An uninterrupted production of tensions, accusations, threats, and extremely harsh characterizations has been recorded over the last 48 hours by Zoe Konstantopoulou, turning parliamentary sessions into an extreme parliamentary reality show.

With an almost continuous presence at the investigative committee, the Plenary, and in between “breaks” at television stations, police departments, the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos), and social media, she claims that close associates of hers heard the notorious “Frapé” shouting in the corridors of Parliament that he would “twist her larynx.”

Despite the fact that MPs she herself cites—such as Mr. Andreas Poulas of PASOK—state that they did not hear the specific threat, the President of Plefsi Eleftherias insists on her claims, calls for the arrest of Xylouris, and accuses the government of “harboring a criminal.”

At the same time, she places herself in the same frame as the European prosecutor Popi Papandreou and her associate Paraskevi Tychero poulou, who also allegedly received threats from G. Xylouris according to official wiretaps.

It is characteristic that on Friday evening, shortly after the entry of the Minister of National Economy Kyriakos Pierrakakis into the Plenary—where the budget was being debated—and while party representatives were speaking regarding his election to the Eurogroup, Ms. Konstantopoulou asked for the floor and attempted to divert the discussion toward her own case.

“I have been waiting an hour to take the floor. It is unacceptable for the leader of a political party to ask for the floor and wait an hour. A political leader who received a threat to her life from Xylouris, who said ‘I will kill her. I will twist her larynx.’ The leader who received threats from Mitsotakis’s protected person asked for the floor at 7 and I was given the floor at 8. This is directly connected—it does not concern you, Mr. Pierrakakis, because you were not in the chamber and did not know it. It must be clear that an hour ago I was not given the floor in order to be silenced, because what the abuser said, that he would twist my larynx, is what is being attempted in another way by New Democracy MPs. I want it recorded that there is a campaign of silencing. This silencing is unfolding under conditions of extreme abusive behavior by people who act as a pack at the time when Boukoros was being examined… I will go to the very end,” she said characteristically.

She had made a similar statement a few hours earlier at the investigative committee, including PASOK and SYRIZA MPs among those who are harboring “Frapé.”

“I am very sorry, Ms. Apostolaki, that you are dragged into a vendetta with godparent ties while you are doing New Democracy’s favors. Instead of aligning yourselves with the opposition and demanding the arrest of a witness who issued threats, you were dragged behind New Democracy,” Ms. Konstantopoulou initially said, adding: “I reported a very serious incident. A witness who said he would f*** the prosecutor came out of here and said about me ‘I will kill her, I will twist her larynx.’ I reported it and you in PASOK refused to cooperate so that he would be arrested and the flagrante procedure would be carried out.” Ms. Konstantopoulou noted that she has already taken steps with the President of Parliament and has appealed to the Supreme Court.

The show with the calls to 100

It should be noted that on Friday morning Zoe Konstantopoulou continued her account regarding the adventurous night she spent immediately after the examination of Giorgos Xylouris and the alleged threats against her. She even made public her conversations with officers of the Immediate Action unit and the brigadier—an officer of the call center.

The trigger for the calls was the fact that, according to Ms. Konstantopoulou, the patrol car she had earlier requested in order to give a statement—informing them that she would be at a television station—although it came to the building, eventually left.

“The fact that they got up and left means that someone recalled them; I will call 100 again to see why this happened,” begins the 22-minute video of the president of Plefsi Eleftherias, in which she repeatedly asks that the Chief of the Hellenic Police, the head of the Attica Police Directorate (GADA), and the prosecutor of the Supreme Court be informed, invoking that “the complaint is being made by a political leader.”

“I am Zoe Konstantopoulou, the president of Plefsi Eleftherias. I am calling you at 22:15; I made a complaint for in-flagrante criminal offenses in Parliament by Giorgos Xylouris, with the wording against me of the phrase ‘I will kill her, I will twist her larynx because she wants to put me in prison.’ I spoke with another colleague of yours and asked that the supervising officer and the prosecutor of the Supreme Court be informed that I wish to file a lawsuit, that I request a police officer and a prosecutor be sent. I stated that I would be from 22:30 to 23:40 at the Kontra station. They also asked me for the address of the station. While I was at the station and on the program that was broadcast live, the journalist told me—and broadcast it—that police officers had arrived for the complaint. We announced this publicly, and when exiting the program to find the police officers, I was informed that they had entered the station and asked the program’s associate whether he had seen Xylouris and whether Xylouris had come here, and then, while we all thought they would be in the patrol car outside the station, upon exiting we encountered nothing—that they left like thieves. I will wait here, I will remain on hold, and I want you to inform a superior, because it is a punishable act and a dereliction of duty that they left while they had come to take a statement. I want you to tell me exactly what has happened and whether the police officers will come or not and who recalled the order.”

