With incredible courage and surrounded by her lawyers and her family, the victim of an infamous vitriol attack, Ioanna Paliospirou, appeared in court where the trial against her attacker was finally launched.
The 37-year-old victim was wearing a special protection mask on her face, as well as gloves and a hat.
It was the first time after the horrible attack in May 2020 that she appeared in public.
The crowd that had gathered to her support outside the court cheered “Bravo!” and “Hero!
In her first statement after the court session, she said her 36-year-old attacker, Efi, is "cowardly."
“Once again, the one who tried to kill me proved how cold and how cowardly she is," she said.
The accused was absent and the trial was adjourned for September 30, at the request of the district prosecutor, in order to rearrange the order of the witnesses.
Prosecutors want to first examine Ioanna, who was fifth on the list.
During today’s proceedings, the names of all 34 prosecution witnesses were read out, while the civil suit proposed another five witnesses, mostly scientists.
The defence stated that it intends to provide a list of witnesses at a later stage.
“My client today chose not to attend court”, the defence lawyer stated, adding that she will appear at the trial and “give the explanations she has to.”
He added that “the charge of attempted murder is wrong” and should change to “grievous bodily harm.”
Ioanna suffered severe burn injuries, mainly on her face, when the attacker lurked her and threw a bottle of caustic vitriol at her in Kallithea, a suburb of southern Athens.
Both women were from the same village but did not have contact for many years, local media reported.
The attacker seemed obsessed with the victim and had even placed a detection device on her car.
So far, Ioanna has undergone nine surgeries, and suffers from indescribable physical and psychological pain.
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