not going to try the case; however, Kakakios mentioned that "Papakostas did not keep any minutes from the previous morning's public court session."! Kakakios was clearly trying to cover up for his criminal actions, and selectively for the criminal actions of the others as well. It was also evident that after Kakakios learned about the recordings I had made, and my promise to Kakakios that I was going to report them, he and the others were scrambling to cover up their illegal and criminal proceedings by staging a "continuation" to the hearing which had been "postponed" as Moutzouris shamelessly announced!
Moutzouris and Papapkostas, visibly nervous, were avoiding looking in my direction. Tserkis continued his "strong lead role" inside the courtroom, full of theatrics, cynical smirks and chuckles, harassing and mocking me with various comments. Moutzouris and Papakostas, hunchbacked and staring at their desks, continued to avoid eye contact with me and with just about everyone else in the courtroom. The travesty continued with Tserkis giving orders and demanding from Moutzouris to impose an €880 fine against me "for disruptive conduct" without specifying when, where, and exactly what I did! (Tserkis, obviously angered, was trying to "repay" me for not accepting their mafia-style criminal extortion and scare tactics from the previous day's criminally staged trial).
Tserkis continued to abuse me and my legal rights without any objection from Moutzouris, when suddenly, Kakakios, in a rare for him moment, raised his voice and requested the "court's protection," saying "I feel that just like the yesterday, Tserkis is running this court and NOT the judge," referring to Moutzouris. Moutzouris did not reply to Kakakios' statement, and allowed Tserkis to further continue running the courtroom any way that he pleased! Tserkis continued to badger me and my son with various cynical remarks, without any interference from Moutzouris or Kakakios, who by now returned back to his almost invisible presence. Tserkis continued his theatrics and shamelessly announced that in the coming days he would provide the court with sworn statements from two individuals, without naming them! Moutzouris of course accepted his unheard of and legally unacceptable demand, from Tserkis, to submit sworn witness affidavits to the court days after the hearing had been concluded! And so, the second act of their illegal and criminal stage trial against me, my son and my case, came to and end.
Days later, I received copies of the sworn affidavits submitted by the defendant's "witnesses." Beyond the fact that that they were legally invalid and submitted after the hearing had already been conducted and concluded, it turns out that the first affidavit was from one of the defendants, Fotini Hapsis, while the second affidavit came from Giannis Hapsis, her son (and defendant in the yet-to-be-tried second part of my case! Fotini Hapsis shamelessly took the oath and gave her untruthful, vindictive version of the story, not in court and in front of me, but instead days later, after the hearing was concluded, in front of a notary! In her sworn statement, Fotini Hapsis was now giving a different story regarding the stolen against me property by Maria Ingilis. She now claimed that "she purchased the property in 1964 on behalf of Maria Ingilis," contradicting herself and her side's submitted testimony several times. In fact, the defendants changed and invented stories as they went along, essentially admitting my truthful claims and their criminal actions in the end.
On the evening of 17 May 2013, I departed from Karpathos with my son for Athens. On 21 May 2013, I personally went to the Ministry of Justice to report the criminal events against me, my son and my case. There, I spoke with Vasiliki Arvanitopoulou, a director with the department of judicial affairs within the ministry, and explained to her the criminal events which took place against me inside the locked courtroom of the municipal court of Karpathos. We spoke at length, but Arvanitopoulous’s reaction to the criminal events against me was very laid back, considering the seriousness of my complaint, and moreover Arvanitipoulou, did not at any time during our meting that day, or at any time after that, mention or suggest to me the filing of a separate complaint with the Areios Pagos prosecutors office. Afterward, I submitted my written complaint with the office of the Minister of Justice (protocol number 2357), and with the general secretary's protocol office (protocol number 47005). According to Arvanitipoulou, an official investigation into my complaint was to be conducted by the Ministry, and the Ministry was to update and inform me with the results within a month.
