Officers face sack for ‘planting’ firebomb
Three police officers from Thessaloniki face the possibility of losing their jobs after being called to appear before a disciplinary committee on charges of planting incriminating evidence on a suspect, it emerged yesterday. The policeman arrested a 24-year-old student during disturbances in the northern city last December on suspicion of possessing a Molotov cocktail. But a prosecutor freed the suspect when video and photographic evidence emerged appearing to show officers placing a bag containing a petrol bomb that did not belong to the student next to him. The student protested his innocence in court, saying he had come down from his apartment in his pyjamas to throw rubbish into a dumpster when he was caught up in rioting. The police apologized for the incident and launched an internal investigation. A prosecutor is also looking into the affair.
