Prosecutor paves way for billboard arrests
The Supreme Court’s Deputy Prosecutor Nikolaos Mavros yesterday issued a circular to the Citizens’ Protection Ministry and police, saying authorities should immediately arrest anyone who has erected a billboard illegally. Mavros said the perpetrators can be arrested on the spot or, if not caught red-handed, at a later date. The prosecutor deemed the placement of these billboards along the side of city and national roads a threat to the safety of drivers. This is the latest measure to be taken by judicial officials against illegal billboards. In October 2008, the managing director of an advertising firm was sentenced to two years in jail in a landmark verdict that held him liable for the manslaughter of a 25-year-old Yiannis Stavroulakis, who died after crashing his car into a billboard on Kifissias Avenue in Maroussi, northern Athens.