On 18 June 2013, I e-mailed Arvanitopoulou an addendum to my original complaint, attaching the untruthful and blatantly fabricated handwritten minutes from my Karpathos case, which had been taken by Papakostas. The court minutes were another travesty to justice. Papakostas deliberately fabricated the minutes to cover up the criminal actions against me on 16 May 2013, presenting my hearing as a "two-part trial," beginning on 16 May 2013 and concluding on 17 May 2013. Indeed, the minutes did not specify what time the "first part" of the hearing began, but they did mention that the hearing "ended around 12:30 pm." Papakostas never bothered to include Kakakios’ open court statement of 17 May 2013, but he instead further lied by writing that "Papadimitriou was announced as a witness in the public session of the morning of 16 May 2013." In reality, Papadimitriou was not present in the original public session of my case, but only appeared later, playing the role of "the intimidator" in the criminally staged hearing which took place on the afternoon of 16 May 2013.
There was no follow-up from the Ministry of Justice, and on 29 July 2013, I contacted Arvanitopoulou by phone. She had no updates to give me, put me on hold for a few minutes, and when she returned to the line, she asked me to send her by e-mail my original complaint and the addendum I had submitted! On30 July 2013, I re-sent both documents to Arvanitopoulou and to Diamando Zavra, the Ministry's administrative director for general judicial affairs. The first and only reply I received from the Ministry was by regular postal mail on 21 August 2013, informing me, in brief, that the Ministry cannot intervene in my case’s decision! However, I never asked Arvanitopoulou, Zavra, or anyone else at the Ministry of Justice to intervene with the decision in my case. I went to the Ministry in person to file my truthful complaint about the criminal and unlawful actions perpetrated against me by Moutzouris, Kakakios, Tserkis, Papakostas, and Papadimitriou. There was no further reply from the Ministry, and I was left to believe that my complaint was "buried" by the Greek Ministry of Justice.
The verdict by Moutzouris was finally announced and publicized on 21 November 2013. He purposely delayed announcing the verdict for over six months, waiting until after the scheduled date for the second part of my case against the same defendants, to be heard in the Court of First Instance of Rhodes, in order to force me to reschedule my hearing. And that is exactly what happened; according to Kakakios (who claimed to have been present at the Court of First Instance of Rhodes on 21 November 2013), the second part of my case was now rescheduled for 2015! I immediately requested from Kakakios to file a motion requesting a new hearing date within the 2013 calendar year, but according to Kakakios, no dates were available, and I had to wait until 2015. By now, it seems that Moutzouris had become aware of my complaint to the Ministry of Justice, and in "fear" decided the case in my favor. And though the verdict overturned the illegal 1995 Karpathos court decision, the devil was to be found in the details, and there were several parts of Moutzouris' written decision which were not very favorable to me at all.
Reading further into Moutzouris' decision, I realized that Kakakios' criminal actions continued and went further than I originally thought. Sworn testimony from two of my key witnesses was rejected by Moutzouris and was dismissed from my case. This testimony is crucial for the second part of my case against the same defendants. Kakakios blamed Galioudakis for the dismissal of one of the statements, while claiming that the other dismissal was due to a "mistake" of his. I believe that Kakakios purposely mishandled both sworn statements, in order to cause damage to my case and to help the opposing side. Furthermore, the court's decision did not include any financial penalties against the defendants. In addition, Kakakios deliberately did not submit his notarized receipts with my case file, quite simply because he never issued any; a clear instance of tax evasion under the Greek law. I had asked Kakakios hundreds of times to not only provide me with receipts (as he is obligated to by Greek law) for all the legal fees related to my case, but also to include them as part of my case file to the court. It is my belief that Kakakios intentionally omitted them, not only because he did not issue any receipts, but also to cause financial damages to me and to possibly lessen his "liabilities" to the opposite side. It is my strong conviction that Kakakios deliberately omitted these vital documents from my case file, and as a result he intentionally sabotaged my case.
I spoke with several experienced Greek attorneys, who knew the details of my case and had read the court's decision, and their response was that Moutzouris undoubtedly issued his decision only as a result of the complaint that I had made. "Your case was set up, you were set up, and you would have lost by a hand" I was told, as well as: "As a lawyer, I can tell you that based on the facts and the events against you, most likely than not, you would have lost your case because Moutzouris and company were paid off." Another attorney said: "They were clearly bribed, your case was purposely abused with excessive postponements favoring the defense, and important case mishandlings were surely and suspiciously implemented against you." Still another attorney stated that "Your case should have finished in your favor years ago, but more importantly, the deference attorney, Tserkis, should not have taken on this case from the defendants, because it was indefensible and lacked any legal merit.”
