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Anastasia Balezdrova

In his thrilling testimony before the three-member Court of Appeal hearing the case against the so-called "new crime syndicate," the owner of the shipping company Superfast Ferries

Pericles Panagopoulos described his abduction in January 2009, as well as the eight-day stay in the hands of the kidnappers.
    Shortly before he started his story to him turned one of the defendants, who admitted being involved in the kidnapping before the magistrate. "I want you to know that I'm glad to see you, even though our roles are now switched and now you are free, and I am held. If I had known earlier what kind of a person you are you wouldn’t be here now," said Apostolos Petrakis, adding that he apologies for his doing because "this would be an act of hypocrisy". The President of the judicial council replied that "It would be better to show your repentance in practice by giving back the 30 million euros, which you took as a ransom".
   

Pericles Panagopoulos's story began from the morning of January 12, 2009, when he set off with his driver as he does each day from home to his office. A little further a minibus stands the front of the car. Its door opened and three people with covered faces and automatic weapons Kalashnikov in their hands jumped out of the vehicle. They broke the driver’s window with a hammer, take him out and throw him down. "I wasn’t afraid, but I got scared. Because I have a sick heart my pulse became very fast. So fast that I could not even unfasten my safety belt", said the ship-owner.
    One of three men pulled him out and put him in the van together with his driver in flatways. "Later I realized that a car had stopped behind mine to block us," said

Pericles Panagopoulos. In the van one of the kidnappers took his watch, mobile phone, wallet, the legal gun of the driver and asked the two men whether they had hidden microphones with them. "This was one of the worst moments for me. Luckily next to me was Georgeous, my driver, who did whatever he could to keep me alive," said Panagopoulos and described how after a 40-minute journey they ended up in an open place where the driver was abandoned and Panagopoulos was forced to get in the boot of a car.
    "I was in the embryonic position for more than an hour, but I could breathe because they had put down the rear seat. At times I saw lights as in a tunnel, so I assumed that we are on the road Athens - Patras. After arriving, the men covered his face and took him up stairs. He found himself in place – a construction site, where the windows are covered with beaverboards, and there is an oil radiator as a heating. According to the witness the building was a two-storey one, and the kidnappers lived on the floor under the room where they were hiding him. In the room there were a new cot, a new mattress and a new quilt and from the wall above it came out two chains with cuffs at the ends.
    "I was told to remove my clothes and they gave me black track suits like the ones which they were wearing and some red slippers. I was tied throughout the whole time with the exception of the few cases when they let me walk around in the room to not get a clot. In the room there was a TV always switched on the same channel, and on top of it there was one camera, using which the kidnappers were constantly monitoring their victim. "At my age where could I run away in the winter with those clothes on and with the red slippers," asked the ship-owner. He stressed however that the three keepers spoke to him in a polite and respectful tone and manner. When they heard on TV his wife saying that his life depends on the medicines he takes, they provide them by buying each one of them from a different pharmacy to not be disclosed because the particular type of insulin and another type of drug are difficult to find any time.
    "They really supplied me with the medicines sufficient for a period of three months. The living conditions, however, were difficult. The victim had no access to running water, causing the problems of hygienic nature, and the food was not suitable for the ship owner who underwent a surgery for stomach cancer. "Apart from that I had everything I wanted, sometimes they were talking with me and I was told to call everyone by the name of "Christ".

Pericles Panagopoulos told the kidnappers to call his wife for the amount as even in the van they told him they did not want to kill him, they just wanted money. In court, however, he stressed that "the deal was money or your life, let's not forget it. This is horrible and scary. How do you calculate the value of a life?".
    Initially, the kidnappers asked for 40 million euro, but then agreed with their victim for 20, but then decided they might ask for 10 more. In 3 videos that were sent to his wife they photographed

Pericles Panagopoulos with a current newspaper in his hands to prove that he is alive and to be able to agree on the amount. "The problem was to find 30 million euros in cash given, that the total amount of notes circulating in the country is worth 100 million euros. Thanks to banks the money was found. The sacks, which put them in weighed a total of 480 kilograms!" Said Panagopoulos.
    On the seventh day the kidnappers had an arrangement with his wife to give them money. They made her go to Thessaloniki and back without, however taking the ransom. The same scenario was repeated the next day with the difference that then they took the money. Then they left Panagopoulos in a forested spot in the Athens suburb of Daphne and told him to count to 50, then to go to the boulevard and wait for his wife to arrive. There he was found bu a police car that took him to the nearest station. Confused and scared, Panagopoulos asked if the people in the cruiser were actually police officers.
    During the testimony of Panagopoulos, who had mentioned that his primary caretaker was the youngest of the three men, the accused Haralambos Mustakas asked for the floor and said that he was the man.

The ship-owner said he wants no retribution. He said only that he wishes his kidnappers to stop running on the wrong way of crime. "I do not wish anyone to experience what happened to me, even in such a short time," said in conclusion Pericles Panagopoulos.
    Several months after the kidnapping police seized 10 people connected with the crime. Two of the defendants who are long term residents of the Greek prisons and during the kidnapping have served their sentences, were accused of organizing the plan for kidnapping. Police believes the criminal network, which they called "a new crime syndicate" is responsible for a series of murders of familiar faces from the night life in Athens.