Appeals court awards compensation to wrongfully jailed anarchist
A five-member criminal appeals court ruled on Wednesday to award compensation to Tasos Theofilou, a self-described anarchist who had been wrongfully convicted to 25 years in prison for armed robbery.
The 34-year-old's request for compensation was accepted by the court after Appeals Prosecutor Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos recommended a favorable ruling, which granted him 20 euros – of a maximum of 29 euros – for every day he spent behind bars.
He will receive a total of 36,000 euros for his five-year (59 months) imprisonment in a final ruling on his case.
It is rare for Greek courts to award compensation to citizens for wrongful imprisonment.
Theofilou was arrested in 2012 over a deadly armed robbery on the Aegean island of Paros in 2012 and was detained temporarily in the Korydallos prison. After consecutive extensions of his temporary detention until February 2014, he was convicted by a lower court to 25 years in jail.
In July 2017, an appeals court found Theofilou innocent of any involvement in the robbery and acquitted him of the charge of being a member of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire urban guerrilla group.