In a recent phone conversation with Galioudakis, he also confirmed that “based on the facts and my experience as an attorney in Rhodes, your Karpathos case was set up to be decided against you," adding that "Moutzouris decided in fear" and that "it was clear that some individuals had been paid off." He urged me to file a complaint with the Areios Pagos prosecutor’s office, and voiced repulsion over the criminal actions against me, my son and my case which took place on 16 and 17 May 2013. "You and your case are both blood-spattered victims," Gialoudakis commented.
After the May incident in Karpathos, Kakakios tried hard to convince me that he had nothing to do with the criminal scheme against me, and he was very outspoken about putting blame on Moutzouris, on Tserkis, on Sarris, on Galioudakis, on Papakostas, and on Petros Prekas, the president of Court of First Instance of Rhodes. According to Kakakios, he spoke with Prekas right after the criminal events against me, however according to Kakakios, "Prekas chose to do nothing," Kakakios now claims that his "excellent preparation" for the case was the reason why Tserkis, Moutzouris etc. felt obliged to orchestrate and execute the criminal events against me at the civil court of Karpathos, and he mainly blames Tserkis for the events which transpired in Karpathos. Kakakios describes him as (among other unprintable and colorful names) "unscrupulous," "unethical," and “a troublemaker." Furthermore, according to Kakakios, "Tserkis has been investigated for not disclosing his relationship with a female judge in the Court of First Instance of Rhodes," a judge who is said to have tried many of Tserkis' cases. He further added that "he and other attorneys had reported Tserkis' misconduct to Sarris, but that Sarris had done nothing."
Recently, Kakakios informed me that there is unsubstantiated information suggesting that Tserkis is now suing Moutzouris, for the latter's negative rulings on some of Tserkis’s cases. When I asked Kakakios how many of Tserkis' cases Moutzouris had heard since 17 May 2013, he said "50 or 60, perhaps more." I asked Kakakios how Moutzouris had managed to rule on so many cases involving Tserkis' cases alone during this brief period, when it had taken him over six months just to issue a decision in my case, but Kakakios had no response. Kakakios did mention, however, that Moutzouris has recently filed a request to be transferred to another court. According to documents available publicly, Moutzouris had been appointed judge at the Karpathos civil court less than a year prior to the 16 May 2013 hearing date.
The lack an official investigation into my charges by the Greek Ministry of Justice left me no choice but to contact the Areios Pagos. On 18 December 2013, I filed a complaint via e-mail and fax with the president’s office of Areios Pagos (protocol number 1029) and with the Areios Pagos public prosecutor's office (protocol number 5805/13). Weeks went by and I heard nothing from either office. On 12 January 2014, I called the Areios Pagos prosecutor's office and was told that prosecutor Euterpi Koutzamani was planning to forward my complaint to the public prosecutor's office at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes! The following day, I e-mailed and faxed a letter to the attention of prosecutor Koutzamani, and to the office of the president of the Areios Pagos as well, with additional information pertaining to my complaint, and with a few questions for Koutzamani. I explained that Rhodes is home to three of the individuals in question, including Papakostas (court secretary with the Court of First Instance in Rhodes), and Kakakios and Tserkis (both lawyers based in Rhodes). Moreover, according to Kakakios, Petros Prekas, the president of the Court of First Instance of Rhodes was well aware of the criminal actions against me on 16 and 17 May 2013 at the civil court Karpathos, but did nothing. Sarris was also aware of what happened, and he too failed to do anything.
Further, the public prosecutor's office at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes has been "sitting idle" for three years, regarding the criminal charges I filed in 2011 against the same defendants, pertaining to my case in Karpathos. After all this time, no trial date has been assigned, despite the overwhelming evidence against the defendants, the positive court decision from Karpathos, and most importantly, the fact that the defendants admitted to their wrongdoing, through their contradictory written testimony and statements! A second separate criminal case (related to my Karpathos case), against Fotini Hapsis and her son Giannis Hapsis, (both defendants along with Maria Ingilis and Asimakis Ingilis), in the second part of my case, is also not being moved forward by the Rhodes First Instance public prosecutor. The intentionally-delayed verdict by Moutzouris, and the subsequent rescheduling of the second part of my case in Rhodes to 2015, is in my belief connected to a "hand" or "hands" in Rhodes, attempting to delay my case further. Considering what transpired so far and the fact that Prekas, and Sarris were aware of the criminal actions against me from Tserkis, and company, what kind of justice should I expect to receive in Rhodes?