When the operator informed her, “I will pass this on to a superior and I will ask for police officers to come again; you will be there, yes?”, Ms. Konstantopoulou replied, “Because I am a lawyer and I know the procedures, I want you to put me on hold and inform the supervisor that I request to speak with him.”

While waiting to continue the calls, Ms. Konstantopoulou is heard commenting, “Like thieves, investigators leave Tempi, police officers leave to take statements, and then they threaten the victims and the farmers. All this is being recorded and we will request copies.”

When the supervisor of the call center—a warrant officer by rank—came on the phone, the president of Plefsi Eleftherias continued with the following dialogue:

• Konstantopoulou: I called the call center at 22:15 for a patrol car to come.
• Supervisor: I know, and a patrol car is being dispatched again.
• Konstantopoulou: Who recalled the order to the patrol car?
• Supervisor: I do not know, and I do not have such information.
• Konstantopoulou: I want you to inform the Chief and the head of GADA now.
• Supervisor: I do not have access; I have a director to inform.
• Konstantopoulou: Is he there with you?
• Supervisor: He is next to me.
• Konstantopoulou: Put me on hold.

The phone call continued with Brigadier Konstantakopoulos, who began by saying to Zoe Konstantopoulou, “How are you?” and received a torrent in reply.

“I am not well because for a long time now I have reported to you and to 100 in-flagrante offenses concerning a criminal organization, perjury by a witness, and attempted undue influence on prosecutorial officials. The perpetrator is named Giorgos Xylouris and he was in Parliament until 19:20, and the offenses were committed in public view. I have been waiting for hours for police officers to come,” she said, and the following dialogue ensued:

• Brigadier: Didn’t these happen at the investigative committee—didn’t you go to report them there?
• Konstantopoulou: I called you.
• Brigadier: You can report these offenses at any police station; why should a patrol car come there?
• Konstantopoulou: The patrol car came.
• Brigadier: You had an interview; it found no one and left.
• Konstantopoulou: That is not true; it found members of the program’s staff and they told them that the interview was ending. They asked whether Xylouris was there. Didn’t they come to take a statement from me?
• Brigadier: We don’t take statements on the street.
• Konstantopoulou: Is that what you’re telling me—that patrol cars don’t take statements? Then why did it come?
• Brigadier: We received a call to instruct you to go to the police station.
• Konstantopoulou: So you’re saying the patrol car came to tell me to go to the police station? Have you informed the Chief about what you’re telling me?
• Brigadier: No—why should I inform the Chief?
• Konstantopoulou: Because this is a major issue; it concerns a criminal organization, and I understand that police officers are taking orders from the criminal organization. Your job is to inform the prosecutor that the president of Plefsi Eleftherias is reporting in-flagrante prosecutable offenses and for the police to take action. You have a duty to announce it.
• Brigadier: I will inform the prosecutor, but you will be able to go to the police station.
• Konstantopoulou: To go to the police station at midnight?
• Brigadier: At whatever time suits you. We received the call after 10 p.m.
• Konstantopoulou: Have you informed the prosecutor?
• Brigadier: Did you file a lawsuit?
• Konstantopoulou: Have you informed the prosecutor?
• Brigadier: Since we don’t have a lawsuit.
• Konstantopoulou: So you are omitting to act even though a political leader is officially requesting it for offenses prosecuted ex officio.
• Brigadier: Could you go to the police station?
• Konstantopoulou: You’re telling me to go to the police station at midnight? I’ve been waiting all day. Would the patrol car have taken my statement or told me to go to the police station?
• Brigadier: You should have gone to the police station for them to indicate what you can do, even though you know it.
• Konstantopoulou: So it would not have taken my statement. What you are saying is completely unfounded with respect to procedure. I want to ask you: will you personally take responsibility or will you inform the prosecutor, because I warn you that you are harboring a criminal. You personally—do you want to inform the prosecutor?
• Brigadier: Do you want a patrol car to come to instruct you to go to a police station?
• Konstantopoulou: I want a patrol car to come to act…
• Brigadier: We will inform the prosecutor.
• Konstantopoulou: When? I am waiting for you to call him. Call me back to tell me what he told you. I am waiting, and also for the patrol car, because an incident report must be drawn up.
• Brigadier: I told you the patrol car will come to instruct you to go to the police station.
• Konstantopoulou: I’m waiting.
• Brigadier: If you want, it can also take you to the police station.
• Konstantopoulou: Take me to the police station? I’m waiting for the patrol car.

The call continued with Ms. Konstantopoulou being informed of what the prosecutor told the Hellenic Police brigadier.

