Two brothers who were found guilty of the death of a 52-year-old funeral parlor owner were sentenced to 7 years in prison each, after an incident between them last May in Neapoli Thessaloniki.

The Mixed Jury Court of Katerini, where they were referred to be tried, found the two defendants guilty of fatal bodily harm, without recognition of a mitigating factor and a more correct legal characterization of the act, since the competent judicial council had referred them to be tried for manslaughter with possible intent.

The judges also decided the appeal to have suspensive force in the execution of the sentence with the imposition of restrictive conditions (appearance in person twice a month at a police station, ban on exiting the country and ban on communicating with the victim’s relatives). Consequently, the court’s verdict got them out of jail.

The disputed incident began, according to the indictment, because the 52-year-old was feeding stray animals outside his business, which seems to have upset the two brothers, 41 and 43, originally from Armenia. Neighbors testified that there had been other fights before, as the defendants were reacting to the operation of the specific business in the area.

Having received blows to his body with bare hands, the victim was received by an EKAV ambulance but ended up during his transfer to the hospital, with his death attributed to myocardial ischemia, as it emerged from the forensic findings.

In these circumstances, the court accepted that the convicts intended to cause grievous bodily harm to the victim, but his death was a result of the cardiac projection he suffered due to the stressful situation he was experiencing at the time.

In their apologies, the two brothers denied that they acted with the intention of causing harm to the 52-year-old, expressing their regret for the way the episode unfolded.