Thessaloniki extortionist who locked up cousins convicted

A 59-year-old civil servant was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison by a Thessaloniki court on Tuesday after being found guilty of locking up his two cousins, aged 49 and 48, in an old two-story house for eight months and extorting a total of 82,000 euros from them to fund his daughter’s university education.

The case was uncovered in March, 2017 when the two cousins – a brother and sister – managed to escape from the house which was located in the area of Oreokastro.

The victims told the court that they spent most of the day with their feet and hands bound.

They said the 59-year-old would regularly take the brother to the bank to withdraw money.