State to pay more for damages during 2008 riots

The Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, has decided the state is liable for more damages to the insurers of the shops that were damaged in riots that followed the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old youth by a police officer in Athens on December 6, 2008.

The court had already found the state liable for over €1.8 million in damages. The new decision, which reverses lower court rulings, adds another €1,562,600 plus interest that will be paid to an insurance company.

The company had already lost the initial judgment and an appeal, with the lower courts ruling that the violence that erupted on the night of the youth’s killing could not have been anticipated with preventative measures and that the state is not liable for the police’s failure to perform their duties.

The higher court judges noted that there was no indication of a plan to deal with the riots and no arrests had been made.