In Brief
FAMILY TRAGEDY
Paraplegic son, shot by his father last Sunday, taken off life support A 40-year-old Cretan paraplegic, in a critical condition after being shot by his father last Sunday, was on Wednesday taken off life support in an Iraklion hospital. His relatives agreed to donate the organs of Theodoros Sartzetakis, who was shot – together with his long-term invalid mother Georgia, who died instantly – by his father Emmanouil, 74. The father has been in a critical condition since he shot himself following the attack, to which he is believed to have been driven out of despair for having to care for two invalids. NICOSIA JAIL Inmates’ pardons suspended due to attorney-general’s ‘illness’ The director of Nicosia’s central jail yesterday complained to Cypriot Justice and Public Order Minister Doros Theodorou after the island’s Attorney-General suspended the customary pardons of 102 Cypriot and foreign inmates. Solon Nikitas had put off an examination of the inmates’ files, saying he was sick. Nikitas has «been taken ill and will return to his office on Friday… I can’t say that we won’t have pardons these days, but it’s unlikely tomorrow. In any case, the holidays aren’t over yet,» Theodorou said on Wednesday. SALONICA BLAST Gas-canister bombs damage offices Three homemade explosive devices, placed on three floors of Thessaloniki’s central town-planning offices by unidentified assailants, caused no injuries but some damage to the offices when they detonated in the first few minutes of the New Year. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out using gas canisters. Robberies Police reported two bank robberies in Athens yesterday. An armed duo raided a bank in Aegaleo shortly after 9 a.m. and fled with an undetermined sum of money. Two hours later, three robbers netted 30,000 euros in an armed bank raid in Palaio Faliron. On Wednesday, police in Ioannina said that a 43-year-old ex-convict had snatched a bag of money from security guards in the northwestern town on Monday. Police found the bag of money in the home of Costas Gogos, who admitted to taking the cash. Drownings Piraeus Port Authority officials yesterday recovered the corpse of an unidentified man off the main harbor, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Also yesterday, a section of a human leg – in an advanced state of decomposition – was discovered off Aghia Marina on Attica’s western coast, southeast of Piraeus, the ministry said. Three male corpses discovered off Kos on Wednesday – also severely decomposed – are probably those of illegal immigrants, the ministry said. Over 50 people are believed to have drowned when a migrant-smuggling ship sank in Turkish waters en route to Rhodes on December 20, although only 10 bodies have been found since last Friday. State lottery The winning number in this year’s New Year state lottery, netting the 5-million-euro jackpot, is 54737 from the 95th series. Tickets with the same number in other series win 20,000 euros each, while those with numbers ending in 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40 win 5 euros each. Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, who drew the winning number on Wednesday, said that the lottery would be privatized next year. Protester’s reprieve A British anti-globalization protester awaiting trial in Greece since riots disrupted a European Union summit in June will be allowed home for two weeks to attend his father’s funeral, his lawyer said yesterday. Simon Chapman, one of seven people charged with possessing explosives during the summit, was released from prison last month after going on hunger strike to protest at what he said were attempts by police to frame him. But Greek authorities ordered him not to leave the country until after his trial, which has not yet been scheduled. (AFP) Sick poet Poet Dinos Christianopoulos, 72, was due to be discharged yesterday after spending two days in intensive care at Thessaloniki’s Aghios Pavlos hospital with heart troubles. Christianopoulos, whose real name is Constantinos Dimitriadis, was put in intensive care on Monday and was kept there till Wednesday when doctors deemed his condition had stabilized.
