An Athens criminal appeals court on Wednesday refused to lower the amount of bail that jailed former minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos must pay for his release from prison on compassionate grounds. A majority of the panel of five judges voted in favor of keeping bail at 200,000 euros but gave Tsohatzopoulos the option of paying the amount in either cash, a letter of guarantee issued by a bank or through a mortgage of property owned by himself or a third party. The single justice that voted in favour of lowering bail proposed that this be halved to 100,000 euros.
Tsohatzopoulos’ lawyers continued to insist that their client is unable to raise the amount and has so far managed to collect only 50,000 euros.
Earlier in April, a court had allowed the former minister’s release on bail due to his poor state of health after undergoing triple bypass surgery. The court accepted that his continued stay in a prison hospital would be prejudicial to his health and set bail at 200,000 euros. A former defense minister, 77-year-old Tsohatzopoulos is serving a 20-year sentence for money-laundering
(source: ana-mpa)
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