Tsochatzopoulos said to be looking at release on Thursday

Former defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for money laundering in 2013, is expected to be released from Athens’s Korydallos Prison on Thursday following repeated delays in the approval of his discharge.

The 77-year-old had been due for release on Wednesday, after raising a 200,000-euro bailout payment, but last-minute bureaucratic obstacles got in the way.

His wife Viki Stamati, who was also convicted for money laundering in 2013 but released in 2015, visited Korydallos Prison to meet her husband and, on hearing about the delay, declared she was going on a hunger strike. She called off her action two hours later after being told he would be freed on Thursday.