A resident of Zoniana seems bemused by a 2007 Special Forces police raid on the villageBy Blogonaut
May 9, 2009
Seated for dinner Wednesday in a waterfront taverna in Heraklion (the largest city on the island of Crete), all eyes at our large table tracked the newly arriving diners to their table: Men decked out in black slacks and black open shirts, their women dolled up in a kind of Spice Girls caricature—their brand new black-on-black Mercedes sedan parked conspicuously on the sidewalk in front of the expensive traditional eatery.
The sotto voce explanation delivered by one of the locals at our table: These were residents of a small but notorious village 30 kilometers outside of town which is reputed to be at the center of the European hashish trade—who wear all black, settle their personal grievances with a gun, and are rolling in Euros. So many Euros in fact that the former 'sheepherders' in the sleepy little village of Zoniana, Crete are reputed to have several influential members of the Greek Parliament on their payroll.
Whether the latter allegation is true or not—it is vehemently denied by the Justice Ministry—in November of 2007 someone tipped off an alleged gang leader residing in the sleepy but resolutely feisty village—and a convoy of 15 police vehicles about to search the gang leader’s residence for drugs, guns, and cash was ambushed from the cliffs above with automatic weapons (over 1,000 rounds were fired) leaving one police officer in a coma--before the convoy even entered the village.
Zoniana was thus catapulted from an insular village of 1,500 residents with a fiercely independent reputation (no local government was ever formed there—and no tax official, utility meter reader, or local policeman would dare set foot there) onto the front pages of the Greek national newspapers.
To be sure, Zonianans were always regarded as a feisty lot, but prior to the ambush of that police convoy, which included a Federal prosecutor, the gun violence for which the town was known was primarily confined to one local dispatching another over the occasional family feud—a personal vendetta and not a cause for concern for nonresidents.
All of that changed with the November 5, 2007 ambush—resulting in 120 Greek Special forces descending on the town, and finding evidence of a wide ranging international drug and firearms dealing operation, not to mention the remnants of ATM machines ripped from their housings in nearby towns and subsequently looted of their cash.
On April 29, 2009, 52 residents of the notorious village went to trial in Athens on charges ranging from attempted murder during the police ambush, to drug trafficking; to money laundering (one defendant reportedly had over 1.5 million Euros in his checking account, two more had a cumulative 15 million Euros in the bank, and a third 250 thousand Euros in his refrigurator—not bad for self professed 'sheepherders'). As of this writing that trial is ongoing.
But still, many believe that the 52 on trial are all relatively minor players in the drug and gun trade, and that the true kingpins will escape punishment:
Said one village resident to The Daily Telegraph:
"Now things are better, and the families that were causing trouble are no longer doing so," he said. "But would I ever tell a soul in the outside world about who the troublemakers are? No."Other Zonianans assert that the town has gotten a bum rap:
“Today, when we go elsewhere in Crete, people see our black shirts, realize we are from Zoniana and think we are bad people,” said one young man to The Daily Telegraph. “But it is part of our tradition, and we will not stop it.”
Still other observers believe that Zoniana is simply a victim of its own centuries-long history of harboring fugitives, most of which has been an honorable one. A cave not far away is said to be where the young Zeus hid from his murderous father Kronos, who killed his first five children at birth in a bid to prevent him overthrowing him as ruler of the Greek gods.
In addition, although gun ownership is illegal in Greece the government turns a blind eye, accepting it as a part of traditional Cretan culture. After all, Crete has a very long history of resisting outside political influences, from Turkish occupation to the Nazi's—and both invading governments found out the hard way just how fiercely independent (and well armed) Cretans are.
Regardless of the outcome of this Greek crime drama though, it would appear that every region needs its occasional high-profile criminal prosecution, and that the Greek island of Crete is no exception.
9 comments:
Interesting, thank you! Hope you had lots of peace and relaxation.
Did you receive lots of inquiries regarding Obama? A friend of mine just returned from vacationing in northern Europe, and she tells me the northern Europeans are quite relieved with Obama in the White House. Same situation in Greece?
Thank God your back Blogonaut, the blog has gone wild without you. I hope that we can get back o track with legal discussions.
Samuel:
Let's just say that notwithstanding Barack Obama's popularity in Europe, Greek good will toward America is not exactly at its high point.
This has been a long time brewing.
The seeds were planted in 1967 when the CIA supported a very repressive military junta in Greece that tapped their phones, jailed those poets and musicians not fortunate enough to escape to other European cities, and abducted, tortured and murdered dissidents until the junta was overthrown in 1974.
Then, the United States stabbed its “friend ” Greece in the back by siding with its enemy Turkey on the Cyprus issue, resulting in the closure of American military bases in Greece, in favor of strategic missile sites in Turkey.
