Alexandros Giotopoulos, who was recently released from prison, returns to Korydallos Prison, having been convicted to 17 life sentences for the criminal activity of the terrorist organization 17 November, as the E’ Criminal Division of the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) annulled the ruling of the judicial council of the Piraeus Court of Appeal that had recently decided his release.

The Criminal Division of the Supreme Court annulled, by its ruling, the decision of the Piraeus Court of Appeal, and Alexandros Giotopoulos will be arrested in order to be taken again to Korydallos Prison.

It is recalled that after the release of Alexandros Giotopoulos, the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Konstantinos Tzavellas assigned Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Sofoklis Logothetis to examine the ruling of the judicial council of the Piraeus Court of Appeal.

Sofoklis Logothetis, after examining the case file, judged that the moral instigator of the murders of 17 November was wrongly released, because he has not served, as provided by law, the full length of the sentence, which is 25 years, and that neither are the substantive conditions for the release of the multiple-life-sentenced prisoner met, and thus he filed an appeal (annulment) against the contested ruling.

The recent release of Alexandros Giotopoulos after 24 years of detention was his fifth attempt at release, while it had been preceded by a negative proposal from the public prosecutor of first instance, the judicial council of the first degree, and a negative proposal from the prosecutor who submitted his recommendation to the Judicial Council of the Piraeus Court of Appeal.

Alexandros Giotopoulos was arrested in 2002, when the dismantling of the terrorist organization 17N began, and remained in custody, while he never expressed remorse for his actions, nor did he accept that he was the moral instigator of the heinous murders of the organization for which he was convicted.

Alexandros Giotopoulos will return to Korydallos Prison, following the issuance of the ruling of the Supreme Court, and according to criminal law, theoretically, he will remain in prison for one more year, until he completes 25 years.

Apart from Alexandros Giotopoulos, the convicted members of 17N serving multi-year life sentences remain in custody, Dimitris Koufodinas and the brothers Savvas and Christodoulos Xiros.