Possibility of appeal open regarding the release of Giotopoulos

The Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Konstantinos Tzavellas, has issued an order to examine whether the conditions exist to file an appeal against the conditional release of Alexandros Giotopoulos.

According to sources, the senior prosecutor has already asked Deputy Prosecutor Sofoklis Logothetis to review the potential filing of an appeal against the decision of the Piraeus Court of Appeals, which decided on the release of “Lambros” of the 17N organization.

The highest prosecutorial authorities are expected to act swiftly to re-examine the matter and return Alexandros Giotopoulos to Korydallos Prison, having already requested the relevant court decision to understand its reasoning.

Significant weight is expected to be given to the two prior prosecutorial recommendations submitted to the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals, respectively, which had called for the rejection of Giotopoulos’s fifth request for conditional release. Although the primary court adopted the prosecutor’s recommendation, rejecting Giotopoulos’s request, the appellate court considered the 24-year incarceration of the convicted felon, during which he dedicated himself to academic study, and decided to release him.

The Arrest of Alexandros Giotopoulos

On July 17, 2002, he was arrested by the anti-terrorism unit on the island of Leros. He was charged with complicity in murders, robberies, and bombings, as well as participation in the 17 November organization, based on testimony from co-defendants and evidence found in apartments maintained by the organization.

From the outset, he denied all charges, claiming that his co-defendants implicated him to receive favorable treatment under the then-new anti-terrorism law.

By a decision of the Court of Appeals, he was referred to trial for complicity in all the organization’s actions from its founding until July 2002, being assigned the role of leader and guide of the organization.

He filed a nullity petition against the ruling, which was rejected by the Supreme Court’s criminal chamber.

Trial and Imprisonment

Initially, he was sentenced by the Three-Member Court of Appeals for Felonies to 21 life sentences and 25 years of imprisonment, a decision he claimed was dictated by foreign interests.

After the court’s decision, he was transferred to Korydallos Prison, where he was already held in pre-trial detention.

In December 2005, the appellate trial before the Five-Member Court of Appeals for Felonies began. During the trial, he withdrew from the proceedings, revoking his representation by his two lawyers, Giannis Rachiotis and Kostas Chrysikopoulos. The court appointed the same lawyers ex officio. After multiple lawyer appointments, Giotopoulos returned to the proceedings to express his views in preparation for an appeal to the European Court, though the court denied him the right to appoint a lawyer. Ultimately, following the resignation of one of the three appointed lawyers, he appointed a lawyer of his choice, while the other two were present in name only.

The Five-Member Court of Appeals sentenced him to 17 life terms for the same crimes.

After the appellate decision, he filed an appeal against the appellate ruling, which was rejected by the Supreme Court. In April 2011, he applied to the European Court of Human Rights.

In March 2010, the Ombudsman ruled in Giotopoulos’s favor after his request to use a computer for educational purposes was denied by the prison administration.