Do you remember the case of journalist Manolis Kypraios who got seriously injured by a riot police stun-grenade and lost his hearing on both ears during protests in summer 2011? Eleven months later, the case will be investigated by a judge who is expected to personalize the charges and identify the riot policeman who threw the stun-granade right next to the journalist with the effect to cause him serious damage.
The charges will be on “intended serious injury” (felony).
The stun grenade was thrown by a riot policeman right next to Kypraios while he was covering the protests of “Indignant Greeks” and the riots that followed at Syntagma Square.
Last November Amnesty International wrote a letter to the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection and Justice Ministry asking a full investigation and discipline measures on the issue. Among other, Amnesty International stated:
During the protests, he (Kypraios) witnessed police spraying chemicals at peaceful protesters, throwing stun grenades at them for no reason and violently beating them with police batons. As he reported, when he told the head of a riot police unit -who asked him why he was taking pictures- that he was a journalist, in response, the head of unit used abusive language against him and pointed him out to a riot police officer of his unit. Within seconds, the riot police officer threw a stun grenade at him, which exploded approximately 50cm away from him. As a result of the explosion, Manolis Kypreos fell to the ground and when he managed to get up with the help of some demonstrators, he realised that he that he could not hear.
Soon afterwards and while he was walking to the hospital, he saw a group of police officers surrounding peaceful protesters and attacking them with police batons. Manolis intervened in order to try and protect a young adolescent, enveloping him in his arms and covering him with his body. As a result, Manolis received several beatings. After several minutes the policemen left and Manolis tried again to get to the hospital. When he managed to get there the doctors informed him that both his ears had sustained serious damage and that he now suffered a complete loss of hearing.
The internal police investigation could not identify the perpetrators despite pictures and eye witnesses testimonies. “The police closed the file and threw the ball to the judges” Kypraios told news portal Kouti Tis Pandoras. “I will be here until the hell freezes” he stressed.
Several operations could not give him back his hearing ability, Manolis Kypraios is profoundly deaf. His career as a journalist is practically over…
The riot police attack on Manolis Kypreos occurred on June 15, 2011, before 10 AM. There was a sudden blitz on protesters and since it happened so early in the general strike day, there was not international media present to document the incident. It is important to have your dates correct, especially as the Amnesty International link you have included in thus article refers to June 2011, not July, as the month Kypreos was attacked and lost his hearing.
I am an independent journalist and I was in Syntagma Square that day, and I knew about it the day it happened. I have also written about Manolis Kypreos as a journalist and I always do fact checks before my articles are published. Please make the correction in the interests of accuracy.
Thank you.
Kia Mistilis
journalist
Athens, Greece.
aplogies for this grave mistake.