Court rejects ex-mayor’s request for release pending appeal
An appeals court in Thessaloniki on Wednesday rejected a request by the city’s former mayor, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, who is serving a prison term for embezzlement, to be released from jail until the Supreme Court hears his appeal against his sentence.
The public prosecutor had recommended that Papageorgopoulos’s appeal be accepted but, in a majority decision, the five-member court decided to turn it down.
The ex-mayor cited health reasons for appealing to be released.
He suffered a heart attack and has undergone surgery since being jailed for 12 years for being an accessory to the theft of 18 million euros from municipal coffers.