Greece has always been close to Kosovo—they share a common religion (Greek orthodoxy)—and 99% of Greeks were outraged by that American military effort; the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel in Athens was bombed in protest.
What remaining good will Greeks had toward the United States Government was completely eroded by eight years of George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq, as well as America’s perceived support of Israel in respect to the Palestinian issue (which is very unpopular in Greece).
In fact, the evils of George W. Bush dominated the political conversations that I had during this trip, and Obama really was not spontaneously mentioned unless asked about. While Greeks generally like Obama, they remain cynical about US foreign policy.
It should also be born in mind that Greece is a relatively liberal country in a way that the average American cannot conceive. Of the two major political parties in Greece, PASOK—which is a Greek acronym for “Party of European Socialists” is openly socialist, and there are several avowedly communist parties on the ballot in every Greek election which collectively receive over 15% of the vote nationally. (The most popular of the Greek communist political parties is ΚΚΕ, pronounced "koo-koo-eh" or "kappa-kappa-epsilon".) PASOK is currently the main opposition party to the neo conservative party known as “New Democracy” with is now in power.
In addition, Greeks are very passionate about their politics, turning out for public rallies in large numbers. Over 97% of adult Greeks vote--which puts American political apathy to shame.
Greek national elections are at the end of May, 2009, and PASOK has a single digit lead in the polls.
PS to Anon@May 9, 2009 8:01 PM:
Yea, I see that the comments on the Spector case have gotten pretty wild with conspiracy theories and personal attack. But there is really not much more to say about the case until new trial motions are heard on May 29.
Thanks for the synopsis of the current political ongoings and mindset in Greece. I enjoyed the lesson.
May 29 is the sentencing date, new trial motions come later, I would think.
Penal Code section 1182:
"The application for a new trial must be made and determined before judgment , the making of an order granting probation, the commitment of a defendant for observation as a mentally disordered sex offender, or the commitment of a defendant for narcotics addiction or insanity, whichever first occurs, and the order granting or denying the application shall be immediately entered by the clerk in the minutes."
Section 1202 says, in part:
"If the court shall refuse to hear a defendant's motion for a new trial or when made shall neglect to determine such motion before pronouncing judgment or the making of an order granting probation, then the defendant shall be entitled to a new trial."
Clearly, a motion for a new trial must be made before judgment (i.e. the sentence) is pronounced, and if the court refuses to hear the motion or fails to rule on the motion before pronouncing judgment, the defendant gets an automatic new trial.
Is there a Motion for New Trial on Calendar?
“Is there a Motion for New Trial on Calendar?”
We have no idea, but would be surprised if there was not—given the gravity of the case and the substantial nature of the alleged error by the trial court articulated by the defense throughout the retrial.
To be sure, there is zero chance that Judge Fidler will grant a motion for a new trial, but the defense team may feel that the motion should be made for the record.
As for the inevitable appeal, regardless of how strongly one feels about Spector’s actual guilt or innocence, there are good and meritorious issues on appeal that are substantially likely to result in a new trial.
The two standout issues are improper admission of so called Evidence Code Section 1101 evidence of prior uncharged “bad acts”, the trial court’s refusal to give appropriate, contemporaneous, limiting instructions re same, the trial court’s refusal to give an appropriate 1101 instruction to the jury submitted by the defense, and related improper statements by prosecutors to the jury in opening statements and closing arguments—including that Spector was a “demon”, and a “maniac” who had the propensity to kill.
This alone convinces us that the conviction will be reversed.
However, there are other potential meritorious issues that have leapt out at us as well—such as the trial court’s sua sponte (i.e. unprompted, without objection) admonitions to Doron Weinberg in the presence of they jury during the critical cross examination of chauffeur De Souza—which improperly poisoned the jury’s view of the evidence and defense counsel.
This is just our opinion; we do not know for sure that the conviction will be reversed, but it is beyond argument that the issues embraced by the expected appeal, unlike in most murder cases, are substantial, arguably meritorious, and given the equivocal physical evidence, likely to result in a reversal.
That is of course where Dennis Riordan comes in; given his abilities to identify and effectively argue appellate issues as well has his huge reservoir of credibility with the appellate bench at all levels. Reardon’s appellate briefs are so engaging that they are more literature that legal documents. (We know, we have read a few of them.)
Stay tuned, because we predict that there will be a Spector III trial—without the 1101 evidence and in front of a more neutral judge.
Dear Blogonaut,
The reason the voter turnout in Greece is typically so high is simple: in Greece voting is compulsory. The only exceptions are for those on active military service, those who are not in the country at the time of the elections and those too ill or incompetent to participate.
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