14 MAKARATZIS v. GREECE JUDGMENT When the car arrived I saw the tyres were burst, but I do not remember whether the windows were also broken. In the first photograph, I think the tyres are burst. It was the first statement I had ever made, I was still in a state of panic and I don’t know whether I reported everything accurately. It’s the same today, two years having passed since the incident. When I went to the back, I saw the police officer. He didn’t shoot, he threw a pot, but I couldn’t see the victim’s car. Neither the Vespa, which was half a metre away, next to the car, nor the pumps, of course, had any bullet holes. The end of the veranda where the police officer went overlooked the car. The front of the car must have been protruding a bit under the veranda.” 6. Mr Georgopoulos “I am the owner of the petrol station. I was standing a bit further inside than Mastrokostas. I saw the Skoda coming up slowly. It stopped, and seconds later I heard gunshots. The boy heard the shouting, I didn’t. When I heard the gunshots I left, I went up to the house, and then a police officer came and threw a large pot at the roof of the car. He didn’t shoot. I came down when the shooting had stopped and I saw the victim as they were pulling him out of the car. I think the man who pulled him out was wearing civilian clothes. I am not sure. I saw him holding a big machine gun. I don’t know if he fired. I don’t remember. If he had fired, I would remember it. He may have fired; but I didn’t see him do it. I don’t remember whether the windows of the car were broken. I remember that he had crashed ... I didn’t find any cartridge cases anywhere. I didn’t find any bullet holes anywhere. When I saw the police officer who came from the back on to the veranda, I left and didn’t see if he fired. I went downstairs and saw them pulling the driver out of the car. The police officer didn’t shoot him. It may also have been the person that got off the motorcycle. The veranda is wide and it covered more than half of the car.” 7. Mr Kiriazidis “I was at the junction of Posidonos and Kalamakiou Streets ... Suddenly, I saw in my rear-view mirror a car coming from the side street at great speed; it drove over the curb, came from the right and crashed into me. It threw me a distance of 10 to 15 metres. There was a police car next to me. The police officers must have been out of the car, and were holding weapons. I heard gunshots and I was frightened. More police cars came and followed the Skoda to the left, towards Kalamakiou Street. He caused great damage to me. If someone had been sitting in the back seat, they would not have survived.” 19. Having deliberated, the court acquitted the seven police officers on both the criminal charges brought against them (see paragraph 15 above). On the first count (causing serious bodily harm), the court found that it had not been established that the accused were the ones who had injured the applicant. A number of police officers who had taken part in the incident had left the scene after the applicant’s arrest without revealing their identity or giving the necessary information concerning their weapons. The bullet that was removed from the body of the victim and a bullet that was found inside the car were fired from the same weapon but were unrelated to the traces from the thirty-three weapons that were examined. The other bullet and some of the metal fragments found in the applicant’s car had been fired