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Give Mark Marku a fair trial and no further delays to his appeal

Give Mark Marku a fair trial and no further delays to his appeal

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This petition has been created by Claire B. and may not represent the views of the Avaaz community.
Claire B.
started this petition to
Chief Judge Papatheodorou, Minister Christos Geraris, PM Antonis Samaris

I can’t believe I was so naive …


So on 7 May 2014, Mark’s case was set to be heard along with 9 other cases. In the end the appeal started on Monday 12 May 2014. I was really hopeful that everything would work out this time for Mark and his Irish wife Julie.


Why? Because Mark was convicted on the basis of eye-witnesses who described the thieves as all wearing masks. Anyway Mark was in Ireland for several of the burglaries and robberies, and he has documentation to prove it. The glove which allegedly has his DNA has been analysed by forensic expert Dr. Greg Hampikian from the U.S. and proves it is not actually Mark’s. Straight forward case then- Mark’s lawyer’s present the evidence which proves his innocence and then he is released having already spent nearly 4 years in prison.


Instead, scenes in the courtroom were described as chaotic with a lot of racist remarks from the prosecution witness's and gallery. Then finally Dr. Hampikian gets to present his DNA evidence (on his second trip to Greece to attempt to do so) and the judge decides that actually the defence lawyer can only ask him one question! This leads to the lawyer arguing that this is not fair and the judge suspending proceedings for the day. With the appeal fast becoming a farce and Mark not getting a fair hearing, the lawyers asked for another judge. This was denied and the next day the case was deferred until 6 June 2014.


So now everything is up in the air again. Just because you might be innocent in Greece, if you are Albanian it seems that you may not be able to get a fair trial and will remain in prison while your appeal is deferred and deferred in the hope that maybe you will give up and or will eventually not be able to afford to keep going. Every time the case is adjourned it costs thousands of euros.


This petition is really important because the Greek authorities really need to know that the world is watching and that there is international interest in Mark’s case. It is clear that as well as needing the appeal to go ahead without further delays, Mark desperately needs a fair hearing where he is allowed to present all the evidence that points to his innocence.


We are amending the petition as follows:

‘Give Mark Marku a fair trial and no further delays to his appeal'


Julie is my friend and she has been through so much. Please sign the petition and share it with everyone you know. Please note if you have already signed, you will have to resign as the petition text has changed.


Then please like the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/justiceformarkandandreas?fref=ts to get updates on the case and you can leave a message of support here too if you like.


For further information go the website http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/


Many thanks

Claire


Original background information:

In 2 days time, Mark Marku has an opportunity to prove his innocence once and for all. He has a wonderful team of lawyers including representatives from the Irish Innocence Project who have taken on his case. The problem is Mark's appeal date has already been moved 5 times. Most recently it was postponed last December on a technicality on the very day it was meant to be heard. Mark and his Irish wife Julie are very afraid that this could happen again.

Every time the appeal is delayed, it means Mark spends longer in prison and the legal fees and expenses are racking up. For example the last attempted appeal cost €15,000. Mark has spent the last 4 years in prison while Julie and her parents have spent their life savings trying to exonerate him. More importantly Mark and Julie’s lives as newly weds have been devastated by this nightmare.

Mark has been in custody in Greece since the 16th of September 2010 and in January 2012 was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for allegedly being involved in a spate of armed robberies of Jewellers in Crete in 2010. Mark was living in Ireland with his Irish wife Julie when several of these robberies took place. He has an abundance of documentary evidence to prove his innocence, all of which has been verified by independent sources and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, however the evidence was dismissed at his original trial as forgeries.

Mark was prosecuted based on a line-up with eye witnesses who confirmed that all the raiders wore masks. Mark is of average build and height and has no unusual features to identify him. The prosecution failed to produce any evidence for 11 of the 16 charges brought against him in the original trial and yet he was convicted to 18 years.

A new appeal date has been set for this coming Wednesday 7th of May 2014. Please sign the petition and give Mark the opportunity to prove his innocence and return home to Julie. It’s vital to let the authorities know the world is watching this case to ensure Mark is afforded the right to a fair trial.

For lots more information regarding Mark's fight for Justice please visit

http://www.justiceformarkandandreas.com/ and also their facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/justiceformarkandandreas?fref=ts for regular updates.

Posted (Updated )