Greece’s government Monday said it will not intervene to grant a prison-transfer demand by a convicted militant group gunman who has been on hunger strike for more than seven weeks, triggering public protests as well as arson attacks.
Doctors treating Dimitris Koufodinas in intensive care at a hospital in central Greece said the 63-year-old suffered a “serious deterioration” at the weekend, several days after also refusing water.
Koufodinas was a leading member of the armed extreme-left group November 17 and is serving 11 life sentences for the murders of prominent Greek businessmen, diplomats and military officials from the embassies of Turkey, Britain, and the United States, and others.
His victims include conservative lawmaker Pavlos Bakoyannis, brother-in-law of the current Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Koufodinas’ lawyers argue that his transfer last year from a low-security prison in Athens to a high-security facility in central Greece occurred in violation of incarceration rules. They are seeking his transfer back to the prison where he had served most of his sentence so far.
The center-right government denies it violated transfer regulations.
“Mr. Koufodinas is demanding privileged treatment outside legal norms,” government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni told reporters in an online briefing. “The state does not negotiate with convicts and will not relinquish its sovereign right to how to detain them. (He) has the ability to end the hunger strike and exercise the legal options at his disposal.”
Protests in support of Koufodinas’ demands are planned in Athens and other Greek cities later Monday.
