An appeals prosecutor will recommend that 14 suspects stand trial in connection to the disappearance, and suspected murder, of 11-year-old Alex Meshivili in Veria, northern Greece, sources told Kathimerini yesterday.

After studying the findings of the investigation into the missing child for more than three weeks, appeals prosecutor Zacharias Mouratis is expected to recommend to the Council of Appeals Court Judges that the five schoolboys, charged with murdering their peer, stand trial.

Seven of the boys’ parents are also likely to be charged with negligence in the supervision of children.

The source added that the grandfather of one the five boys is also expected to be charged with harboring a criminal.

In one of the most publicized missing persons cases in Greece, progress in solving the case appears to have picked up, however, authorities have been unable to learn where the body may have been buried.

Earlier this month, five police officers from Imathia, northern Greece, were charged with dereliction of duty in connection with their initial investigation into the disappearance.

Thessaloniki prosecutor Theodoros Strogylis issued the charges on the grounds that the officers did not conduct proper searches of the area and took too long to question the five schoolboys who have since been charged with murder.