Athens - A woman who slapped Greece's former first lady in front of the TV cameras was sentenced yesterday to seven months in jail.
An Athens court found the civil servant, Anastasia Athini-Tsiouni, guilty of assault for slapping Ms Dimitra Liani, widow of the former prime minister, Andreas Papandreou, during a book-signing event in October 1997.
Athini-Tsiouni, who said she struck the former flight attendant because she was offended by her conduct, was released pending an appeal of the sentence. Ms Liani married Papandreou, who was about twice her age, after a public extramarital affair that shocked the nation. After his death in 1996, she wrote a book about their life together which was panned by critics.
Ms Athini-Tsiouni showed up at a much-publicised promotional signing for the book and slapped Ms Liani twice across the face, saying the widow brought shame to all Greek women.