Former judge and a fugitive for 19 years, Antonia Ilia, was returned to Greece from the UK late on Thursday night. She was convicted to 13 years imprisonment for money laundering and for her role in criminal ring granting favorable court decisions in exchange for bribes.
The former judge had been irrevocably sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in 2022, by a Five-Member Criminal Appeals Court, for money laundering. She had questioned the legality of the process that led to her conviction in lower-level courts.
Ilia, who had evaded deportation from the UK for 19 years, has been in the hands of Greek authorities since her arrival at Athens international airport on Thursday night, after she was finally deported from Britain and officially handed over into Greek custody.
She fled Greece in 2005, when the scandal was revealed, and lived in England, blocking every attempt to extradite her to Greece to face a jail sentence. According to sources, five previous efforts to bring her back had been foiled by various means, while that on Thursday was the sixth.
Ilia was arrested and jailed in May 2011 by British authorities and released in December 2012 under restrictions and the obligation to wear an ankle monitor. Among her efforts to avoid extradition, she asked British authorities for political asylum.
In Athens, Antonia Ilia was first taken before prosecutors on Friday and is reportedly to be sent to Elaionas prison in Thiva to serve her sentence.
