Prosecutor says officer who killed Roma youth should stand trial

A prosecutor in Thessaloniki recommended that a police officer who shot and killed a 16-year-old member of the Roma community during a car chase in December 2022 should stand trial for manslaughter with intent in a calm state of mind, and for illegally firing his weapon.

The recommendation was submitted to the Council of Misdemeanors, which will take the final decision.

The shooting of Kostas Frangoulis occurred outside Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, in the early hours of December 5. Officers from a motorcycle patrol chased the teenager’s pickup truck after a gas station employee reported an unpaid bill of 20 euros.

In his report, the prosecutor said the 35-year-old officer fired with his service weapon twice from a distance of 10-15 meters: one of the bullets hit the car from the rear, penetrated the windshield and hitting the back of the head of the 16-year-old who lost consciousness and control of the car, causing it to smash into the steps of an adjacent hotel and a wall, where it stopped. 

The victim succumbed to his injuries after being hospitalized for eight days, while the toxicological tests conducted revealed that he had used narcotic pills.

Referring to the officer’s claim that he was in self-defense and that he fired his weapon to intimidate the victim because he had endangered the physical integrity of both himself and his colleagues with dangerous car maneuvers,  the prosecutor notes: “If he really wanted to just to intimidate the 16-year-old he could have shoot one or more times in the air.”

With regard to the charge of illegally firing his weapon, the prosecutor stated that the shooting “in this particular case was prohibited, as it was aimed at a minor, as the accused knew, without being the only means of preventing an imminent risk of death, since, on the one hand, the 16-year-old was now only trying to escape and did not attack the police officers, and on the other hand, the accused could shoot to intimidate by aiming high.”

“It was not about  responding to an attack coupled with an imminent risk of death or grievous bodily harm to a person, nor about rescuing hostages, as provided by law,” he adds.