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Greek former minister released from jail after 5 years due to poor health

Xinhua, May 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Former Greek defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who is serving out a 20-year jail term for money laundering, was released from prison on Thursday, five years into his sentence, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

In early April, an Athens Court of Appeal accepted his request for early release due to health reasons, imposing a 200,000-euro (219,710 U.S. dollars) bail and a ban on leaving the country.

His lawyer said that the money was raised by several donations.

Tsochatzopoulos, 77, was found guilty in 2012 for money laundering and accepting bribes linked to arms procurement contracts during his term as defense minister between 1996 and 2001.

He was the highest former official to be convicted for corruption in the country in several decades.

The former minister underwent a triple bypass surgery in April, but had to return to prison because he couldn't raise the bail money.

He was found guilty of accepting millions of euros in bribes. A part of the bribes has still not been traced in the offshore companies he, his relatives, and his associates had established.

His wife, Vicky Stamati, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the same case, was released in 2015 as she was the mother of an underage child and due to poor health. Stamati had attempted suicide during her imprisonment. Endit