Greek official requests investigation into new prisoner death

The Justice Ministry’s general secretary for crime-fighting policies, Marinos Skandamis, on Thursday asked a prosecutor to launch an investigation into the death of an Albanian inmate at Aghios Stefanos Prison near Patra, western Greece, during a brawl.

The 24-year-old victim, who had been serving a 12-year term for robbery, died after a 32-year-old compatriot, who is serving a life sentence for drug-related charges, stabbed him at least six times with a makeshift knife.

According to sources, the two men had had personal differences since serving time in a different Greek prison.

Fears about tensions in Greek jails have peaked following the murder of a prison guard at Malandrino Prison in central Greece last month by an Albania inmate who was subsequently transferred to another prison and found dead in solitary confinement there, apparently following torture at the hands of Greek guards.