• Brigadier: We spoke with the prosecutor and he told me that you can go to any investigative or police authority.
• Konstantopoulou: Which prosecutor told you this?
• Brigadier: Mr. Sotirios Bougioukos.
• Konstantopoulou: Is Mr. Bougioukos on duty today? You didn’t call some acquaintance of yours…
• Brigadier: Always with the on-duty prosecutor.
• Konstantopoulou: Did you tell him that a political leader is making the complaint?
• Brigadier: And he replied that you should address any police or prosecutorial authority.
• Konstantopoulou: The time is 00:40; is there a prosecutorial authority at this hour for me to address?
• Brigadier: That’s why I told you to go to the police station; you have police protection.
• Konstantopoulou: Is that your concern? You’re saying the police will protect me. I’ve been on the phone with the police for two hours, and Prosecutor Bougioukos says to go to a police station.
• Brigadier: I did everything you asked.
• Konstantopoulou: Mr. Konstantakopoulos, regardless of what I will do, I tell you the following: I ask you—because I do not have prosecutors’ mobile numbers; I speak institutionally in the manner provided—to inform the prosecutor that he is committing a serious omission of duty. I consider that, if that is how things are, he himself is committing a serious breach of duty, and I request that the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court be informed. I am informing you so that you inform the Chief and the head of GADA that I have called the Chief repeatedly, and I ask you, acting according to your duty—because you wear the national emblem—to inform the prosecutor and the Chief of the Hellenic Police. So the patrol car will not come?
• Brigadier: Why do you want the patrol car?
• Konstantopoulou: To act lawfully.
• Brigadier: What lawful acts? I told you that you have police protection.
• Konstantopoulou: Why do you keep asking me that? Do you think a patrol car should not come?
• Brigadier: Yes, yes.
• Konstantopoulou: Not even to record it in the incident log?
• Brigadier: The incident has been recorded in the Immediate Action log, and you can obtain copies.
• Konstantopoulou: You know that for minor offenses—for petty thefts, the theft of a hat—the in-flagrante procedure is filled. And now there is no mobilization for major offenses of a criminal organization. Do you understand what it means that you are not mobilizing for what I am reporting?
• Brigadier: The patrol car came.
• Konstantopoulou: And as soon as it became known, the patrol car left, and I understand that this was done centrally.
• Brigadier: The patrol car came and you were occupied. It may have received some signal. Do you want to be informed why the patrol car left?
• Konstantopoulou: I will contact the prosecutor; I will call the prosecutor.
• Brigadier: You can do whatever you want.
• Konstantopoulou: I will do what is lawful because I know the law and the Constitution. All of this, you should know, will be included in the complaint.

The Lazaridis complaints

Indicative of the conduct of the president of Plefsi Eleftherias are the complaints of New Democracy rapporteur Makarios Lazaridis about the sexist attack against Maria Syrengela, to whom she said, “As if you’re going to tear a pair of pantyhose,” while he also claimed that he himself became the victim of a verbal attack by the president of Plefsi Eleftherias.

The MP stated that after the end of Thursday’s session and while heading to his office, Ms. Konstantopoulou began calling him in the corridors “naked slug” and “filthy.”

Mr. Lazaridis also revealed that on Thursday night all New Democracy members participating in the investigative committee received threatening and obscene messages from an unknown sender, which will be forwarded for further action to the Cyber Crime Unit.

“I repeat yesterday’s indecent attack launched by Ms. Konstantopoulou against Ms. Syrengela. A sexist attack, telling her ‘as if you’re going to tear a pair of pantyhose.’ She continued the attack on Kontra, where she said that Ms. Syrengela is connected with criminal elements and practices of harboring. Whether she is connected with criminal elements will be called upon to be proven in court. Yesterday, after the conclusion of the session, she also attacked Mr. Fortomas with extremely harsh expressions. The same happened with me. Going to the office of the parliamentary representative, she was behind me with her associates and Mr. Kazamias, telling me that I am a naked slug and filthy,” said Mr. Lazaridis.

He added that “at the same time, New Democracy members received threatening emails from a specific email address. I want to believe they are not connected with Plefsi Eleftherias. Among other things they write ‘I wish they would cut your throat too,’ ‘spit on you, you we,’ ‘as a good wh… you cover up criminals,’ etc. We hold Ms. Konstantopoulou responsible for whatever happens.”

Finally, Mr. Lazaridis claimed that associates of the president of Plefsi Eleftherias are permanently outside the room where the committee meets and monitor the telephone conversations of other MPs.

From Plefsi Eleftherias, Alexandros Kazamias initially argued that the phrase “as if you’re going to tear a pair of pantyhose” does not constitute a sexist attack, adding: “The main issue yesterday was the witness’s threat to Konstantopoulou that he would kill her. New Democracy did not have the sensitivity to take any measures to protect an MP. You let him return freely to his home after an extreme incident. You let him go because he is your protected person.”