A shocking video was leaked this week showing the January 2019 murder of an inmate by another two prisoners at what is euphemistically known as Greece's maximum security penitentiary, all amid continuing press reports over a "prison mafia" running amok in the country's correctional facilities.
The video, aired by the "Vima.gr" website that is affiliated with the weekly "Vima", shows Albanian national Albert Bako being stabbed to death by another two of his compatriots - one being a cellmate - while running through the prison's corridors. The victim was murdered days before he was to face a trial for the assassination of a prominent Athens defense attorney. Bako was accused as being the moral instigator behind the contract killing.
The gruesome footage follows another video, last week, showing high-profile inmates at the Athens-area Korydallos prison holding a party in a well-furnished jailhouse "suite".
In a related development, two attorneys, a 65-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman, were ordered remanded in custody on Monday on charges of conspiring with inmates in the so-called "prison mafia" ring.
Moreover, another shocking revelation involves Parliament MP Makis Voridis, himself a defense attorney, who is reportedly a prime target of the alleged ringleader of the same mob-like gang, an Albanian man with a lengthy criminal record.
According to a report on the Athens-area Open television station, Voridis was a target because he is represents the family of the slain attorney, Michalis Zafiropoulos.
The suspect allegedly aimed to stab Voridis in court.
In a reaction to the release of the video and the cascade of reports dealing with a "prison mafia" in Greece's often short-staffed prisons, the Tsipras government said the matter is already under investigation, with the government moving quickly and decisively to tackle an "issue that no one dared to touch for years".
In its response, the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party wondered whether "in SYRIZA's Greece is was normal for inmates to kill off each other... if it was normal in SYRIZA's Greece for inmates to organize parties ...?"
