Police rap for youth beating
Three policemen out of the eight implicated in the violent beating of a Cypriot student during a Thessaloniki protest in November 2006 were yesterday temporarily suspended from the force. The other five were acquitted following an internal police probe. The heaviest sentence went to the chief suspect in the beating of Avgoustinos Dimitriou on November 17, the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising against the military junta. The officer, identified in a video of the beating, has been suspended from the force for six months, during which time his supervisors will consider whether to dismiss him permanently – an appealable decision. The other two officers found to have been involved in the attack that left Dimitriou, now 26, seriously injured were suspended for four months each, with the same conditions. Video footage showing the student being kicked and punched while lying on the ground had elicited a government apology on behalf of the police force at the time.