Monetary compensation amounting to 400,000 euros for mental anguish awarded by the Single Member Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki to the family of the 14-year-old who had been the victim of murder by his friend and classmate, in June 2016, in Bridge Thessaloniki.

With its decision number 18/2023, the Court awarded 100,000 euros to the parents of the minor victim, 80,000 euros to his two siblings and 20,000 euros to his grandmothers. There had previously been a lawsuit filed before the competent court by the relatives of the 14-year-old against the perpetrator’s parents as well as himself. The court of first instance (Single Member Court of First Instance) had awarded the amount of 420,000 euros.

The self-confessed perpetrator was punished in January 2018, by the Three-member Juvenile Court of Thessaloniki, with reformative measures. In particular, these concerned his incarceration in the Volos Juvenile Education Institution until he came of age and his daily monitoring by a child psychiatrist.

The crime that “froze” all over Greece

The unprecedented crime happened on the evening of June 11, 2016“freezing” the Panhellenic.

The two friends and classmates were returning to their homes, after a game near the primary school of Gefyra. On the way, the victim seems to have made some playful comment about the age of the perpetrator’s family’s agricultural machinery, which triggered an episode of anger in him, as described in the decision of the Single Member Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki.

Pretending that he had to go to the toilet, he himself went into the storage room of his house, took one knife (with a blade length of 32.5 cm) and hid it in the fender of his father’s car. After physically assaulting the 14-year-old, he grabbed the knife causing him two wounds – the first on the left lateral cervical region and the second on the left occipital region behind the ear, while, subsequently, he pressed him on the throat in an attempt to suffocate him. The result of all the above was the death of the 14-year-old.

Afterwards, the perpetrator – who, according to the same decision, had shown aggressive behavior in the past – attempted to cover up the traces of the crime, while the next morning he offered to participate in the search for his missing classmate. When the body was found, the “cord” tightened around him and he finally confessed that he was the perpetrator of the crime. Apologizing to an investigator, he claimed – among other things – that he was being “bullied” by the victim and some other children in his group, due to the financial situation of his family.