The trial of six people accused of causing the deaths of 32 residents of a nursing home in Hania, Crete, and of allowing others to live in pain and misery, will take place in Athens “for security reasons.”
Due to the publicity the case has received, “it is expected that a large number of people will attend the trial and possibly create conditions that could involve the risk of tension and aggravation,” a Cretan prosecutor submitted to the court.
The case was heard on Wednesday by the three-member Athens Court of Criminal Appeal and will resume on December 13.
The defendants include the nursing home’s owner, her daughter (who managed the home), two doctors and two employees.
The trial is expected to last several months, as approximately 200 prosecution and defense witnesses have been called to testify.
The case file states that the home allocated 0.55 cent a day for residents’ food, which rarely included meat or fruit. The milk served was diluted with water. Feeding was often forced, with the result that some residents choked. Residents were sometimes fed leftover food or offal provided for free by local suppliers.
Residents were rarely washed and their clothing rarely cleaned while the towels and razors they used were shared. In some cases, residents were forced to wear used nappies. The case file also states that some patients were tied down to beds with leather straps on their arms and legs. It is also alleged that residents were prescribed strong sedatives.