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Trial for shocking rape/murder of Eleni Topaloudi began in Athens

Featured Trial for shocking rape/murder of Eleni Topaloudi began in Athens

The trial at the Athens Joint Circuit Court for the murder of 21-year-old Eleni Topaloudi by two young men in Rhodes in November 2018 has begun in an tense climate.

'Killers! You have ruined our lives and my child's life and I have to look at you,” shouted the unfortunate student's mother as Eleni Topaloudi's father tried to calm her down. She then left the courtroom due to her emotional charge, and it is noted that the mother of the murdered musician Pavlos Fyssas was also present at the hearing.

It is said that today was the first time that Eleni Topaloudi's family confronted the perpetrators of their child's murder.

The crime that shocked Greece in November 2018, in Rhodes, both defendants, 20 and 22 years old, are facing charges of homicide by intentional co-operation and the rape of the unfortunate victim.

After reading the indictment from the Prosecutor's Office, the two defendants stated through defense counsel that they were denying the acts they had been charged with. In particular, the eldest of the accused, the 22-year-old, said he denies rape because there was consensus between the victim and that he accepts not the charge of homicide, but the mere complicity in homicide.

The explosion of Helen Topaloudi's father

The victim's "consensus" statement triggered an explosion from Eleni Topaloudi's father, who stood up and shouted "shame" and said his daughter was horribly tortured: "Aren't you ashamed? Horrible things happened and you speak of consensus? She became a martyr in your hands. He paid the Albanian to get him girls to rape. Ours was the… lucky one! If it wasn't Eleni, it would be another girl in her place. They tortured her and she begged them to stop. And you talk about consensus?"

The youngest indictee, 20, of Albanian origin, said through a lawyer that he denies both charges.

The father of the victim, John Topaloudis, testified at the beginning of the trial, and referred at the beginning of his testimony as to his child's character, but also to what had happened until he received Eleni's body to bury her. He described his daughter as a "lively happy child, raised in love" and continued: "Maybe we are to blame for not making her a little wary." The unfortunate father also called for the defense to "stand with utmost respect in the memory of our Eleni".

He also said that the parents of the accused should also sit in the dock because "they should have - after being told that their children have been aggressive and abusive - done something."

'They're killing us' - A protest outside the Court of First Instance
At the same time outside the Athens Court of First Instance, women's rights organizations came together to pass their own message on the occasion of the unfortunate student's murder. "They're killing us, noteven one Eleni less," their banner characteristically wrote.