Student in egg attack on minister sentenced

A court in the Cretan port of Rethymno on Tuesday handed down a five-month jail sentence, suspended for three years, to a 33-year-old student who struck Deputy Citizens? Protection Minister Manolis Othonas on the back of the head with an egg last month.

A local politician and several residents have rallied around Maria Dimitriadou, a postgraduate history student, arguing that the assault was an expression of exasperation against the government?s ongoing austerity drive.

Her lawyers appealed the ruling.