Rhodes is well-known in Greece, and especially amongst attorneys, for its very strong para-judicial network. With all due respect Ms. Koutzamani, if I wanted to file my complaint in Rhodes I would have done exactly that. I filed my complaint first with the Greek Ministry of Justice, but as I wrote previously, my complaint was covered up. I filed a second complaint with the Areios Pagos, and so far, the Areios Pagos has not given me any reason to believe that my complaint will see justice. With all due respect Ms. Koutzamani, what kind of justice is this anyway?
Moutzouris was appointed judge by the Greek Ministry of Justice to fairly and justly apply the Greek law, not to violate his duties or abuse his power. But that's exactly what he did. He violated his duties, the law, and abused his power. Moutzouris criminally and unconscionably allowed others to do the same against me, my son, and my case, in a locked, empty, and non-public court session in the Civil Court of Karpathos on 16 and 17 May 2013. Moutzouris signed off on the fabricated minutes from the court proceedings of my case, knowing that they were completely untrue! Moutzouris criminally assisted, took part in, and allowed Tserkis, Kakakios, Papakostas, and Papadimitriou, to execute the criminal events against me, my son, and my case. Moutzouris forced me and my son to unjustly endure terror, physical force, physical abuse, humiliation, bullying, harassment, and immeasurable pain and suffering. Moutzouris conspired and covered up the criminal acts against me, and continues to do so even today. Moutzouris made a choice to take part in these criminal actions, because all indications show that he was bribed. He ruled in my favor only after learning about my complaint with the Ministry of Justice, and his ruling, which is highly incomplete, does not excuse his criminal actions against me, my son or my case.
Despite the complaints I filed, Moutzouris remains in his position as judge and has not been punished in any way. What kind of justice is this Ms. Koutzamani? Where is the transparency of the crime committed against me? Why is it been covered up? No disciplinary sanctions against Moutzouris were applied by the Ministry of Justice, and no official investigation was conducted by the Areios Pagos public prosecutor's office so far. No investigation in to my serious complaint, no questioning the perpetrators under oath, no penalties against them, and no punishment! Why? Are Moutzouris and company above the law? Are Moutzouris' criminal actions against me not punishable under Greek law? He premeditatedly against me violated his duties and abused his power, because he was bribed. Moutzouris was appointed judge to fairly and justly execute his duties and the Greek law, and not to criminally conspire against me, against my son and against my case. After what Moutzouris has done to me, to my son, and to my case, he should be held responsible and accountable for his criminal actions against me, my son, and my case. No covering up, No obstruction of justice, and no excuses will be acceptable Ms. Koutzamani. The citizens of Karpathos and the all Greek citizens deserve to know the truth. The people of Karpathos should know the criminal conduct of the judge who rules on their cases. With all due respect Ms. Koutzamani, it's your legal duty to apply justice.
Papakostas is also a civil servant who violated his duties and the law. He took part in the criminal actions against me, and among other serious and punishable violations, he fabricated and altered the minutes of the court proceedings in my case. He conspired and covered up the criminal acts against me, and he continues to do so even today. Papakostas remains a court secretary with the Court of First Instance in Rhodes to this day. No disciplinary sanctions have been taken against him, there has been no investigation, no questioning under oath, no penalties, and no punishment. Is Papakostas above the law? Are Papakostas' criminally punishable actions not serious enough? Are they not punishable under Greek law? Greek citizens deserve to know the truth, and the people of Rhodes should be aware of the criminal conduct of their civil court employee. No cover ups, no obstruction of justice, no excuses Ms. Koutzamani. With all due respect, it's your legal duty to apply justice.
