In Brief
BATATOUDIS FREE
Businessman has not been arrested in Libya, sources say Contrary to reports last week, businessman and former PAOK soccer club president Giorgos Batatoudis, wanted by Greek authorities since March 2009 after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzlement, has not been arrested in Libya, sources told Sunday’s Kathimerini. Greek authorities simply established his whereabouts because he went to the local consulate to renew his passport. Batatoudis was found guilty of selling the TV rights to PAOK games between 2001 and 2006 to a company he owned for about a third of the market value. TEENS IN CUSTODY Girls to stand trial for murder Two girls, aged 15 and 16, who allegedly stabbed an 80-year-old man to death earlier this month in Serres, northern Greece, have been remanded in custody. The two teenagers have been charged with murder and robbery after allegedly breaking into the man’s home and stabbing him to death. The victim was stabbed 15 times, according to police. The prosecutor in Serres is due to hear from witnesses tomorrow. Tsipras defiant Speaking to his party’s central committee on Saturday, Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras insisted that he would not be drawn into a «war of attrition» with the four MPs who recently left SYRIZA to form a different grouping. Tsipras said that he wants to focus on unifying his own party. «In this unity, there is no room for rival political plans, nor for secret games,» said the leftist leader in reaction to the departure of members of the so-called «renewal wing» of the coalition. Tsipras said that it was now time for SYRIZA to restate its case to voters. Kifissos cleanup A volunteer cleanup of the banks of the Kifissos River over the weekend led to more than 45 tons of rubble and garbage being removed from parts of northern Athens. The initiative was organized by Skai TV and radio, with the help of the cleaning equipment manufacturer Karcher. Border arrests Border guards in Evros, northeastern Greece, arrested two Georgian women attempting to enter the country illegally on Saturday. An officer noticed the two women trying to get off a tourist bus traveling from Tbilisi to Athens just before the inspection point. The two drivers of the bus were also arrested on charges of abetting the women. Fatal dive One 16-year-old boy died and another, aged 17, was injured on Saturday after losing their balance while trying to dive of a steep precipice into the sea in Alexandroupoli, northeasterrn Greece. The 17-year-old is undergoing treatment at the General Hospital of Alexandroupoli. Robbers caught Police in Neapoli, in the southern Peloponnese, said on Saturday that they had arrested a 35-year-old man believed to be behind a string of robberies in the area. Between November 2009 and June 2010, the unidentified man had broken into 21 homes and made off with items worth 40,000 euros, they said. Meanwhile, on Saturday, police in Thessaloniki apprehended a 32-year-old man who allegedly threatened a 22-year-old driver and his female passenger with a gun in order to steal money and a mobile phone.
