Man jailed for hiding Passaris
An Athens anarchist who in the summer of 2001 provided refuge for Greece’s most wanted man was sentenced yesterday to six years and nine months in prison for sheltering a criminal on the run. Dimitris Polydoropoulos, 26, said he hid Costas Passaris in his flat at 52-54 Ipparchou Street, Neos Cosmos, after a mutual acquaintance asked for his help. «I agreed, as it was in accordance with my ideology to provide a roof to someone hunted by the authorities,» he told the Athens court. «I had little to do with him, and knew neither about the guns nor the drugs he had in the flat.» Police, who were seeking Passaris for the fatal shooting of two officers during a dramatic escape from an Athens hospital, where he had been taken from prison for medical examinations, eventually found out about the hideout and set a trap for Passaris. But seven special squad officers positioned in the flat failed to catch him as he entered the darkened apartment, and Passaris eventually fled to Romania where he is now being tried for murder and armed robbery.
