Twelve prison officials handed suspended sentence for torture 

Twelve prison officials were handed prison sentences of between three and five years on Tuesday for torturing 42-year-old Albanian detainee Ilia Kareli, who died at Nigrita Prison in northern Greece upon his arrival from Malandrino Prison in Fokida, central Greece in March 2014.

The sentences of those who received four- to five-year terms were suspended.

The suspects beat the prisoner because he had stabbed their colleague Giorgos Tsironis to death at Malandrinos Prison, from where he had been transferred.

The Mixed Jury Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki found the suspects guilty of torture, a felony. They had initially been convicted and sentenced to five to seven years.

Kareli’s death had been uncoupled from the torture and attributed to a heart attack, which was ascertained to have begun before his arrival at Nigrita Prison.