Judicial council again rejects early release of notorious terrorist; points to 2027 as next opportunity for similar petition

A relevant judicial council on Friday again rejected a petition by Greece’s most notorious terrorist for early prison release, with convicted murderer Dimitris Koufodinas eligible to again file such a request in 2027 – the 25th year of his incarceration for 11 homicide convictions.

The decision was handed down by the council of first instance judges in the south-central city of Lamia, which has jurisdiction over the maximum security penitentiary of Domokos, where the erstwhile beekeeper and top assassin of the now eradicated “November 17” terror gang is imprisoned.

Based on the decision, justices on the council rejected arguments by the terror convict’s attorneys that favorable provisions emanating from a penal code revision in 2019 applied to Koufodinas. Under the revisions tabled in Parliament and ratified by a slim majority of deputies in the waning days of a leftist SYRIZA government in July 2019, the ultra-leftist terrorist could have achieved conditional release after 19 years of incarceration.
However, the specific judicial council said these provisions applied to inmates serving one life sentence, not multiple life convictions handed down to Koufodinas.

The more favorable provisions and conditions for early release of felons passed by the SYRIZA government were themselves revised and made stricter by the subsequent and current New Democracy government.