Papageorgopoulos: My conviction is a political decision

Police officers seem to have formed a circle around him. The former mayor of Thessaloniki Vasilis Papageorgopoulos is leaving the courthouse in Thessaloniki and entering the Greek Police van which is to take him to Diabates prison.

Upon entry into the Police vehicle, Papageorgopoulos seems to be hiding the handcuffs beneath his brown coat. However, a careful observation of the protothema.gr video shows that maybe the convicted politician is not wearing handcuffs. Watching the pictures frame by frame, it appears that the officer inside the van is holding handcuffs as the former mayor is entering.

Vassilis Papageorgopoulos enters the van with a little jump, perhaps a little clumsily, perhaps having stumbled. Police officers are not holding the former mayor but have formed a "corridor" through which he enters the van. Around Papageorgopoulos are dozens of journalists, photographers and cameramen.

Some time after his being transported to Diabates prison, Papageorgopoulos talked about a political trial with the sole criterion of satisfying a climate that asks for politicians' blood. As he said, he was served a life sentence without any evidence, while the proven disloyal employee had been embezzling money many years before he took office as mayor himself.

"I'm pretty sure that secretly no Thessalonian and no Greek believes that Vassilis Papageorgopoulos has betrayed them. I'll wait for the decision of the appellate court. Some will die of their guilt," the former mayor of Thessaloniki concluded.

A little earlier, the three-member Court of Appeals had announced the sentence of life imprisonment to the former Thessaloniki mayor, his close collaborator M. Lemousias, and former treasurer and key defendant in the case, P. Saxonis, for embezzling 18 million euros from the municipality funds.

Upon hearing the shocking decision of the court, Papageorgopoulos’ eyes filled with tears, while his wife fell into his arms and burst into sobs.