Tserkis has violated the law and his profession's code of conduct, and he took a leading role in the criminal actions against me at the Civil Court of Karpathos. He intimidated, terrorized, harassed, mocked and bullied us. Like a "mafia boss," he used scare tactics to intimidate me and my son into accepting an unlawful and criminally staged hearing. He commissioned his friend Papadimitriou to assist him with his criminal stage trial against me, with Papadimitriou taking on the "bouncer role" against my son! Tserkis, along with the others, should he held accountable and responsible for the conspired with malice and forethought criminal events against me, my son, and my case. He used bribery in order to stage an illegal and criminal hearing, because he had no legal defense to present to the court. He accepted this case from the defendants knowing from the beginning that it was not legally defensible by any means. Tserkis as all facts reasonably indicate, was in cahoots with Kakakios and later with Moutzouris, and was repeatedly granted abusive case postponements against me dating back several years; a clear violation of justice, and the law. When no more postponements could be granted, Tserkis, with the help of the others, planned and executed the criminal staged hearing in order to "finish off" my case with an illegal verdict against me. There have been no disciplinary sanctions against him, no investigation, no questioning under oath, no penalties, and no punishment. Is Tserkis above the law? Are his actions not criminally punishable by law? The people of Karpathos, Rhodes, and all Greek citizens deserve to know the truth. No cover ups, no obstruction of justice, no excuses Ms. Koutzamani. With all due respect, it's your legal duty to apply justice.
Papadimitriou is an appointed civil employee with the municipality of Karpathos. He was unrelated to my case by any legal means, other his than his friendship with the defendants Maria Ingilis, and Assimakis Ingilis, and as their proxy, representing and illegally aiding and assisting in the unlawful and criminal merger of my property with the defendants' property, while also providing subsequent approval (as a civil engineer) for the illegal 2007 construction within the stolen property. He chose to take part, aiding and assist Tserkis, Moutzouris, Kakakios, and Papakostas, in the criminal actions against me on 16 May 2013. He chose to assist in the criminal events against me on the afternoon of 16 May 2013, inside a closed, locked and not in session courtroom. But his illegal and criminal actions against me did not stop in 2002, or 2007. On 16 May 2013, and at about 1:00 pm inside an empty and locked courtroom, he committed a felony, by intentionally, forcibly and violently tripping my son to the cement floor and injuring him! But he still was not satisfied, and proceeded to further victimize us, by intimidating, terrorizing, harassing, mocking, and bullying me and my son, even after we fled the empty and locked courtroom. He premeditatedly conspired, aided, and assisted Tserkis, Moutzouris, Papakostas, and Kakakios, in the criminal actions against me, and against my case, on the afternoon of 16 May 2013. He was not present in the courtroom during the open and public hearing of my case on 16 May 2013, but instead appeared later, in the criminally staged hearing, acting as a "bouncer" and thug, and not as a "witness." There have been no disciplinary actions taken against him, no investigation, no questioning under oath, no penalties, and no punishment. Why? Is he above the law? Are his actions not criminally punishable by Greek law? The people of Karpathos and all Greek citizens deserve to know the truth. No cover ups, no obstruction of justice, no excuses Ms. Koutzamani. With all due respect, it's your legal duty to apply justice.
Kakakios handled my case ever since he took over from Gialoudakis in 2010. He chose to take part in a criminal scheme against me and violated the law, and the attorney's code of conduct. Driven by greed, he "sold me" to the highest bidder, with no conscience or regard for the law. He allowed Tserkis, Moutzouris, Papakostas, and Papadimitriou to stage an illegal and criminal hearing against me, and afterwards he further criminally covered up his and their criminal actions against me. He manipulated me and my case for years, distracting me with "promises" on a regular basis, while working against me in order to prolong the duration of my case. His so-called "excellent case preparation" is one of the calculated steps he took along the way, and he is now using it to cover up for his other deliberate and criminal actions against me and my case. For Kakakios, I was the "gullible" Greek-American who was far away, living in the United States, and a person who was not familiar with the "ins and outs" of the Greek legal system. He took advantage of this in many ways, exploited my good faith and trust, and "sold me" repeatedly and systematically to the defendants' side. Kakakios was fully paid by me for all his legal fees and all the legal expenses relating to my case, and yet he never provided me with legal receipts, although I had requested them from him hundreds of times. Kakakios never issued any such receipts as he is obligated to do under Greek law, and he submitted my case file to the court without these receipts, knowing that as a result, the court would not issue a decision compensating me for my legal damages. He purposely neglected to notify the defendants one of my key witnesses, and he purposely submitted the expired sworn statement of another witness to my case instead of the correct and newly-drafted one. These actions by Kakakios, were not simple "mistakes" as he calls them, they were in my opinion intentionally calculated by Kakakios, in order to cause further harm to my case.
