In the country, the sentencing of public figures and their subsequent release has been an issue over the past week.
This embittered article https://www.sdna.gr/politiko-deltio/ellada/984694_o-korkoneas-eleytheros-o-lignadis-eleytheros-o-filippidis-spiti-toy talks about two well-known public figures and a convicted security officer. Lignadis, head of the National Theatre, has just been convicted of two male rapes but has been released pending appeal. Philippides, a major actor of stage and screen, has been in prison pending trial for rape. Now he has been released – under restrictions – for health reasons. Korkoneas fired the fatal shot that killed 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in December 2008. This triggered riots all over Greece and in other parts of Europe. Korkoneas was released after serving 13 years in prison.
In the case of Korkoneas, the current Pispirigou case (the woman accused of murdering her three daughters) and the Bika case (a woman who accused three men of raping her at a New Year party here in Thessaloniki), the breath-taking ability of Greek forensic specialists, coroners and pathologists to fuck everything up never ceases to amaze me. First reports on the Korkoneas case said that the boy was killed by a ricochet. Then the authorities couldn’t even get the kind of gun right. (Details of the case can be found in Wikipedia if you key in “Grigoropoulos killing”.) In Pispirigou’s case, it is clear that there have been several missteps. At the time of Bika’s accusations, I predicted that her accusations would be discredited. This has now happened. At the time, Bika accused the authorities of tampering with or screwing up her samples. In court she was accused of uttering χονδροειδέστατα and ασύστολα ψεύδη (gross and shameless lies). She also has to pay costs.
Returning to the article above, the author states:
We used to say only bad people go to prison. So, who are these bad people?
The bad people who can’t afford slick lawyers?
The bad people who are not cogs in the machinery of state?
The bad people who don’t have government officials in their pockets?
The author has a point and cites the case of a woman in Volos sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for falsifying her school-leaving certificate to get a job as a … cleaner. It wasn’t as if she was posing as a heart surgeon. She was released after a public outcry. Finally, returning to Thessaloniki, we have this headline from 14th July: Ποινή φυλάκισης 4 μηνών και 10 ημερών σε 60χρονο επειδή έκλεψε επτά μπουγάτσες από σούπερ μάρκετ = “60-year-old sentenced to 4 months and 10 days for stealing seven bougatsas.” The headline is misleading as the sentence was suspended for three years (με τριετή αναστολή). Still, overkill for seven puff pastries worth €15.62 – next they will be transporting people to penal colonies in Antarctica.
Finally, it has been a wild summer here. Much more rain than normal. Though we now have average July temperatures, it has been windier than usual making the evenings more pleasant. A few days ago we managed to sleep without the aid of A/C or fan. Here is a red sky in Toroni, the Cassandra peninsula in the distance.
Halkidiki has also been wilder than usual. Three young men from North Macedonia were swept away by strong currents on Myti beach on the tip of the first leg, Cassandra. One was rescued within an hour. The second man was found 19 hours later hanging onto a ball. (It was later discovered that the ball had drifted from the island of Lemnos.) Unfortunately, the third lad is still missing.