In Brief
MYLONAS KIDNAPPING
Four jailed for abducting Thessaloniki businessman A court in Thessaloniki yesterday sentenced four people to jail for the kidnapping of industrialist Giorgos Mylonas in June 2008. Two self-styled anarchists, Vangelis Chrysochoidis and Polykarpos Georgiadis, were given 22 years and three months in jail, Asimakis Lazaridis, a waiter from Crete, was sentenced to 13 years and two months while convict Giorgos Haralambidis received a term of 13 years and six months. All four appealed their sentences but were not released from custody. The ring’s alleged mastermind, fugitive Vassilis Palaiocostas, was given a jail sentence of eight years and nine months in his absence but only for misdemeanor charges. He will stand trial on felony charges whenever he is recaptured. Haralambidis’s parents and sisters were given suspended sentences after being found guilty of accepting some of the ransom money. The kidnappers allegedly received 10.8 million euros after holding Mylonas for 13 days. Advertising billboards Municipal drive targets center Athens municipal officials yesterday took down two advertising billboards that had been illegally erected in a park near the corner of Michalakopoulou and Spyrou Merkouri streets in Pangrati as part of a broader crackdown in the capital. «Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis has ordered all illegal billboards to be removed. Of course it will take some time but we will ensure that this happens,» Deputy Mayor Nikos Vafiadis said. Kastoria flooding Heavy rainfall in Kastoria yesterday caused Lake Orestiada to flood several hectares of agricultural land while also threatening homes. According to Kastoria Mayor Ioannis Tsamisis, it is the heaviest rain to have fallen in the region for two decades. «These are extreme weather conditions. We have not seen such heavy rainfall in 20 years,» Tsamisis said. Burglary ring Six foreign nationals believed to be behind a string of burglaries in the prefecture of Corinth faced questioning by police in Xylokastro yesterday. Officers detained five of the suspects after raiding their rented apartments in the village of Rethio, near Xylokastro. A sixth suspect, who tried to flee from police, was shot when one of the officer’s guns accidentally went off during the chase, police said. The suspect was not believed to be seriously injured. Police seized large quantities of jewelry and other valuables from the suspects’ homes as well as several guns. Taverna shooting One person was killed and two injured during a shooting in the Polichni suburb of Thessaloniki late on Tuesday night. Police said that an unidentified man opened fire on the three men who were sitting in a taverna. The gunman then ran off. The identity of the victims was not revealed. Trolley bus stoppage Trolley bus drivers are due to stage a five-hour work stoppage from 11 a.m. today. They are protesting planned changes to their social security benefits.
