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Two SYRIZA MPs and one member of the party’s political bureau "have direct ties" with members of terrorist organizations, as stated for the newspaper Ta Nea by former Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection in the first SYRIZA government Yiannis Panousis. It is expected that today he will testify before the prosecutor of the Areopagus (Supreme Court) and provide their names to justice.

At the same time, Panousis states that, among the representatives of SYRIZA, there are others who are associated with terrorism, but in a "more indirect manner." In the interview with Ta Nea, the former minister states,

"Honestly, I do not understand Tsipras. I tried to keep the issue at the political level and therefore submitted all the data to a notary. He was the one who wanted publicity. He will have it. I think his position is determined only by one particular reason.

- What could it be?

- That he wants to "put in the limelight" those 2-3 people.

- You are talking about three people, party MPs and representatives. Are they the only ones who have direct links with the prisoners in questions in your opinion? Are there others in SYRIZA?

- Of course, there are others who are maintaining indirect and less close relations. I have data on them."

Panousis also states that the specific data are part of the secret reports of the Greek Intelligence Service and that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is aware of them. He notes that the attacks against him by SYRIZA members started after the government of the time failed "to keep the promises that ‘the three’ had made to the terrorists during the numerous visits and contacts between them." The plan was to include the promises in the bill of the Ministry of Justice. GRReporter recalls that the voting on it provoked reactions, including from foreign diplomatic missions. According to the opposition parties and many commentators, the regulation provided in it, namely that prisoners with a high percentage of disability will be able to serve the remainder of their sentences under house arrest, has the sole purpose of releasing from prison terrorists Savvas Xiros of "17 November".

"When the promises were not kept, for example those made to Xiros, they directed all attacks to me. They told them that I was the main culprit for their demands not being met. From that moment onwards, I became the target of these groups. There are records in which remarks like ‘we will kill Panousis’ could be heard and I am aware of their content," says the former minister.

The Greek media report that, in connection with the details of the case, Yiannis Panousis has contacted president of the Bar Association in Athens Vassilis Alexandris, who will accompany him while submitting the data in the prosecutor’s office of the Areopagus.

He chose to give publicity to the case through an interview with the Sunday edition of Proto Thema first. Although the content of the publication was known on Saturday evening, the press office of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras issued a formal communication 24 hours later. According to Kathimerini, this fact shows that the government was surprised and ended up in a delicate situation. "The data that Mr. Panousis has made public are extremely serious for them to be disseminated in the media instead of providing them to justice officially and down to the last detail," reads the laconic message to the Prime Minister’s office. Current Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Nikolaos Toskas made a statement in the same vein. He was the only one who phoned Yiannis Panousis, making him understand that he had no idea of ​​the data provided by his predecessor.

During yesterday's conversation with journalists, Yiannis Panousis defined the message published on the website Athens Indymedia in connection with the transfer of prisoners, witnesses in the trial against the members of the terrorist group "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei", as full confirmation of his complaint. The message in question is signed by "The initiative for solidarity with political prisoners" and its authors describe as "provocative" the statements made by the former minister. In addition, they indicate,

"The journalistic attitude to the ridiculous statements by Panousis combined with police-judicial kidnappings-transfers of prisoners have once again proved the communication games and repressive experiments that are being carried out on the shoulders of prisoners."