Three foreign nationals who were arrested for residing illegally in Greece were sent to prison after being convicted by the Thessaloniki Single-Member Misdemeanor Court under the summary procedure.

Applying the new provisions on migration and illegal stay in the country, the court neither suspended nor converted their sentences, and thus they were taken to prison.

The defendants were of Turkish origin. Two were sentenced to two years in prison, while the third, a 19-year-old, was sentenced to ten months, as the mitigating factor of youthful age was recognized. In addition, all three were fined €5,000.

They refused to return to their country
The court asked the defendants – as required – whether they consented to return to their homeland and thereby have the execution of their sentence suspended. However, all three refused and were taken to a correctional facility.

In their testimonies, the first two stated that they had arrived in Greece three days earlier and intended to reach Athens to begin procedures for applying for political asylum, as they claimed they had left Turkey for political reasons.

The 19-year-old, for his part, claimed he had been in Greece for the past week and had left his country for family reasons. He also said he had booked an appointment to apply for asylum but was arrested before he had the chance to begin the process.