Six men convicted in US tourist’s fatal beating avoid life sentences
A Greek court on Thursday convicted and sentenced six of nine suspects in the fatal beating of an American tourist in an island resort last year.
They were handed sentences ranging from five to 15 years on reduced charges of deliberate bodily harm.
Bakari Henderson, a 22-year-old of Austin, Texas, died after being beaten in the street following an argument in a bar in the popular Laganas resort area of Zakynthos island in July 2017.
One Greek, seven Serbs and a British citizen of Serbian origin were accused of involvement and tried in the western port city of Patras.
The prosecution had been seeking the conviction of six of the suspects for deliberate homicide, which carries a life sentence, but the court reduced the charge to deliberate bodily harm.
The British citizen of Serbian origin was sentenced to 15 years in prison. One of the Serb suspects was sentenced to 10 years, three received seven-year sentences and one other a five-year sentence.
All had been held in pre-trial detention and are to return to prison after the trial.
The court dropped charges against three of the suspects, including the Greek barman who had been accused of blocking Henderson’s escape route but not of participating in the beating.
The barman was released from prison, where he had been held in pretrial detention since his arrest last year. The other two who had charges against them dropped had been released on bail and had returned to Serbia. [AP]
