Guilty was the verdict reached by the Mixed Jury Court of Appeals for Petros Filippidis on two attempted rape charges, without recognizing any mitigating circumstances, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation for acquittal. The actor was sentenced to three years in prison with suspension, and was released free.
Filippidis trial: Accusers moved to tears – “I am relieved and vindicated”
Upon hearing the verdict, the two accusers broke into tears. In fact, after the announcement of the decision, one accuser spoke publicly for the first time. “I am relieved and vindicated,” she said characteristically.
Unanimous guilty verdict for Petros Filippidis
The actor listened silently and calmly to the verdict. He was found guilty of the felony of attempted rape against a female actress in 2010 inside his dressing room at the theater where he worked at the time, and unanimously guilty of attempted rape against another colleague inside his car in 2014.
Andreas Vaggopoulos, lawyer for the accuser, stated that, “Greek Justice has now recognized that any form of abuse of power combined with gender-based violence is no longer tolerable“.
For his part, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, lawyer for Mr. Filippidis, emphasized that, “the court’s decision keeps us alive, but the criminal procedure doesn’t end here. We will certainly go to the Supreme Court and seek the annulment of this specific decision, because we believe it is erroneous“.
The prosecutor’s opposing recommendation
The prosecutor had requested the actor’s acquittal. He had identified, as he said, 38 contradictions by the first accuser regarding the attempted rape in his dressing room, when she was 27 years old in 2010.
“There are serious doubts about malicious and abusive acts against the accuser. The motive of rapists is revenge, not pleasure, they seek to humiliate and devalue the woman. What the accuser claims is more consistent with a pre-existing romantic relationship that was recently broken,” the prosecutor’s recommendation states.
During his defense, Petros Filippidis – who was temporarily detained for 11 months – had argued that there was consent from his two colleagues and launched a fierce attack against the then members of the Board of Directors of the Actors’ Union.
“If they gave you a gun, think about whether you would pull the trigger, because the decision and your vote could be the bullet that finishes me,” he said in his defense.
The actor’s claims had not convinced the first instance court, which had imposed eight years imprisonment with suspension for both attempted rapes until the appeal.
The allegations
According to the case evidence, the first attempt took place in 2010 in Petros Filippidis’ dressing room at the “Mousouri” theater where the first accuser had gone to see him to get a role in the play that was running at the time. The woman testified in court, with great emotional charge, about what she claims happened, while she was shouting and begging the accused to stop his attack.
The second attempt occurred in 2014 against an actress whom the accused had met for professional reasons. The act allegedly took place in the accused’s car, who after the meeting offered to drive the victim home. Instead, however, he drove her to a dead-end alley in Paleo Psychiko where he attempted to rape her by pressing the central car lock. This actress also stood before the judges and recounted the events, in an exhausting process: “he didn’t understand ‘no‘…” she had said while crying.
The court, which tried the case for months, heard dozens of testimonies from prominent actors and figures from the artistic world. Well-known actors supported the two accusers, describing a particularly “dark” side of Petros Filippidis’ personality. Some of the witnesses, through their own experiences with the accused, referred to violence, outbursts, and sexual deviations by Petros Filippidis.
On the other hand, other equally established witnesses in the theatrical world ruled out any possibility that Filippidis had exercised sexual violence, attributing the disputed allegations and testimonies either to “repressed feelings” or to an organized plan for “redistribution of positions and resources in the theatrical market”.
In first instance, the judges examined three allegations. For one concerning continuous rape, they unanimously found Petros Filippidis innocent due to doubts. For the other two, which the Court of Appeals examined in the present trial, the Mixed Jury Court had unanimously ruled that the two victims told the truth and the prominent actor was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with suspension.
