Suspected ATM robbers released after court not competent to hear case

Four individuals held on remand for a year on suspicion of robbing ATMs and burgling homes in Thessaloniki have been granted conditional release after a court said that it was not competent to hear their case.

The defendants had been referred to stand trial before a single-member criminal court of appeal, which, however, ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to try the case, as the criminal group had been charged with an offense that only a mixed criminal court can hear.

It is understood that one of the charges, monitoring police radio, falls under the competence of the mixed criminal court.

While four defendants were released as they had already been held on remand for the maximum period allowed for the charges in question, two others, who were arrested later, remain in detention.

The case file will now be forwarded to a prosecutor for referral to the relevant mixed criminal court.