Zack trial: today the conclusion of the pleas and the prosecutor's proposal

Sixteen trials since the start of the trial in the death of the 33-year-old Zach Kostopoulos three and a half years ago, today the pleas of the defendants, two civilians and four police officers, will be completed and most likely the jury and judges will hear the prosecutor's proposal.

The process of apologies that has already begun is completed today with the apology of the last accused police officer, who will give his own response to what the case against him and his co-defendants.In previous courts have already apologized to the two shopkeepers and the three police officers, who since October are on trial for the death of the 33-year-old in September 2018.

After the completion of the last plea, the Prosecutor of the Mixed Jury Court Sotiris Bougioukos is expected to submit today his proposal on the guilt or not of the defendants. The prosecutor will assess what is recorded in the file on the death “in public view” of the activist and what emerged from the proceedings before the court, the testimonies of forensic doctors, eyewitnesses and experts on the video footage and the evidence of the footage of Kostopoulos' last moments before he ended up on the pedestrian walkway of Gladstonos Street that were shown in court.

With his motion, Mr. Bougioukos will ask the judges to follow his judgment on the guilt or not of the six defendants for fatal bodily harm against 33-year-old Zach Kostopoulos.

Facing this charge are the jeweler in whose store the victim entered “for an unknown reason” according to the file, the owner of a real estate office who rushed to the scene and appears on video to kick the trapped activist together with the first defendant and the four police officers who took charge of the incident and handcuffed the injured 33-year-old.

According to the evidence in the case, the death of Zac Kostopoulos was caused by ischemic-type myocardial lesions as a result of organic stress caused by the blows he received. In court, the forensic pathologist Nikos Kalogrias, who, together with his colleague Sultana Marianou, conducted the examination of the body, testified that the 33-year-old suffered an ischemic attack as a consequence of the blows received by the victim. Mr Kalogrias in his testimony to the court , when asked about this, had replied that “we cannot quantify which wounds were more or less involved in the outcome”.

The defence side disputes the forensic experts of the Forensic Service and with the conclusion of a forensic expert, the defence puts forward the position that the 33-year-old's pre-existing health problems were the ones that led to his death, an outcome that was in no way affected by the violence suffered by the activist, as they believe.

The Prosecutor today with the rationale that he will analyze in his speech will position himself against all the critical issues of the case and will essentially answer the top issue, the issue of the cause that had a decisive impact on the end of the 33-year-old. From this conviction of the prosecutor, from the opinion formed by him on whether and which traumas participated more or less in the outcome, his proposal for the guilt or not of each accused will be judged based on his action in the field and on the violence he used against Zac Kostopoulos.

In court will be Zack's parents, the people who from the first day they lost their child, demanded justice for Zack and for what he was . The father of the 33-year-old , in his testimony spoke of a crime of a racist nature. Dozens of other people who are outside the courtroom at every trial , as they will be today are sure that the brutality against Zack was commensurate with the defendants' view of his appearance and lifestyle.

Apologizing , the two businessmen of the area mainly said that Zack's entry into the jewelry store was a robbery and that their only concern was to keep him inside the premises so that he could be arrested by the police.