Scenes of ancient tragedy in Vorizia at the funeral of the 39-year-old - Threats against the family of the 57-year-old being buried today

Hundreds of relatives and friends of the family accompanied the 39-year-old with the silence that prevailed in the village broken only by the cries of despair of his wife. "Ma Fanis! My Fanis!" could be heard from the lips of the 39-year-old's wife who, arriving with the procession to the spot where her husband fell dead, railed against the Fragkiadakis family.

Earlier, the brothers and the mother of 57-year-old Evangelia - mother of two children - left the village for Chania, where the funeral will take place today at noon in a close family circle.

Kostas Fragkiadakis breaks his silence on the death of his sister

The victim's brother Kostas Fragkiadakis, speaking to Greek media, said yesterday that he saw his sister fall dead. "I saw my sister Vaggelia fallen on the asphalt. My only concern was to get my sister from there. Shots were being fired. I pulled her along with her little son," initially said Mr. Kostas Fragkiadakis about the moment he saw his sister injured. And he added: "We took her down the stairs. Bullets were falling towards us. They were passing over our heads. We put her in my nephew's car and took her to the Moirai Health Center. I was trying all the way to take her pulse, but I couldn't because we were going too fast. At one point, when they confirmed my sister's death, I turned around. There were police and people, whereas before there was nothing."

Vorizia: Fanouris Kargakis was buried - "My soul!" his widow cried, the village has become "fortress" for fear of reprisals

Regarding the explosion that occurred in the house under construction on Friday night, which belongs to a member of his family, and the information circulating that a woman gave the order, he said: "I was getting ready to go to bed. I don't know who gave the order for the explosion. I can't speak of things I don't know. I can't make assumptions. Let reason prevail. They have had differences for quite some time. They have made up and broken up again several times. We always put pressure on our own people and we took a step back. The others took a step forward. There should have been management by some responsible people. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. The Police know. On Saturday morning, I tried to contact the Police, but no one picked up because I could see what was happening...”.

According to Mr. Fragkiadakis, who lives in Athens and had come for his father’s memorial service, as did his 57-year-old sister who came from Chania for the same reason but was killed, his family received threats stating that “the tragedy must end here, not continue. What happened is terrible. Two people were killed, three were injured, some will go to prison, some will have their homes demolished. And that's not enough, we also have threats from above. Today we received a lot of threats. We did not threaten anyone. I did not accuse anyone. We received threats that they would execute us all, that they would throw grenades at us and something like that. No one from the other side told me, I learned about it from intermediaries", said Mr. Fragkiadakis.

Police investigations and a plan to defuse the situation

At the same time, police forces remain in the village for any new episodes of the vendetta. The investigations to locate the three people from the 57-year-old's family remain fruitless, while dozens of houses, caves, abandoned warehouses and barns have been searched.

Speaking to state news agency APE-MPE, the spokesperson for the Hellenic Police, Constantia Dimoglidou, stated that the investigations will continue with unabated intensity in all areas where the three brothers could have taken refuge, as well as other persons who are considered certain by the competent officers, who are handling the case, to be involved in the bloody incident with two dead and four injured. “The investigations will not stop until all those involved in the bloody incident are arrested,” stressed Ms. Dimoglidou.

At the moment, one of the scenarios being examined until the situation is completely defused is to have a permanent police presence in the village with police officers from both Crete and Athens. The fear among the residents, with many having abandoned Vorizia, is widespread that the vendetta will continue, something that the Hellenic Police also believes, and for this reason it is most likely that police forces will be deployed for as long as necessary. According to information, arrest warrants are expected for the three brothers of the Fragkiadakis family who are included in the case file, who according to the same information will probably be handed over with a lawyer after the funeral of the 57-year-old.

The three still being sought are the 27-year-old owner of the house where the bomb exploded and his two brothers, aged 19 and 29. The relevant case file also lists the two injured people who are being treated at PAGNI as defendants, while the case file that was formed also mentions the name of the murdered Fanouris Kargakis. The main charges concern the crimes of intentional homicide and attempted homicide, both serial and in conspiracy with others.