Two policemen sentenced for the murder of a boy which triggered violent riots

Two policemen sentenced for the murder of a boy which triggered violent riots

2010-10-12 07:58:53 GMT+7 (ICT)

AMFISSA, GREECE (BNO NEWS) – Two Greek policemen on Monday were sentenced in relation to the 2008 murder of a boy that triggered violent riots from the country's youth population, local media reported.

Epaminondas Korkoneas, 38, was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 months of imprisonment for manslaughter. His partner, Vassilis Saraliotis, 32, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges of complicity.

Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed on December 6, 2008, in the Exarchia neighborhood in Athens. The fifteen-year-old was shot three times during an altercation with youths in Athens' streets.

After the youngster's murder, violent riots erupted in the Greek capital resulting in cars being set alight and shops looted. The police officers claimed that the shots were fired as a warning but witnesses contradicted them.

Prosecutors also tried to portrait Grigoropoulos as a troublemaker and that he was fatally wounded by a ricochet bullet. However, the jury was not impressed and found the defendants guilty.

Due to violent protests, the trial had to be moved from Athens, to Amfissa, a town around 120 miles (200 kilometers) due to threats received by the defendant from anarchists groups that vowed to kill them both.

The court also ordered that Korkoneas be deprived ¿of his right to vote indefinitely while Saraliotis was deprived of voting rights for two years.

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