Following a decision by the Athens Prosecutor the identities of the two men accused for the rape and forced prostitution of a 12-year-old girl in the suburb of Kolonos, Athens have been released.

The alleged rapist and abuser of the child who, following multiple acts of rape, proceeded to exploit the girl sexually jas been named as Ilias Mihos, son of Panagiotis and Giasemi born on 30 December 1969 in Agrinio and the alleged rapist and ‘client’ has been named as Ioannis Sofianidis, son of Evangelos and Zinovia, born on 2 January 1980 in Nikaia, Attiki.

The names of those that lined up to rape a 12-year-old girl should be made public “as a matter of honour for our legal culture”, government spokesperson Yiannis Economou said on Tuesday in an interview with ANT1 TV, talking about the shocking revelations concerning the grooming and child rape scandal uncovered by the Greek police.

“This man is a criminal, [who committed] horrific and loathsome acts. This is the reality. He and the others who lined up to abuse this 12-year-old child. It is the obligation of the state, within the legal limits that it has – a matter of the honour for our legal culture – to make public the names of those that sought to line up to rape a 12-year-old girl,” Economou said.

“I am aware that our legal system is obliged to follow the rules, but on the other hand, Greek society should know who these people are who walk among us. We are talking about a shocking case, which the Greek police have brought to light. I am absolutely certain that everything will be fully clarified…” he added, noting that Greek justice had the tools at its disposal for the exemplary punishment of the rapist and all his accomplices.

“With the change in the penal code, under conditions, if he is found guilty, he can get up to a life sentence. He was one of the members of New Democracy, he stopped being one as soon as it was made public,” the spokesperson said, stressing that there was nothing further to be said on this issue on a political level.

Oikonomou also told Greek TV channel ANT1 on Tuesday that the names of the 213 people who are alleged to have expressed interest in having sex with the girl should be revealed.

According to the General Police Administration of Attica, the 53-year-old is currently being charged for the repeated rape of a minor, repeated sexual exploitation of a minor under 14 years of age from an employer, repeated abuse of a minor under 12 and 15, multiple offences of prostitution of a minor under 12 and under 15 without their consent, child pornography, extortion of a minor, illegal possession and use of firearms, violence against a minor, and child trafficking. The Hellenic Police team investigating the case are in the process of recovering more information regarding the 53-year-old’s illegal activities with the prosecutor alleging that the 12-year-old from Kolonos is probably not the first or only alleged victim of the previously “respected community benefactor and family man”.

The 42-year-old “client” whose number was saved on the 53-year-old’s phone, is being charged with the offence of procuring or meeting a child for unlawful sexual activity multiple times, payment for sexual services provided by a minor under 12 and under 15 without their consent and human trafficking.

According to the authorities, the rapes of the child begun last summer, when she was 11 years old. Hellenic Police has urged anyone with information relevant to the case to contact (+31) 210-6476370 of Child Protection Services and (+31) 210-6411111 of Attica Police – their identities will be protected.

The two accused, will be appear in front of the Prosecutor to present their defence while police are investigating the 213 men who had contacted the 53-year-old through an illegal platform intending to rape the 12-year-old.

The alleged victim, has already spoken of 10-16 men that have performed multiple sexual acts on her without her consent.

As The Nea newspaper reported, police are already gathering evidence and are identifying the first 16 men with the help of the 12-year-old while further allegations have been made by the prosecutor’s office that “we are potentially looking at uncovering a further network of child pornography and exploitation”.

In a new turn of events, the 53-year-old’s wife who up until recently was an elected representative of the New Democracy party, appears to also be involved in the case. Mihos’ wife was a Territory Councillor with Kostas Bakoyiannis and a member of the board of the Municipal Nursery (where most orphan babies and children are housed in Athens). Mr Bakoyiannis has since removed the woman from the party.

The 12-year-old’s grandmother, revealed, during an interview with Mega TV Channel that the accused’s wife had “offered” the family 10,000 euros “to burry the incident” while the 53-year-old kept threatening the family.

“He tried to pay her off, to give her 10,000 euros so that she would not speak out and forget about it. It happened before his arrest, don’t know how many days. He threatened them all constantly, day and night, ‘I will kill you all, I will burry you alive’. Then his wife went trying to pay them off too while he kept threatening [the family]. My daughter-in-law said ‘I don’t want the money. I’ll burry him’. After, he found the little boy, nine year old boy (the 12-year-old girl’s brother). He went to the square and started chasing him. He chased, chased, to hit him, rape him. The child run, he didn’t let him enter his home and he managed to come upstairs to me. His brother found him almost passed out. ‘What happened my child? [I asked] and he said.. ‘….was chasing me’. I told my daughter-in-law and said ‘call the police immediately’ and she went to the authorities and reported it,” the grandmother said.

The mother of the 12-year-old had reportedly refused to be bribed by the wife of the 53-year-old to “avoid destroying two families”. She also claimed to have gone to the police department of Kolonos suburb to report the alleged crime, but her submission was not accepted.

Following this revelation, Greece’s opposition party SYRIZA spokesperson Christos Spirzis has asked the Ministry of Justice to explain “What connections does the 53-year-old allegedly have with the Director of the Kolonos Police Department that led to the mother not being accepted when she went to report the heinous crimes?”

Vasilis Lambropoulos has reported that there is photographic proof of the accused hugging the Director of the Kolonos Police Department. It was also revealed that Mihos had made several significant donations to the Kolonos Police Department to gain the favour of the officers while he renewed his gun license there.

The 53-year-old had strong ties with the local parish and several bishops; there are pictures of him circulating on social media hugging members of the clergy and prominent politicians of the conservative spectrum, and many endorsements of actors as he was a benefactor for an organisation that supported the arts.

The accused 53-year-old who was a member of the New Democracy political party, has been dropped by the committee and banned for life. The prosecution has currently put over 1000 pages of evidence together with most evidence having been uncovered through the 12-year-old’s phone.

Authorities have said that the 53-year-old had not yet deleted a substantial amount of evidence from his phone and laptop which are currently being investigated by the Unit of Electronic Crime.

“The justice system and the state are being judged by how they will handle this case and it is a requirement that all the names of those who abused this sensitive soul be made public,” Minister for Tourism Vassilis Kikilias told Greek TV channel SKAI, requesting that the identities of the 16 men that did rape and potentially the 213 men that wanted to rape the 12-year-old are made public.

More to come.