Kakakios used intimidation and scare tactics to discourage me from filing a complaint and a lawsuit, claiming that there would be reprisals against me and my case from Moutzouris, the police, the prosecutor's office, and the judicial authorities. Privately, he blames Tserkis for the criminal events against me, and now he describes Moutzouris as a "powerless individual with no experience on how to handle someone like Tserkis." Kakakios mentioned that after the criminal events against me, he spoke to Moutzouris, advising him to "be more careful with whom he associates," clearly referring to Tserkis. After the verdict, and during a telephone conversation Kakakios, asked me if I knew how much money the others received!!! Kakakios deliberately lured me and my son into the empty courtroom of a closed court, knowing very well that was about to happen. He forced us to unjustly endure terror, physical force, physical abuse, humiliation, bullying, harassment, and immeasurable pain and suffering. He remains unrepentant to this day, as he continuous to cover up the criminal actions against me. Is Kakakios above the law? Are his actions not criminally punishable by Greek law? The people of Rhodes and all Greek citizens deserve to know the truth. No cover ups, no obstruction of justice, no excuses Ms. Koutzamani. With all due respect, it's your legal duty to apply justice.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly urge Mr. Kakakios to voluntarily come forward and do the right thing. Mr. Kakakios, you claim that you are just as much of a victim of Moutzouris as I am. If you are a "victim," as you say you are, speak up and tell the truth! You say that you are Moutzouris' "victim on a professional and personal level," however; you choose not to set the record straight. Mr. Kakakios, victims usually demand justice, they don't cover up. I have asked you dozens of times to report the criminal acts against me, and my son, but you refuse even today. Why? The Karpathos part of my case is over. The excuse you used before the verdict that Moutzouris was going to dismiss my Karpathos case is no longer an “excuse”. Instead of pinning blame on Tserkis, Moutzouris, etc, and calling Tserkis various unprintable epithets, in your conversations with me, may I suggest telling the truth instead? What are you afraid of Mr. Kakakios?
As my well-compensated attorney, it was your duty to protect me and my case, and not to "sell" me and my case to the defendants. Mr. Kakakios, why did you agree to lure me and my son into an empty and locked courtroom, inside the closed Civil Court of Karpathos? My case was tried publicly by you as my attorney that morning and it was officially concluded before 10:30 am. Tserkis, as you have said so many times, publicly and voluntarily relieved himself from trying the case the morning of 16 May 2013, and you then handed Moutzouris my case file, Moutzouris publicly accepted it, and then he announced that my hearing was over, pending the court's decision. Why did you then agree to return to the empty courtroom knowing that my hearing was legally and officially over? I know why, and you know why, and so do others know why Mr. Kakakios. It is time for you to publicly tell us why, as you recently said you would.
You have for years repeatedly and methodically abused my case and exploited my trust in you. You took advantage of the geographical distance between us; you manipulated me, my case, and my good faith in your professional abilities to your advantage and to the advantage of the opposite side for years, enriching your self in the process. Aside from your criminal collaboration with the defense side, you also set up a scheme of your own against me, a scheme that it was disguised and camouflaged behind your so called “good case preparation," in order to use it as an “alibi”, and a cover up, to your otherwise underhanded and criminal actions against me.
Mr. Kakakios. you and I know that any justice that I've achieved thus far is due to the actions I was forced to take, when I realized that you were working against me. Now you shamelessly take credit for the Karpathos decision of my case, and you are insulting me by taking credit of my request of the 2011 criminal case against the defendants. Each time I confronted you with a question you defended your actions, pinned blame on others, while at the same time you were manipulating me and my case further. This went on for years, and during this time you have unjustly, unfairly and purposely prolonged my case for your enrichment, "stringing" me along the way with promises, while misguiding me and distracting me in the process. Now, years later, you are telling me that "there was no scheduled trial to my Karpathos case in 2011," and that "my case was dismissed in 2010!" Exactly, when was this decided? Before March 2011, or was it after March 2011? When I mentioned the e-mails that I had sent, you said that you "couldn't remember for sure and you had to look it up and get back to me." Not surprisingly, I never heard from you after that. When exactly did my "sale" start, Mr. Kakakios?
