A 45-year-old local man was handed down a life sentence plus six years for the assassination of a land developer and surveyor in the upscale Athens district of Neo Psychiko in July 2024, what authorities have painted as a murder-for-hire linked to underworld involvement with pricey real estate on the island of Mykonos.
Another man, 48, was found guilty by an Athens felony court handed down a nine-year sentence as an accomplice. Both verdicts were by a 6-1 majority, with three out of four jurors favoring a guilty recommendation by the bench prosecutor. An expected appeal will not carry a release from incarceration, as they will remain behind bars. Although referred to as a “life sentence” in Greece’s penal code, the actual penalty is not “life without parole” (LWOP)”, albeit the years behind bars before possible released was recently increased in recent code revisions.
File photo: the island of Mykonos
Both defendants have previous and lengthy criminal records, with prosecutors also pointing to their alleged involvement in the kidnapping for ransom of late shipowner Periklis Panagopoulos.
Meanwhile, the indictment, the trial’s minutes and entire case file will be conveyed to the Athens first instance courts prosecutor’s office for an investigation focusing on a well-known Mykonos real estate agent, with whom the victim had a dispute after the purchase of neighboring land plots. The latter is under suspicion as the instigator of what authorities say is a contract killing.
The same process will be followed for an accountant accused of providing the two convicted defendants of fake tax code numbers and the vehicles used in the assassination.
An ‘organized and premeditated crime’
A day earlier, on Monday, the bench prosecutor referred to a well-organized and premeditated crime, in which the defendants “acted with cold-bloodedness, persistence and coordination.”
“I believe the evidence of the pre-trial proceedings that led to the arrest, detention and indictment of the defendants has been transformed into unshakable evidence and no convincing claim or argument can contradict this…This was a contract killing for an unknown fee,” she emphasized, while requesting that the case file be reopened to investigate and identify the individual who commissioned the contract killing – pointing to a specific real estate agent on Mykonos.
Regarding the hitman’s claim that at the time of the murder he was at the Athens Olympic sports complex (OAKA) walking, before heading to a clinic because he had recent had nasal surgery, the prosecutor said:
“While from the very beginning he denied his involvement and claimed he was at OAKA to exercise, a location that is full of cameras, instead of seeking video footage, he did nothing to refute the plentiful evidence supplied by Greek Police, because he was never at OAKA.”
