Supreme Court plenary to decide killer cop’s fate
The plenary session of the Supreme Court will decide whether to quash the reduction in the sentence of police officer Epaminondas Korkoneas, whose killing of a 15-year-old boy sparked nearly three weeks of riots in Athens and other Greek cities in 2008.
Korkoneas had initially been sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos on December 6, 2008, in the Athens neighborhood of Exarchia, following a minor incident involving youth shouting abuse and attacking Korkoneas' patrol car with bottles.
An appeals court reduced Korkoneas' sentence to 13 years in July 2019, citing his previous spotless record as a mitigating circumstance. He was immediately released, having served for over ten years of his sentence
Korkoneas was the beneficiary of a Criminal Code reform by the previous leftist government that was widely panned by the conservative opposition as designed to help hardened criminals and terrorists get out of jail.
Supreme Court prosecutor Vassilis Pliotas moved to quash the appeals court decision. A Supreme Court panel of five judges agreed, in a 3-2 decision, to accept the prosecutor's request.
Because of the narrow margin of the decision, it was decided that the plenary session of the Supreme Court would make the final decision on quashing the sentence.
If the plenary agrees with the panel of judges, Korkoneas will be put on trial again.
