Three more suspects, including police officer, identified in Boutaris attack

A 44-year-old local police officer has been identified as being among three more suspects believed to have been involved in last weekend’s violent attack on Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris.

According to sources, the 44-year-old was stripped of his weapon in 2015 and assigned to desk duty after failing to pass the force’s psychiatric evaluation.

The other two suspects are a 43-year-old shop owner and a 57-year-old pensioner.

All three are being charged with verbal assault and disturbing the peace after police found evidence that they were in the crowd of suspected far-right nationalists who harassed the 75-year-old mayor during a historical commemoration in the northern port city.

Three men were arrested and convicted this week over the attack – in which the mayor was pelted with water bottles, pushed to the ground, kicked and punched – but have been released from custody after being given light sentences.