The general prosecutor has interrogated Father Matthias Nasr of the church of the Holy Virgin in Ezbet al-Nakhl, Cairo, and Father Filopatir Gamil of the church of the Holy Virgin in Faisal, Giza for their part in the Maspero attack against the Copts last October
WATANI International
10 February 2012
The general prosecutor has interrogated Father Matthias Nasr of the church of the Holy Virgin in Ezbet al-Nakhl, Cairo, and Father Filopatir Gamil of the church of the Holy Virgin in Faisal, Giza for their part in the Maspero attack against the Copts last October. The Maspero incident, which left 27 dead, began as a peaceful demonstration by Copts in Cairo to protest the attack against the Copts of Merinab, Aswan, the burning of their church at the hands of extremist Muslims, and the official reaction which penalised no culprits but rather excused their behaviour. The military attacked the Coptic demonstrators once they reached Maspero, crushing several of them to death under the armoured military vehicles, and shooting others to their death.
Fr Matthias and Fr Filopatir were interrogated in their capacity as being among the leading figures of the Maspero Youth Union, a youth union formed mostly of Coptic activists, which had called for the October demonstration.
The military prosecution had last December questioned both priests, as well as several Coptic activists, before transferring the case from the military to the public prosecution in January. The public prosecution opened renewed interrogations with all those mentioned in the first investigation, and is expected to summon other Coptic activists for questioning. Tharwat Hammad, the deputy to the public prosecutor, is conducting the investigation. The two priests were released, but were banned from leaving the country.
Both Fr Matthias and Fr Filopatir were charged with instigating unrest, carrying non-licensed weapons, intentionally killing a conscript, and attempting to attack the Radio and Television building at Maspero. They were also charged with using force against public servants and attempting to prevent them from performing their duties, as well as forcefully seizing arms form armed forces, joining in damaging and destroying public property, and possessing white weapons the use of which led to death. creating public disorder and killing civilian victims. Other charges included incitement for mobbing, road blocking, upsetting public opinion and demonstrating in a way that breached public security.
Fr Matthias expressed shock that “the victims are now being treated as criminals, whereas the criminals were never questioned.” He said the prosecution refused to file his claims against General Hamdi Badin and Ibrahim al-Damati of the military police for their responsible for the death of the Copts.
Both he and Fr Filopatir rejected the decision to ban them from leaving the country, but the prosecutor said they should follow the official procedures to file their claim.
The lawyer Ibrahim Edward, who is among the defence team of the Copts, said the charges were unsubstantiated and were the results of the military police investigation. Since the military police was implicated in the Maspero incident, its investigations cannot be valid.