NEWS

State must pay police victims

The state must pay 1.31 million euros to a young man who was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by an unprovoked off-duty police officer more than four years ago, according to a landmark court ruling reported yesterday. The administrative court of first instance ruled that, in such cases of police misconduct or violence, the state should pay compensation even if nursing costs have already been covered by an insurance firm, according to the report in yesterday’s Ethnos. Furthermore, the state is obliged to pay for a private clinic if the victim prefers this to state care, and to fund special dietary requirements or clothing, the report said. The incident occurred in February 2000 when the policeman followed a group of four youngsters driving to a party in Artems, eastern Attica. When he – who was in civilian clothes and did not show his ID – tried to force them out of their car at gunpoint, they panicked and drove off. The officer then fired twice, hitting the victim, then 18, in the spine.

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