A Piraeus court yesterday gave suspended jail sentences to the former governor of Korydallos Prison’s women’s section and to four warders over the drug deaths of three inmates on New Year’s Eve 2003.

The former governor, Ekaterini Sarissava, was sentenced to four and a half years, while the warders received three years each. The sentences were suspended for three years. All five had been charged with manslaughter, breach of duty and complicity in the trafficking of drugs in a prison in connection with the cell deaths, which followed a binge on heroin, anti-depressants and alcohol.

The Piraeus criminal appeals court also sentenced convict Sophia Bakea to 15 years’ imprisonment for drug trafficking in a prison and manslaughter. Another two female convicts received six and two years’ imprisonment, respectively. Bakea’s mother, Dora Carmen Villaba, was jailed for six years for smuggling the drugs in, and the convict’s fiance, Dimitris Penias, was given a seven-year term for buying the drugs.