Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis on Monday referred to the so-called Paraskevopoulos law, under whose favourable provisions the 47-year-old man who murdered his father in Glyfada on Sunday had been released from prison. Speaking on ERT radio, Floridis stressed that the core of the legislation dates back to 2015, when, as he said, murderers, robbers, rapists and drug offenders were released from prison, with 80% subsequently returning to serious crime, according to police statistics at the time.

He said the Hellenic Police had attempted to challenge the provisions of the law but failed, adding that the legislation was later extended in 2017 or 2018 by the government of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, with terms that were even more favourable to offenders.

Referring to evidence that has emerged in the Glyfada patricide case, Floridis noted that the suspect had been sentenced in 2014 to 16 years in prison for the murder of his mother. Following the change of government in January 2015, one of the first legislative initiatives introduced was the Paraskevopoulos law, which was passed in April of that year. Under its provisions, he said, large numbers of inmates convicted of serious crimes were released. As a result, the suspect was freed in 2018 after serving only four of his 16-year sentence.

Floridis also recalled that the law was strongly defended at the time by then Speaker of Parliament Zoe Constantopoulou, who spoke in favour of it during the parliamentary debate. He claimed that among those who benefited from the law was one of her high-profile clients convicted of rape.

The justice minister said that in 2024 the government undertook a comprehensive overhaul of the country’s criminal justice system, introducing new criminal codes.

“There were offences that effectively led nowhere, in the sense that no punishment was imposed. This has now been corrected,” Floridis said. “Today, everyone knows that any offence will carry a penalty, proportionate to its seriousness.”

Referring to the 46-year-old suspect’s post-release history, Floridis said that after his release he was hospitalised as a free citizen at Dromokaiteio psychiatric hospital by order of a prosecutor and later discharged. He stressed that such hospitalisations fall outside the authority of the judicial system, as decisions are made on the basis of medical assessments rather than judicial rulings.