The shooting in Exarchia
On the evening of December 6, 2008, Epaminondas Korkoneas and fellow special guard Vassilis Saraliotis were patrolling in the Exarchia district of central Athens. After an encounter and exchange involving a group of young people, Korkoneas fired his service weapon. Fifteen-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was struck and killed. The shooting immediately became a national event, with protests and riots spreading through Athens and other Greek cities.
Convictions
In 2010, a Greek court found Korkoneas guilty of intentionally killing Grigoropoulos and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Saraliotis was convicted as an accessory and received a prison term. The central question of criminal responsibility for the teenager's death was therefore established in court; the prolonged legal controversy that followed primarily concerned Korkoneas's sentence and whether mitigating circumstances should reduce it.
Years of sentencing appeals
In July 2019, an appeals court accepted a mitigating factor based on Korkoneas's prior lawful life, reduced his sentence to 13 years and ordered his release because of time already served. Greece's Supreme Court later challenged that reasoning, and Korkoneas was returned to prison in 2022 before another appeals decision again recognized mitigation and led to his release. The Supreme Court then ordered the issue to be reconsidered again.
Life term restored and latest cited proceeding
On June 4, 2025, the Lamia Appeals Court unanimously rejected the request for mitigation and restored the life sentence. Korkoneas appealed that decision. On January 13, 2026, a Supreme Court prosecutor recommended that the appeal be rejected and that the no-leniency ruling remain in place. The latest source reviewed for this file reported that the Supreme Court would issue its decision later; the underlying murder conviction itself was not in dispute.
Sources and further reading
Case context
Grigoropoulos's killing has remained politically and socially significant in Greece, but this archive treats the criminal record separately from the protests and political interpretations that followed. Korkoneas's guilt for the homicide was established by the courts; later proceedings repeatedly addressed the proper sentence and mitigation.