A Greek court today convicted a policeman of the 2008 murder of a teenager in Athens that had sparked riots across the country and protests abroad.
The court in the central Greek town of Amfissa ruled officer Epaminondas Korkoneas (39) intentionally shot Alexis Grigoropulos (15) in the Athens district of Exarchia. His partner was convicted of complicity.
One of the four judges read out the verdict, pronouncing Korkoneas guilty of manslaughter with malice. Sentencing will take place later in the day and Korkoneas faces up to life in prison.
The court in Amfissa, where the trial was moved for security reasons despite protests from the victim's parents, heard testimony the policeman had a verbal altercation with a group of youths, fired his weapon and killed the boy.
Immediately after the shooting, youths stormed through Athens, clashing with police, wrecking cars and setting fire to shops in Greece's worst riots in decades.
Anger soon turned to wider resentment over economic hardships and youth unemployment. The protests quickly spread to other Greek cities and the unrest went on for weeks, helping topple the then-conservative government about a year later.
Reuters