A fire broke out on Friday at the central Athens apartment of a comedic actor and stage director at the center of the most prominent “MeToo”-related trials in Greece.
According to reports, Petros Filippidis was inside the fourth-floor apartment at the time of the blaze and was the one who called the fire brigade.
Days earlier Filippidis’ two felony convictions for attempted rape were upheld by an Athens appellate court. The appeals court justices handed down a three-year suspended prison sentence, deemed as the minimum term possible, however.
Filippidis had been acquitted of a more serious rape charge in his first instance trial.
The initial allegations of attempted rape occurring more than a decade ago were made by two separate actresses. Their testimony generated an initial police investigation, the filing of charges by prosecutors, his pre-trial remand for one year and a subsequent conviction in a first instance trial.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Filippidis’ high-profile defense attorney, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, expressed concern over the possibility of arson.
The apartment lies in inner city district of Patission Avenue.
An initial assessment by a fire brigade investigator eliminated the possibility of an open stovetop or an electrical short-circuit.
Twenty-one fire-fighters and eight fire engines responded to the incident.
The apartment belongs to Filippidis’ wife, with the actor previously revealing
