The 37-year-old killer of a girl in Pyrgos in 2017 was arrested on charges of raping a 14-year-old girl who is Vasiliki's father's first cousin.
It is reported that the President of the Supreme Court, Ioanna Clapa, has demanded a disciplinary investigation against the judges of the mixed jury court of Zakynthos, who suspended the criminal's sentence.
In 2020, according to currently available information, he was convicted by the Zakynthos court in the first instance, but it request for a stay of execution was granted pending a hearing in the Court of Appeal. He was therefore released with restrictive conditions, which included an obligation to report to the local police station.
Having received a suspended sentence, the killer never went to jail. The law at the time allowed him to remain on probation, but if he were tried today he would end up in prison.
And on Sunday evening, having remained virtually unpunished for the rape of a 14-year-old child, he killed 11-year-old Vasiliki, his cousin's child.
The President of the Supreme Court requested the decision of the Mixed Court of Appeal and reportedly concluded that there was no particular reason to suspend the offender's sentence pending a hearing in the Court of Appeal. The chairman of the court immediately demanded disciplinary control against all three judges who were members of the court.
It is noted that the restrictive conditions imposed by the Zakynthos court on the offender were a ban on leaving the country, an obligation to report to the police station in his area – he lived in the prefecture of Ilia – and a ban on approaching the victim. An appeal hearing was scheduled for 2022, but the trial was delayed because he did not have a lawyer. The court appointed him a lawyer and a trial date was set for February last year. But the case was postponed a second time to coincide with the lawyers leaving, and a trial date was set for 2025.
PS Don't ask why rapists and murderers, remaining unpunished, kill and rape again and again. Maybe because the judicial system is too lenient towards them? Or are judges not always guided by the letter and spirit of the law, but go towards criminals not without “very compelling” reasons?
More Stories
Crete: Farmer suffers multiple gunshot wounds, part of his tongue is cut off
Lightning kills 150 animals at livestock farm in Aetoloakarnania
For the first time in Swedish history, women have been prosecuted for gang rape