The police officer accused of shooting a teenager from the Roma community in Greece who finally succumbed to his injuries last week, was placed on parole on Monday, December 19, we learned from a judicial source.
Prosecuted for “
attempted murder
” and assigned to residence since this incident which occurred on December 5, the police officer was placed on parole with the obligation “
not to leave Greek territory
”, according to the same source.
Car chase
The young Roma, Kostas Fragoulis, 16, was seriously injured on the night of December 4 to 5 by this policeman during a chase.
He had fled without paying a bill of 20 euros at a gas station near Thessaloniki, Greece's second city.
Hospitalized, this young father had been operated on urgently then placed in intensive care before finally succumbing to his injuries last Tuesday.
The policeman, 32, was arrested after the incident and heard by the courts after being laid off.
The incident caused great emotion in Greece, where police impunity is often denounced.
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Many protests, resulting in scuffles between police and demonstrators, have taken place over the past two weeks in the country's Roma communities and in Athens and Thessaloniki at the call of human rights NGOs.
The president of the Roma community in Greece had denounced
the “racism
” and “
inertia
” of the authorities with regard to this minority which numbers 170,000 people, according to the authorities, and 300,000, according to this community.
A year ago, in a disadvantaged neighborhood in western Athens, another young Roma, aged 20, was also killed after a chase with the police.
The seven police officers involved are being prosecuted for murder and for the attempted murder of another young man, aged 16, who had been injured.
The trial is still ongoing.