Gunmen attacked a riot police unit in Athens today, seriously wounding a 21-year-old policeman in an escalation of violence after the fatal police shooting of a teenager last month sparked Greece's worst riots in decades. The pre-dawn attack was aimed at a riot police unit stationed outside the Culture Ministry in the centre of the capital, police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said, adding that the policeman is in a serious condition in hospital. The policeman was being treated for two gunshot wounds, one to the thigh and one near the shoulder, and was undergoing surgery in a central Athens hospital, Panos Efstathiou, head of the Health Ministry's operations centre, said on state television. A police official, who asked not to be named because the information had not yet been officially released, said two men -- one of them armed with a Kalashnikov-type automatic rifle -- had sprayed the police unit with gunfire.
Gunmen attacked a riot police unit in Athens today, seriously wounding a 21-year-old policeman in an escalation of violence after the fatal police shooting of a teenager last month sparked Greece's worst riots in decades.
The pre-dawn attack was aimed at a riot police unit stationed outside the Culture Ministry in the centre of the capital, police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said, adding that the policeman is in a serious condition in hospital.
The policeman was being treated for two gunshot wounds, one to the thigh and one near the shoulder, and was undergoing surgery in a central Athens hospital, Panos Efstathiou, head of the Health Ministry's operations centre, said on state television.
A police official, who asked not to be named because the information had not yet been officially released, said two men -- one of them armed with a Kalashnikov-type automatic rifle -- had sprayed the police unit with gunfire.
On April 11, 2002, at 9:35 a.m., just seven months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Nizar Naouar, a Tunisian man, rammed a truck filled with 5,000 liters of liquid gas into the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian vacation island of Djerba. Twenty-one people died, including 14 Germans, two French tourists and five Tunisians. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack. Almost seven years later, a jury court in Paris began hearing the case against the men believed to be responsible for the attack in a trial that began on Monday. Prosecutors believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, also responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks and currently being held at Guantanamo, was the mastermind and planner behind the strike on Djerba. Also on trial is Walid Naouar, the brother of suicide bomber Nizar Naouar. Much attention is also expected to be focused on the appearance of the third defendant -- Christian Ganczarski, a German national with ties to top al-Qaida terrorists. French investigators claim that the suspected terrorist, who had close ties to Osama bin Laden, gave final approval for the attack. All three defendants have been charged with aiding and abetting murder and with membership in a terrorist organization. If convicted, they could face life sentences in prison.
On April 11, 2002, at 9:35 a.m., just seven months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Nizar Naouar, a Tunisian man, rammed a truck filled with 5,000 liters of liquid gas into the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian vacation island of Djerba. Twenty-one people died, including 14 Germans, two French tourists and five Tunisians. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack.
Almost seven years later, a jury court in Paris began hearing the case against the men believed to be responsible for the attack in a trial that began on Monday. Prosecutors believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, also responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks and currently being held at Guantanamo, was the mastermind and planner behind the strike on Djerba. Also on trial is Walid Naouar, the brother of suicide bomber Nizar Naouar.
Much attention is also expected to be focused on the appearance of the third defendant -- Christian Ganczarski, a German national with ties to top al-Qaida terrorists. French investigators claim that the suspected terrorist, who had close ties to Osama bin Laden, gave final approval for the attack. All three defendants have been charged with aiding and abetting murder and with membership in a terrorist organization. If convicted, they could face life sentences in prison.
The twist:
If the suspicion is proven during the trial, it would represent a serious setback for German terror investigators who released Ganczarski for lack of evidence shortly after they had arrested him in the wake of the attack. Ganczarski has vigorously denied all the charges against him. In a letter sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he proclaimed his innocence, adding "I have a peaceful conscience" and had nothing to do with the "terrible attack or such planning." "In addition to the Germans, Spanish, Tunisian, Saudi Arabian and Swiss investigators have confirmed that I am neither a terrorist nor a high-ranking member of Qaida and neither was I involved in the attack in Djerba," Ganczarski wrote from his prison cell. He also claims that the trial in Paris will be "politically motivated."
Ganczarski has vigorously denied all the charges against him. In a letter sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he proclaimed his innocence, adding "I have a peaceful conscience" and had nothing to do with the "terrible attack or such planning."
"In addition to the Germans, Spanish, Tunisian, Saudi Arabian and Swiss investigators have confirmed that I am neither a terrorist nor a high-ranking member of Qaida and neither was I involved in the attack in Djerba," Ganczarski wrote from his prison cell. He also claims that the trial in Paris will be "politically motivated."
Russia says it will further cut gas to Ukraine by 65 million cubic meters per day, the amount it says Kiev is stealing from EU clients further downstream. Some EU countries reported decreased supplies for a second day.
The thing is, currently attorneys are emphatically not independent from political power, and Sarkozy has no ambitions to change that. He is using a couple "scandals" concerning failures of the inquisitorial judge - mostly Outreau - to achieve an even weaker justice system. Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
