The Council of State (CoS) this week upheld lower court rulings ordering the Greek state to pay 800,000 euros, plus interest, in compensation to the family of a 22-year-old college student killed by a stray bullet fired from within a military camp just outside Athens, 19 years after the fatal incident.
A staff sergeant in command of the overnight security detail at the camp in the industrial district of Skaramangas, west of the port of Piraeus, was later convicted of manslaughter, demoted to a private and cashiered from the army. He was handed down a 13-year jail sentence.
The NCO was informed by the main gate's sentry of possible intruders outside the camp's perimeter, and on the boundary with a main thoroughfare. He reportedly fired his service revolver towards the roadway in order to scare off unknown individuals, as he claimed.
One of the fired rounds hit the 22-year-old as he was riding his scooter past the military camp.
The incident occurred in the early morning hours of July 25, 2000.