Can you tell me, Mr. Kakakios, who brought up, who suggested, and who demanded my 2011 criminal case charges against the defendants in your office in June 2011? Perhaps it is now convenient for you to take credit for it as your idea, and to use it as an "alibi" to claim that you were acting in good faith on my behalf, but we both know the truth, Mr. Kakakios, that it was my suggestion. I am sure that your associate and colleague Mr. Anastasiadis remembers it very well as having been my idea and suggestion. Mr. Kakakios, you recently promised to tell the truth of what really happened to me in Karpathos on 16 and 17 May 2013, but only after I informed you that I was planning to follow up further with my complaint. You urged me not to reveal certain e-mails and other conversations and recordings, only the ones that you approved. Yes, Mr. Kakakios, you promised to tell the truth and I truly hope that you keep your word. In the meantime, I would like to publicly remind you, as you promised, to provide me with the following specific items pertaining to my case. You were paid in full to perform these duties as well, and you should immediately correct and take full responsibility for your damaging actions against me and my case:
1. To, on the record, correct your "mistakes," as you called them, with the sworn testimonies of both of my witnesses that were unjustly tossed out of my case, because of your "mistakes." But I know these were not “mistakes”, they were part of the deliberate and criminal actions by you, against me, and against my case. You deliberately "sat on" (for almost two years) and did not send notification of the sworn testimony of my witness S.M to the defense, and you deliberately included the expired (from April 2013) sworn testimony of my witness M.H, instead of her May 2013 testimony.
2. To request that all attorney and legal fees be added to my case's decision, for my immediate rightful and justly compensation. You broke the law, Mr. Kakakios, by not providing legal receipts as you are required, and as a result, you caused financial damage to me, to which I hold you totally responsible.
3. To send me all valid notarized legal receipts dating back to the start of my case, including any from your former associate Polyvios Galioudakis. May I remind you that you voluntarily accepted the case from Galioudakis in 2010, and when you left his office (without informing me in timely manner, leaving me to wonder what had happened), you also took my entire legal case file with you, according to Galioudakis. Therefore you should immediately provide me the original documentation of my case as you received it from Galioudakis in 2010, and also immediately provide me with all the original documentation of my case from the moment you took it over from Gialoudakis in 2010.
4. To provide me the minutes from the hearings of 2010, 2011, 2012, and April 2013 as you promised. May I also remind you that although I have requested, hundreds of times, copies for every single document, receipt, notification, and in general all the documents pertaining to my case as you are required to have in your possession, you only selectively provided me with very few, and only after immense efforts on my end. While you are at it, I am officially and publicly requesting the entire case file with all of the legal documents intact with their original content.
5. To officially request from the Court of First Instance in Rhodes a new trial date for the second part of my case.
6. To submit a new subpoena to one of the defendants, Ioannis Hapsis, in the USA. May I remind you that I fully paid for this in 2009, and although the subpoena to the defendants was never delivered, no refund was ever returned or credited back to my case from Galioudakis or from you, Mr. Kakakios. PFI was more than willing to make a new attempt to deliver the subpoena at no additional cost.
7. To provide me, as you are required by law and as you have promised, with a copy of the official notification for the 21 November 2013 Karpathos case decision to the defendants.
