A meeting at Megaros Maximos will take place on Monday (21.11) regarding his work. “The Ark of Peace” and the future of the children housed in the building as new evidence comes out into the public light.

In addition, the case is expected to develop over the coming week with a possible summons to testify or a call to explain to individuals involved in abusive behavior or alleged negligence.

It is noted that two of the testimonies given to the sub-department for the protection of minors are considered decisive, since in one of them the witness allegedly confirms the first complaint of a 19-year-old teenager.

New evidence for the structure of Kalamata and Father Antonio

New facts are revealed by ERT’s extensive report on the structure of the “Ark” in Kalamata. There, a chronicle of complaints began to unfold when the 19-year-old speaker first arrived in the city, originally from Volos.

The young man was found there in early September 2020, coinciding with the opening date of the structure at the end of August of that year.

At the same time, in the same period of time and on the same complaints, the accused, who occupied a high position in the operation of the World Ark, arrived from Athens to the newly formed structure and stayed there for about 1.5 months. .

According to people who are directly related to the work of the structure in Kalamata, the detachment and the negative impression that most employees have from the first moment about the founder of the NGO, Father Antonio, is impressive.

People who spoke to ERT spoke of the hard work in the garden that even the youngest children had to do, of children bringing back “ruins” from sudden trips to Athens, and of “gifts” brought by parents and kept in the structure in order for the father to Antonios to give to children.

Regarding the complaints received by the public, they emphasize that there were no such serious incidents in the Kalamata structure, but no one can know what happened when Father Antonios begged and was left alone with the children or when they went to other structures. There are also reports of late baby baths.

As for the founder of an NGO, they talk about a particularly strange person, a “narcissist”, who had contacts only with people from his close circle, who had an important “role” in all structures.

In other words, there was a nucleus around Father Antonio, and the children of the structure and most of the workers did not belong to his immediate environment. A few workers were even “expendable”, as they changed at regular intervals.

Movement and discrimination with children

A particularly important issue is the frequent movement of children from building to building, with most workers not having a say in these movements or not knowing the reason for them.

For example, Father Antonios called the organization’s phone and asked to prepare a child (or more) in half an hour to be sent to Athens for KTEL.

It is worth noting that these children were at the same time pupils of schools in Kalamata, from which they were absent without good reason during the period of time when Father Antonios called them to Athens or was temporarily transferred to other structures.

Also among the children placed in the building, we were told, there was some kind of discrimination. For example, one had a very expensive mobile phone and expensive clothes, while the other had very little money in his pocket.

Removal of older children and fear for Athens

A particularly turning point in the investigation of the whole case seems to be the period of time when the older children of the structure left Kalamata “for good”, as several of the events the 19-year-old complains about also occurred during the same period. time.

In particular, at the end of January last year, three children suddenly left the Kalamata structure, and two more followed them a few days later. All children are over 13 years old.

The reasons for their movement were not reported to the employees of the structure, but there were rumors that they were punished for discovering “trade tickets” or “singing trap”.

It is noted that one child who left was also reported from Messinia High School to the Primary School Prosecutor’s Office, because he no longer appeared at his school, remained in the class due to absence (while before that the child went to school normally) and so as he is not 15 years old, education is compulsory.

A little later, because of this sudden departure of the children, Father Antonio invited the younger children to Athens for the weekend. When they returned, there were rumors of mistreatment, causing the children of Kalamata to fear they might be transferred to Athens.

When asked if they had ever spoken about all this, some replied that they had spoken to the authorities within the structure on various issues at one time and had never received a response.