With a majority of votes, a court in Athens sentenced a former lawmaker from conservative New Democracy for pedophilia. The ex MP says court decision is a “judicial error.”
The court did not acknowledge him with any mitigating measures and imposed a total imprisonment of 28 months on suspension and a fine of 20,000 euros.
The court imposed to the former MP, a penalty of 16 months for first victim case, and twice of 12 months for the other two cases. The penalty was merged to 28 months.
The fine was 10,000 euros for each victim, merged down to €20,000.
The court found the ex MP guilty for repeatedly molesting three young people in exchange for money.
According to daily ethnos, the chief prosecutor had earlier pointed out “I propose the accused is found guilty for the returning and repeated indecency on minors over 15 against payment.”
The former MP and secretary of political planning in New Democracy was arrested in 2010 in Moldova with the charges of trafficking and pedophilia. He was released after he showed his diplomatic passport.
According to state news agency amna, the case of a pederasty ring discovered nearly nine years ago in Moldavia, when he was working at the United Nations.
The case became known in Greece after a series of press releases in 2016.
Following his sentence ex MP Nikos Georgiadis said that his conviction from the First Instance court is “the product of judicial error.” For the case he blamed “known circles working against” him and stressed that during the whole process not “the slightest evidence against” him was brought up. declaring that he was innocent, he said that he will appeal the court decision.
The conviction gave the reason for another political dispute between the government and the main opposition party. The Prime Minister’s office issued a statement lambasting New Democracy and leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for sending an acting ND lawmaker to court in defense of the offender and other ND officials in support of him. “They describe as political prosecution the fact that the case was sent to Justice,” the statement said among other. “The case would be a heinous crime without political dimension had not Mitsotakis and ND gave it a political aspect,” the statement added.
