Released mayor claims ‘unfair’ conviction
The former mayor of Thessaloniki, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, was on Tuesday released from a regional prison after a misdemeanors’ court accepted his appeal to be freed on compassionate grounds due to heart problems.
Papageorgopoulos, who was convicted in 2013 of embezzling nearly 18 million euros in municipal funds, secured his release thanks to a new law allowing convicts with disabilities who have served at least a fifth of their terms to be freed.
Speaking to reporters as he left Diavata jail, the 67-year-old claimed to have been treated unfairly.
“I was in jail for two years, five months and one day absolutely unfairly,” he said.
“I am out now and free thanks to Paraskevopoulos’s beneficial law,” he added, referring to Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos.
The minister said recently that his law has led to the release of 1,200 convicts, thus freeing up space in Greece’s overcrowded prison system.
