Appeal court to deliver final ruling on police officer convicted of teen’s 2008 killing
Judges at a Lamia court are due on Monday to deliver their decision on the latest and final appeal by former police officer Epaminondas Korkoneas against a life sentence for the fatal shooting in December 2008 of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos in the downtown Athens district of Exarchia.
Korkoneas has been convicted to life for homicide with intent after shooting the 15-year-old following a verbal altercation with the victim and a group of his friends. At the time of the incident, he was with a fellow special guard of the Greek Police, Vassilis Saraliotis, who has also been convicted as an accomplice.
Korkoneas' appeal was initially scheduled to be ruled on last month, but a motion for a postponement has moved the verdict to Monday.
According to Ethnos newspaper, Grigoropoulos' family is concerned that the motion for a postponement was aimed at taking advantage of more lenient sentences in the new criminal code introduced by the former SYRIZA government in its final weeks in power.
Grigoropoulos' murder on December 6, 2008, sparked more than a week of widespread riots in the Greek capital as well as in other parts of the country.