In closing, my message to you Mr. Kakakios, I would like you to know that I will proceed further with my complaint if necessary, and I will make public the abundance of evidence in my disposal and that in the end I will get Justice, because I am telling the truth. I will utilize whatever I have in my possession, including your e-mails, other documentation, recordings etc. You simply have not given me any other choice. I urge you, in good faith, to voluntarily even at this late minute, to report the criminal events of 16 and 17 May 2013, against me, my son, and my case and tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
Dear Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Justice,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Council of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy,
European Parliament president Martin Schulz,
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly,
The Areios Pagos and the Greek Ministry of Justice are the highest legal authorities in Greece, and they have the legal obligation to officially acknowledge my complaint and to apply justice. However, they have chosen to cover up justice instead. They are denying me my basic civil and human right to receive justice on a crime that was committed against me, my son, and my case. Since 2007, I have spent thousands of Euros in attorneys and legal fees, for a simple "open and shut" case that under fair and just judicial circumstances, would have been resolved years ago. Although the first part of my case is officially over, the fact remains that the second part of the case was already "tampered" with and there are very strong indications that my case will not reach a final conclusion in 2015. Additionally, two separate lawsuits closely related to my case are pending with the office of the Public Prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes. No hearing date has been assigned yet for either one, despite the fact that I have a decision in my favor from the first part of the case. Previously in this letter, I have explained why I justly feel that the Greek judicial authorities (Greek Ministry of Justice, and Areios Pagos), are covering up my truthful but serious complaint, and as a result the crime committed against me, my son and my case, by the above mentioned perpetrators remain unpunished. The Greek Ministry of Justice and Areios Pagos have chosen to ignore my complaint, and there is no indication that the office of the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes will proceed with my complaint any further. According to Kakakios, Petros Prekas, president of the Court of First Instance of Rhodes, and Konstantions Sarris, president of the Rhodes lawyers association, were both informed by Kakakios, of the criminal events against me on 16 and 17 May 2013, at the Karpathos municipal court, but chose to do nothing at all.
Recently, it has come to my attention that serious complaints have been voiced, and have been submitted to the Areios Pagos and to the Greek Ministry of Justice, regarding the Rhodes Para judicial network, and it seems that Sarris and Prekas are among those who allegedly are involved in illegal para-judicial actions against citizens like my self. And yet, even thought these serious complaints are surfacing on a regular basis, the higher up Greek judicial authorities, are criminally turning blind eye, and are suppressing, dismissing, and are covering up these serious complaints.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that I have presented in my complaint to the Greek Ministry of Justice, and to the Areios Pagos prosecutor's office about the criminal actions of 16 and 17 May 2013, against me, my son, and my civil case, along with the criminal and abusive repeated postponements of my civil case, the Greek Ministry of Justice, and the Areios Pagos prosecutor's office criminally continue to ignore the evidence in my complaint and the true facts regarding the illegal and abusive delays in both my civil and criminal cases.
I have also asked the Areios Pagos and the Ministry of Justice to tell me how many years will it take for my simple, truthful, and straightforward case to come to an end, and at what cost? How many years will it take for my other two criminal cases with the Court of First Instance in Rhodes to be tried, and for the defendants to be held responsible for their deliberate criminal actions against me? Who protects citizens who seek legal justice, from unscrupulous, corrupt, unethical and unconscionable judges and lawyers who deliberately abuse their position and their duties, and who put greed above the law and above justice? Who gives them the right to abuse their power, to violate their duties, and to unjustly inflict harm to citizens who lawfully and peacefully seek justice within the law? Who gives them the right to play with people's lives and their livelihoods? Who is running justice in Greece anyway?
Dear Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Justice,
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso,
Council of the European Union Herman Van Rompuy,
European Parliament president Martin Schulz,
European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly
"Atimorisia" is the Greek word for impunity, and clearly, that’s exactly what is happening with regards to my case. I have exhausted all the relevant Greek judicial authorities, courts and prosecutors offices to which I can file further complaints about the criminal actions against me at the Civil Court of Karpathos, and justifiably, I BELIEVE that no justice will prevail, not only to the true facts of my complaint, but for my ongoing marathon civil case, and my criminal cases as well. Therefore, the Greek Ministry of Justice along with Areios Pagos prosecutor's office, and by extension the Greek government, justifiably should be held accountable for not applying the law to those responsible for the criminal acts against me, my son, and my case, and for covering up my complaint.
As long as the Greek Ministry of Justice and the Areios Pagos prosecutor's office continue to cover up the criminal actions in my complaint, they are by their own choice the accomplices of the criminal acts against me, my son and my case. In good faith, I have exhausted every possible legal means in order to find justice, and to see that those responsible for the criminal acts against me, my son, and my case, are punished in accordance with Greek law, and I do plan to proceed further if necessary, against the Greek government and the following individuals: Athanasios Moutzouris, judge at the Civil Court of Karpathos, attorney Georgios Kakakios, Konstantinos Papakostas, the court secretary at the Court of First Instance in Rhodes, attorney Minas Tserkis, and Paraskevas Papadimitriou, civil servant with the municipality of Karpathos, for all of their serious crimes and injustices against me, against my son, against my civil and criminal cases, and against the law.
Zoe Hapsis