"Thank you very much, my daughter is waiting for me. The fight continues with determination with my lawyers," said Eva Kaili outside her home in Brussels, where she is after her release from prison and the decision to place her under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
The Greek MEP left Haren prison, where she had been for four months, on the morning of Good Friday, accompanied by two cars. She arrived at her home accompanied by her father and her lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos.
Eva Kaili while arriving at her house in Brussels told journos that she is happy to see her daughter again and she will continue the fight with the decisiveness of her lawyers. She was in the car with her father and her Greek lawyer. pic.twitter.com/EjR2fXC7qw
— Efi Koutsokosta (@Efkouts) April 14, 2023
Now, Eva Kaili is placed under house arrest in her permanent residence, while she will wear the electronic bracelet.
After the release decision, the electronic equipment was just a matter of time, while her defence attorney, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, had made a great effort to have his client released before the Orthodox Easter, explaining to the Belgian judges that "the days of Easter are for us Greeks".
Evidently relieved by the rapid developments after more than four and a half months of temporary detention in Haren prisons, north of Brussels, Eva Kaili said after the news of her release was made official that she is desperately wanting to see her daughter.
“I'm anxiously waiting for the electronic wristband to get out of jail. The first day I just want to be home with my daughter. All day with her. Since January I only saw her twice a month. I will remain in Brussels. I will continue to fight for my innocence," she said.
The terms
Staying henceforth alone with her minor daughter in her apartment in Brussels, Mrs. Kaili will have to declare her contact telephone number with the Belgian authorities, be always available at the same number, wear the bracelet at all times and not move from her apartment.
The only exception is to go to court, to the doctor or for reasons of force majeure and always in consultation with the Belgian Public Prosecutor's Office.
In her new everyday life, it remains to be clarified in the coming days whether she will have access to the internet or whether she will be allowed to receive visitors, apart from her partner, Francesco Giorgi, with whom she has now chosen to stay away, although they could legally share the same roof.
In a personal decision, the Greek MEP chose to no longer live with her partner and father of her two-year-old daughter, who was similarly released from prison two months earlier, having previously entered into a special agreement with the Belgian authorities, just like the alleged as the "brain" of the lobbying network, Pier Antonio Panzeri.
It should be noted that Eva Kaili has also been banned from leaving Belgium, with the Belgian authorities having kept her passport for this reason.
According to her lawyer, "Eva Kaili dreams of the day she will hear that she is innocent. Only then will she be able to return to Greece and look into the eyes of the people who trusted her for so many years and honoured her with their vote. If she is not acquitted, she will not return to Greece."
The lawyer said: "in all the bundles that were there - improvised bundles - of money there was no fingerprint of Eva Kaili", an element that seems to have softened the resistance of the investigator, Michel Clez, regarding her being placed under house arrest.
However, the fingerprints on the cash may reportedly belong to Panzeri and Giorgi, with the advocate of the Greek MEP promising new revelations.
According to Dimitrakopoulos, "there are many more pieces of evidence that we will present in the interrogation", as he explained.
The lawyer added: "we respect the secrecy of the preliminary investigation and that is why we do not leak evidence of the case file."
"She is strong psychologically"
Leaving behind for now the painful moments of 2022, the advocate of the Greek MEP announced yesterday that "she is waiting how and how the time will come when the prison door will open and she will be able to go home and hug her child."
"She is strong psychologically, she is aware that she is innocent and she will fight to prove her innocence," he emphasised.
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