Vaggelis Koutsibelas was sentenced to 15 years in prison at first instance, accused of a string of arsons in the city of Trikala. The heavy indictment against him was based largely on statements of a police informant.

On the 17th of June 2014, the comrade’s case was tried in the second instance at the Court of Appeals in Larissa. There was a lively presence of people in solidarity at the hearing, including members of the SVEOD, Athens base union of motorcyclist workers (Vaggelis himself used to work as motorcycle delivery driver for many years).

The appeal court reduced his prison sentence to 8 years and 3 months.

Vaggelis is held in Trikala prison since April 2012, having completed 250 days of prison labor by now. Comrades from Trikala estimate that if all goes well, he will be released on parole this time next year, or if he gets transferred to rural prisons he will be able to walk out of prison sooner, at the end of this year.

http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2014/06/19/greece-update-on-the-case-of-imprisoned-comrade-vaggelis-koutsibelas/